James of All Gets a New Website

I am a web designer. I have literally designed dozens of websites for a range of clients — from classical actors to retail clothing stores — and I’m (honestly) really good at it. So why did it take me so long to redesign my own site? I have been struggling for over a year to get it right, and I think I finally have.

Why so difficult?

I think it’s because it’s impossible to look at ourselves objectively. To step back and decide what to say about ourselves. I also loved my last site. It was like a little square postage stamp with bright colors and some cute little icons, but it wasn’t right. At least not any more. It was the website of someone who was trying too hard. Someone who was overcomplicating things.

I don’t think that’s who I am, and it’s certainly not who I want to be.

So I took my own advice and simplified. What did I have to say, and how simple could I make it? I remember in ad school, my writing partner would always say (almost as a mantra): “What can we take away?” In a print advertisement, there are five basic elements: headline, visual, body copy, logo, tagline. But every ad doesn’t need all of those things. The goal, in fact, is to remove as many as possible without damaging the story you’re trying to tell. A Powerade ad doesn’t need body copy. Some Apple ads don’t even have a logo (relying on the small apple on the computer to do the job). Periodically, you even see an ad without an visual: just a line of type set in the center of a white page.

And that’s what I’ve tried to do here. I’m proud it’s so simple and humbled that such simplicity is so difficult.