I started by making Flash websites. That was the hook.
Over the last eight years, my personal site has changed shape a bunch of times: creative playground, portfolio, and eventually a place to write. Every phase taught me something, but I also kept falling into the same trap.
The Redesign Trap
I used to treat every update like a full redesign. It was exhausting. I would overthink every detail, burn a ton of energy, and end up avoiding the site because it felt like too much work.
Iteration Over Perfection
The shift was simple: stop redesigning from scratch and iterate in small steps. Ship, learn, adjust, repeat. Once I gave myself permission to evolve the site gradually, the pressure dropped and the work got fun again.
A Stack That Removes Friction
The tooling matters here. I moved to a setup that lets me publish fast:
- Next.js
- GitHub
- Vercel
- Server-Side Rendering
Now I push a change and it is live. No ceremony.
Writing Without Fighting the System
MDX made content creation much easier. I get Markdown for writing and React components when I need richer content. That combination means I can write in any editor and publish without wrestling the codebase.
Constraints Made the Design Better
To avoid drifting back into perfectionism, I set a few hard constraints:
- Limited container width
- Design tokens for spacing
- Only two heading styles in articles
Those limits helped more than any visual experiment. They kept me focused on content and clarity instead of constant decoration.
From Portfolio to Ongoing Story
The biggest change was mindset. I stopped treating the site like a portfolio artifact and started treating it like a living record. Portfolios usually freeze after a job search. A personal website can keep growing with you.
That’s the point for me now: keep shipping, keep learning, keep evolving.
