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Why I haven’t ‘redesigned my portfolio’ since 2014

Posted in Design

There seems to be a bit of a thing in the web design community where we redesign our websites every couple of years. Well, I have a confession: it’s July 2020 and I haven’t redesigned my website since 2014.

Well, that’s not strictly true. The design has had almost constant attention since then, but in small, iterative ways rather than wholesale, high-impact redesign.

This is partly because I haven’t rebranded, but mainly because I don’t see the point if it’s not absolutely necessary. Wholesale redesign:

  • from concept to coding, is a lot of work
  • can prove disorienting for returning visitors
  • can cause usability issues that will need to be addressed
  • can cause accessibility issues that will need fixing

That said, fair play to you if you have the time and inclination – it can be fun and it’s great to see write-ups of the design rationale and development challenges faced.

For me, though, I’ll keep on iterating.

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More posts

Here are a couple more posts for you to enjoy. If that’s not enough, have a look at the full list.

  1. Avatars and alt text

    I really enjoyed Nicolas Steenhout’s recent article on Alt text for avatars or user photos. But there is a context where I would break his rule…

  2. Upgrading from iPhone 13 mini to 16 Pro

    I get a new phone every 3-ish years, give mine to my wife, and now she gives hers to our daughter. I got a 16 Pro this year! Here’s the skinny.