The design that never came to an end

From the moment you earn your living by designing websites, working for a client is just another job. You ‘ve got to perform well, not to exceed budged and given time, cover all requirements etc. This has nothing to do with the innocent ages where you designed for fun, without pressure and limits.

When you create your own website things are a bit different. Again there are things you ‘ve got to do and things you want to achieve, but there ‘s also a relieving kind of freedom. The kind that lets you create without borders sometimes. You can practically do whatever you want since it’s going to affect only you. However your website is still your home and you want the very best for it.

In reality, designing for you never ends. You might have defined your logo or the colors but at the same time you can change e.g. the layout the way you change. This website is above all a field of experiments. Some of them work out well, some others fail. Still I am pretty sure that no customer would like me to make the same experiments at his website.

All this is nothing but an evolving procedure which makes me better as a designer/developer/writer and my personal evolution is mirrored at my website by time. It takes a lot of time to realize that you actually need for example to create a 10px left margin for your text (not 5 or 15 - just 10). When you do it the result is harmonious, you look back at it and wonder why you discovered it so late.

The flip side of this coin is when you create something and you see it works at once. “It took you just one week to get it done. How dare you want me to pay you X for one week’s work?” You ‘re wrong pal. It took me years. Every single day I see your design pass in front my eyes and I try to figure out a decent solution. I spent a lot of hours to find out whether this particular blue goes well with this particular green and now I know.

The closer a designer stands to a customer the more probable is to come up with a good solution. Design never ends actually. There is only a moment when a version is mature enough and reflects the needs and personality of a particular customer. It is important for the designer to discover this moment. The future makes people change and they should expect the same for their websites. It’s a law of the nature.

It would be perfect if I could bring down the walls of my home and redesign the interior, build new walls, paint them with new colors and add some windows in the end. But I can’t. Fortunately, I can do it in my own website.