Initially, I went for something extravagant. I wanted a design that would show off my Photoshop skills with a nice mix of bright colors. Needless to say, my non-design friends described it as being too “flamboyant” and it looked like I was “trying too hard”. Here’s how that design looked:

One important lesson I learned from the first comp was that I shouldn’t ask too many non-design friends for their advice — especially at the same time. Everybody has an opinion about design and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It’s something I learned in a SXSW panel but the first time I experienced it. I started from scratch with a focus on my goals and how the site should reflect me as a freelance designer. Sadly, I was so discouraged from the result that I shelved the project altogether and went on my hiatus. On the bright side, the second comp was the foundation that led to the design that you see today:

I continued where I left off in mid-August and iterated on the above comp many times. I also learned about Site Sprint. Site Sprint was a project to encourage designers to quickly design and release their site instead of always pushing it for later like I was. The deadline was September 1st and it helped me stay motivated because I felt accountable. After many late nights, I finally was satisfied with how it looked. The portfolio thumbnails rotating on the front page was heavily inspired by the interface in Time Machine (Mac OSX).

Overall, I have to admit that this experience of redesigning for myself was painful and I agree with what Lea said: you are your worst client.