Designing
itnick.fyi was a challenge, to say the least.
Firstly, because I don’t like to talk about myself.
It feels like bragging, feels awkward.
That’s normal though, right?
Secondly, because well,
where do I even start?
Am I even a web designer?
Start at the beginning
First I needed to identify what I wanted, and consider why.
I had a brand. Why drop all of that now?
The simple answer was simple: “Stimshock.com” was a solution to a problem.
That problem being that my name “Nick Ross” is rather common and SEO would have been absurd up against the BBC. At the time when I adopted the moniker it was A) cool B) unique, and most importantly C) available.
Exactly one of those applies today.
Stimshock had gone through multiple revisions in its time. Each a little more sophisticated than the last, and each feeling more entrenched in a persona that, frankly, didn’t align with my goals anymore. Also, I had a student point out that googling “stimshock” brought up some rather… niche… content that I’d rather not be associated with.
That’s the Why, so what’s the what?
What I wanted was me. My name. In the simplest, shortest url I could muster and afford.
I was tired of having to spell out S-T-I-M-S-H-O-C-K dot com to anyone who asked.
I also hated dealing with jquery and tiny thumbnail galleries with no CMS.
I also had just gone through some rather major life-changing events which led to a period of introspection –
who the heck is Nick anyway? It was 2018- time to update.
I am sparing us both the embarrassment of the iteration in which MySpace was linked with an active gif animation. You’re welcome. It was bad.
Then I Discovered .fyi
It was sassy, and my jerk of a brain smirked “it me.”
That’s what I wanted. Something that could represent who I am as much as what I do.
I don’t have to just talk about me, I have to be me, and show me.
it was time to iterate
Nick
Oh god what says "Nick"
ROSS
Well, I love it. I don't know about you.
CRASS
Heckin' dangit. FINE.
BOLD
Dare to make it entertaining
Then It Struck Me
[you should have seen this coming]
The Inspiration
I didn’t need to go digging across the internet. I’ve spent my entire life being me.
It is the collection of things I surround myself with which define my aesthetic.
Exhibit A: Meet turtle.
It’s a title, not a name. We’ve been best friends for about 30 years. He has a snail on his face because he’s… well he’s a turtle.
Exhibit B: The sass.
Judged.
The Color Palette
Shades and Tints
I suppose you could call it a painter’s hangover? You’ve surely noticed that my color palette is unconventional for design with low contrast light tones, low contrast dark tones, and a very active red mid-tone. It’s limiting isn’t it?
Well, yes, but it’s also a key component I wanted to maintain from my inspiration. Faded blacks and dingy whites have character. That green is the corner stone, it stays.
The Rough Logo
I wanted to design something that played off of design elements I was attracted to. It is about branding me, after all.
Turns out that was a pretty simple checklist:
- bold colors
- chunky
- a little rough around the edges
- interlocking pieces playing with negative space
What about WCAG and colorblindness?
Well that certainly is a consideration; especially for a red-green color palette. The only instances where contrast is dangerously close to entirely unreadable at scale is with full red colorblindness and achromatopsia, a condition which affects 1:30,000 individuals worldwide. However, there is no amount of color adjustment which can be made to account for this – only values, which means the problems are:
1. Red and green color contrast is tough to manage in general, they want to scream.
2. Red-green colorblindness affects roughly 10% of the global population.
3. These specific red (#b8202f) and green (#31322a) swatches are too dark to be paired together.
4. The logo doesn’t scale well.
The Green (#31322a) is the central color, but if the red goes lighter it loses impact.
I had to rethink my entire strategy. What do I do?
Sacrifice the red? Ditch the Fibonacci sequence?
Back to the drawing board.
uh oh turtle.
If only I had something to keep me grounded.
Oh... Right.
At this point I don’t even know what to say.
Sorry turtle, jerk brain it is.
Rothko: we’re not sorry.
The *new Color Palette
The *new Logo Variants
The Logo
It’s the only question, and I still got to be a little bit crass.
(no turtles were harmed to drop this joke.)
Why is it different?
Yea.