Once again, another start. I'm not much for using the excuse of a new year as a way to mark the beginning of something, nor do I care much for new year resolutions. But this year it just so happens that things lined up. So I guess I'm running with it.

2024

Last year was rough. Between health and family issues, having a 1-year-old swan dive into his terrible-two's era, and being hit by a overwhelming sense of creative dissatisfaction, I'm good with moving on from 2024. That said, I can't deny that good that came from it as well. I'm employed and well-paid. My family is doing better and we've grown together through hardships. And finally, and most importantly for what I want to do with this blog, I took my creative dissatisfaction and did something about it.

More Tools in the Tool Belt

Midway through 2024 I came across a video on my YouTube feed that discussed a no-code web design tool called Framer. Web design is something I had long given up on, mainly due to the challenge of learning code. I had attempted to break into it when Adobe released a tool back in 2012 that promised to be the no-code solution for designers. However, that led nowhere and my career took on a different direction.

Back to 2024. After watching that YouTube video on Framer and noticing that the UI was very similar to Figma, I decided to give Framer a try. The agency I work at, Local Culture Creative Marketing, desperately needed a new website, and it seemed like the best way to kill three birds with one stone: 1. I could learn a new tool, which always satisfies my creative appetites; 2. I would finally add web design to my skillset; 3. I could make a new website for the agency I work for.

Fast forward to today. I can't say that I have mastered Framer, but this new portfolio site, as well as the sites I have listed on the web design section of my homepage, were all built with Framer. Each of these sites presented new problems that scratched my creative itch. Taking skills from layout design in the editorial field, and visual hierarchy from the marketing field, web design has become a new discipline that I hope I can engage in more and more in 2025.

…Master of None

At this point, I've become the embodiment of the saying "Jack of all trades… master of none." But while some might view that as a bad thing, I'm leaning into it. I enjoy having a large tool belt and a wide skillset. I take pleasure in switching between different creative problems and finding solutions to them based on skills from totally different fields. It keeps my very restless soul satisfied to switch between different disciplines within a single day. So while I may never become a master of editorial, or branding design, or web design, I've worked to become fluent in these fields enough to solve client's problems with more than satisfactory solutions. I'd like to be considered a creative handyman.

2025

And so we are off to this new year. This portfolio marks the start of this new direction. It's very much the same as the previous direction, but just with more. More intentionality, more purpose, more creativity. This blog will serve as a space for me to speak into the noise of the internet, not because I want everyone to hear my thoughts, but more because if you are here, you may be wanting to hear my thoughts. We all work with people not just because of their skillsets but because of who they are. So in 2025 I'll try to share more of who I am. And hopefully, that will lead to more collaborations, and more projects. Cheers to 2025!