My personal website

I had previously wondered whether this endeavor was worthy of sharing a shelf with my computer science club compsigh, DEPLOY/23, and the other labors of love that — without hyperbole — have changed my life.

After some time building, I am of the opinion that crafting & curating one's identity on the Web is one of the most important creative endeavors.

Thought process

I built my first personal website in 2020. Since then, I've used everything from Notion to indie website builders like mmm to host different versions of my online identity. These are great, but I couldn't quite capture the vibe — none felt like me.

This eventually became frustrating. I put so much love & craft into the brands, stories, and experiences I create. Why am I not extending the same to myself?

Things I did not want to build

• A blog
• A résumé
• A portfolio

Things I wanted to build

• A place that radiates my aesthetic
• A place that feels just as human as it does technical
• A place where I can show my work as a story, not in isolation

In short, I'm building a home for my identity, not a display case.

Technical & aesthetic breakdown

This place was a joy to build.

• It lies on a foundation of React & Next.js, which I strongly believe enables the best web development experience available today.
• It makes use of MDX for a natural authoring experience in Markdown. Check out my guide to a modern MDX setup for more on that.
• It uses a few ad-hoc components I wrote like Comment. Hi there!

If you're interested, it's also open-source.

I put a lot of thought into design.

• I love the technical vibe of the iA font family, and I'm using iA Writer Quattro here. Just don't tell them I use Obsidian.
• I wear black all the time, so there's that.
• The yellow you see on links is the same as compsigh's primary color. I've met some wonderful people through my club, and wanted to honor that in the soul of this place, just as they strengthen mine.

Inspirations

I'd like to express my admiration & gratitude for the following people and their storytelling in building their own personal websites:

• Steph Ango
• Linus Rogge
• Pedro Duarte
• Lee Robinson
• Igor Bedesqui
• Rauno Freiberg

I hope you enjoy my personal website. If you ship creative work and don't have one of your own yet, I implore you to make it. Make it feel like you.