[This home I claim]

It feels hollow to spin up a portfolio in a weekend and have the blog section of the portfolio hosting flies, instead of files, (get it?) So, I decided to post a write-up on how I made this portfolio and the inspirations for this portfolio, both technical and design. Technically speaking, I’m a web developer who is primarily involved in React for the most part, but every now and then, a new Javascript framework pops up and catches your fancy. That framework was Astro for me.

[TECH INSPIRATION]

I liked Astro because it is specifically geared towards static, content-driven sites and is also framework agnostic. I love something that’s modular and lets you insert your fancied hijinks of choice without scrapping the scaffolding every time you decide to rewrite your mess in the latest and greatest Javascript has to offer.

It also provides out of the box features like RSS support, Markdown support and blog features without the explicit need for a CMS. And, not to mention, zero Javascript delivery by default so you don’t waste time optimizing bundles after creating something in one of the hot JS frameworks. Instead, you add the framework of your choice, when and where you need it.

For someone who doesn’t want to invest much time in upkeeping a digital home, this was hard to ignore.

[DESIGN INSPIRATION]

As for the design inspiration, I cite to a diverse set of influences. I was inspired by this expensive tech paper tablet (which I forget the name of) that one of my old managers, Ashish Saini had. I knew I wanted it to feel a bit enigmatic and also understated, without overindulging myself.

I was also inspired by the distressed aesthetics of Reanimation by Linkin Park. The retro-futuristic, cyberpunkish packaging on that particular album left an lasting imprint on me. I married it’s minimalistic industrialism with the e-paper substrate aesthetic. I wanted it to feel like you stumbled upon a electronic device from an alternative reality that didn’t update it’s visual conventions, yet conformed with the digital conventions.

The face, brain and heart idea was inspired in particular by these two developers, Adam Hartwig and Adham Dannaway. I’ve admired their aesthetic for years and how they seemed to split their personas into neat, little containers. I was also partially inspired by Sigmund Freud’s theory of id, ego and superego, although I thought it too inappropriate for a developer portfolio. So, I watered it down to face, brain and heart. The face representing the upfront information you need to know, the brain representing what I dabble in and the heart representing the thoughts that pumps around in the system.