Why my website looks like it is from 1997

Why is my website so “shockingly” simple, as if designed by someone in 1997? You may be asking, “Shouldn’t a product designer have a better website?” Something more colourful, more fancy. A vibrant design, with transparencies and animated icons, and other quirks of aesthetics.

My answer to these questions is that “it really depends”. If I was a UI designer or graphic designer, my answer would be more likely a resolute “Yes”, but because I’m a product designer, my answer is a bit more nuanced.

Firstly, I believe that good design needs to be first and foremost functional, then reliable, then usable, and only once those criteria are satisfactorily fulfilled, also aesthetically pleasing. I even created a simple framework for evaluation of design with a cumbersome acronym “FRUA” -> Because good design needs to be 1. Functional, 2. Reliable, 3. Usable and 4. Aesthetically pleasing. Those are the four pillars of good design. You can read more about it here.

Secondly, you must have heard the old adage that a shoemaker’s kids walk barefoot. It is a little bit like that with my website. Over the years, I created countless versions and iterations of my website. I was never completely happy and kept tweaking and re-doing it. I had to say stop at some point. There are more important things in life than a perfect personal website. These days I would rather spend extra time working on my clients’ websites than my own.

Thirdly, over the years of doing design, I learned to start every project by asking simple questions. What is the primary goal of this product? Who is my audience going to be? What am I trying to achieve? and so on. For example, with this website, my goal was to deliver my thoughts on design and other topics, usually in a written form, to those who care to read them. I wanted the website to be easy to read, accessible for everyone, without distraction, and without unnecessary fluff.

All in all, at one point I decided that instead of focusing on visuals and aesthetics, I would keep my personal website intentionally minimal and as simple as possible. I promised myself to focus more on actual content and writing, thinking and ideas.

However, I do understand that some of you may disagree. Or object by saying that having a nice website is essential for a designer because it demonstrates their skills. “If you don’t have a nice website, how can I be sure you can create one for me?”, you may ask. So for those, I decided to share some of the iterations of my personal website. You can check them here.