Today is the launch of the new design of MagicKetchup.com marking the third major redesign of the site.
The highlight of this design is to show off WordPress the blogging software used to display my portfolio. Designing a website freeform using WordPress can be very challenging and limiting (experts of WordPress would completely disagree), but its power of managing a lot of content and discussion supersedes everything, and these particular two areas are the essence of web 2.0.
It has been more than ten years since I have joined the work force, and I have accumulated “Gigs” of work on my hard drive. As a pack rat and a collector, I like to archive my work project properly, and of course display them when I can. One day, I thought, it would be interesting to display my work chronologically from day one so that when I retire, my work life and my style could be represented by blog entries on a web site. WordPress was perfect for that. So the project to move my current portfolio, digging up old and new work that had never been displayed before began half a year ago. I didn’t know it would be one of my biggest projects ever.
The effect of this “blog portfolio” is already showing its power – when I look at my old work, I can see immaturity, stubbornness, bursts of creativity, lack of skill and art direction. Looking at my newer work, I can see some improvements, better articulation of vision, assistance from new software and technology, the influence of new culture and design trends, and sadly, repetitous use of themes and ideas. So it’s a mixed bag of good’s and bad’s, growth and recession.
So now I’m fully exposed, displaying 95% of my work. (The rest of the 5%, both you and me shouldn’t see.) Feel free to criticize, but leave me some dignity. ;)
P.S. Some people might remember this site used to have a “real” blog section (www.magicketchup.com/blog). Currently it is closed and the entries are locked. It’s mostly about cute collectibles and travel photos and occasional rants in Chinese. Despite the fact that there wasn’t anything I regretted saying on that blog (so far as I have seen), I can’t decide whether I should merge it with this new site or not. Some naysayers think that my personal life should not mix with my work life. But frankly, isn’t this the way things go now?
Jey
Pat