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.

itnick, nick ross, design, illustration, stimshock, graphic novel, digital painting
itnick, nick ross, design, illustration, stimshock, graphic novel, digital painting
itnick, nick ross, design, illustration, stimshock, graphic novel, digital painting
itnick, nick ross, design, illustration, stimshock, graphic novel, digital painting

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.

itnick, nick ross, design, illustration

it was time to iterate

Nick

Oh god what says "Nick"

ROSS

Well, I love it. I don't know about you.

itnick, nick ross, design, illustration

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.

itnick, nick ross, design, illustration
itnick, nick ross, design, illustration
itnick, nick ross, design, illustration
itnick, nick ross, design, illustration
itnick, nick ross, design, illustration

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 
itnick, nick ross, design, illustration

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.

itnick, nick ross, design, illustration
itnick, nick ross, design, illustration
itnick, nick ross, design, illustration
itnick, nick ross, design, illustration

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.