Revamping my Portfolio
Why I Rebuilt It
My old portfolio worked, but I did not really like it.
It felt like a template I filled out instead of a site I actually made. The info was there, but the personality was not. I kept delaying sharing it, which was probably the biggest sign I needed to rebuild it.
So this rebuild started from a simple question: if someone visited for thirty seconds, what should they immediately understand about me?
I wanted the answer to be clear:
- I build things.
- I care about engineering and design quality.
- I am still evolving, and this site should evolve with me.
Also, this is intentionally an in-between version. My next design direction is going to be based on LittleBigPlanet, and this update is me cleaning up the foundation before I go all-in on that style.
Design Goals
I set a few rules before touching code.
1. Keep the writing primary
Projects and experience matter, but I wanted this to read like a person, not a PDF resume copy/pasted into a website. So I tightened the writing, reduced visual clutter, and made section hierarchy clearer.
2. Build a system, not a one-off page
I did not want to restyle everything every time I add one new thing. Shared components for the header, footer, sections, and blog listing give me a reusable base.
3. Prioritize performance where it matters
I am using higher-res project images, so load behavior needed to be deliberate. I focused on lazy loading, async decoding, and placeholders so heavy images feel smoother.
What Changed
This pass touched both structure and content.
Site-wide structure
- Shared footer component now appears across all pages.
- Navigation is cleaner, and I removed unfinished sections from primary tabs.
- Spacing is more deliberate, especially around section transitions.
Projects page
- Added progressive image loading behavior for heavier assets.
- Tuned image quality and loading priority by viewport context.
- Added a direct GitHub callout so people can browse all projects quickly.
Blog infrastructure
- Added MDX-driven post metadata and listing.
- Ensured newest posts are sorted first.
- Wired static slug generation so posts are routable by default.
The main win is not one specific component. It is that the site feels more coherent now.
What I Learned
Clarity beats novelty
I spent less time forcing "unique" visuals and more time fixing readability, spacing, and flow. That made everything better immediately.
Systems reduce friction
When components are clean, small edits stay small. That makes shipping way easier.
Done is better than perfect
If I waited for perfect, this would still be unpublished. Shipping a strong draft is how momentum starts.
What Comes Next
This is v1, and it is somewhat transitional
The next full redesign will lean into a Little Big Planet inspired visual style. This version exists so I can keep posting, keep iterating, and have clean infrastructure before I make that bigger creative jump. Ambition!!
Planned improvements:
- Add deeper project case studies with context, tradeoffs, and outcomes.
- Expand the blog with technical breakdowns and build logs.
- Introduce richer media optimization by converting heavy PNG assets to modern formats.
- Re-introduce the Passions page once there is enough content to make it meaningful.
Closing
I rebuilt this portfolio so it actually sounds and feels like me.
It is still evolving, but now it has a stronger base: clearer voice, reusable structure, and room to experiment.
My approach here was simple: get the fundamentals right, ship it, then build toward the bigger vision.