No more PDF portfolio for me!
Designing and building my own website has always been the plan, right from the beginning of my design career. Over the years I've created some half baked designs, and on some occasion's started development. However other priorities often got in the way, and when I jumped back to continue, trends and more importantly my own tastes changed. As a result my portfolio has always been in a PDF (sorry!). This was a pain to update, and as a designer working on web products it was obvious I should have my own site!
A Figma and Webflow love story
I have always been experimenting with Webflow over the years. I have some experience building sites directly in html and css, but the designs I wanted to create always had more complex interactions that were outside of my skillset. Webflow allows me to design in Figma, and create identical working designs that live up to my vision. With other tools I always found that I was compromising in some way or another, having to dial design work back to make it a viable build.
Designing in Figma
The start of the design process for this website began in Figma. I didn't want to follow a rigid design structure like if I was doing client work, I wanted to freely express ideas and experiment with different directions. This led to some messy designs provided me inspiration to develop ideas and directions.
What I really wanted to do with this project is create a design direction, and experiment in Webflow to bring things together. Because I was acting as my own client, this allowed great freedom for experimentation. It was not worth it for me to design fully high fidelity designs when I knew I would be tweaking and modifying things all through the build.
A design and development process full of fun challenges
I really tried to push my development skills on this project, experimenting with some cool design concepts and interactions. A lot, if not all of these experiments didn't make it into the final design, which is okay! The learning done along the way excites me for my next Webflow project.
What's next?
There are a lot of things I did not include in this first version of the Frae site. A live site is better than a site permanently in development! I'll now be modifiying and exploring new design directions across the site as inspiration strikes. Be sure to keep checking back often to see things evolve, and deep dives into projects and design thinking.
Want to learn more? Get in touch!
Get in touch to discuss what will make your next project a success. Do you instead just want to chat about design, or have a couple questions? No worries, let's chat.
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Why do design with Figma?
Throughout my 10+ year design career, I've experimented with various tools, each offering its own unique strengths and weaknesses. For me, the key to a great tool is how effectively and quickly it translates my ideas onto the page.
When I switched to Figma, I saw my productivity skyrocket. Features like auto layout in particular have allowed me to recreate past designs much faster and with greater precision. If you’re ready to elevate your design game, give Figma a try by clicking the button below.
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