old website designs #2

I was looking through an old external hard drive that had files on it from my high school days. I used to maintain a personal website using Microsoft Frontpage (the design view, yo). I loved doing that. It was awesome to tinker around and get things to actually work on the big internet! I got bored with designs quite easily, so I had many versions of the same site, to impress all of my 10 visitors.

Anyway, Here are some screenshots of the old designs (My other old website designs are here).

Blech, the days of banner ads. Look at that styled scroll bar! I remember that, that was the coolest thing. Ever.

Ahh...that navigation font brings back memories. And the "guest book," haha!

This iteration was called "Dead Purple." Remember when sites had "news" sections? Apparently I treated it like a diary...

Put the content in the smallest area possible. This one's odd because I because I usually don't (and didn't) like the color pink.

Avril Lavigne's "Complicated" was my anthem for a while. 

FRAMES! Remember those? And looks like someone discovered the "blur" filter in Photoshop. Ha.

I guess this was my attempt at making a semi-commercial looking design?

Orange was always a good choice.

projects

I've been keeping busy outside of blogging with life. Work, projects, and my little furry boyfriend, Louie. Been picking up some new hobbies (like teaching myself HTML/CSS very slowly and running) that have been eating into project time, but hey, diversifying is a good thing.

Here are some snippets of projects that are in the works.

Been working on creating some stylized portraits of people I know. I'm struggling with figuring out a 'style' for them. I don't want them to be too Disney-ish.

Finally getting around to creating some groom portraits based on strangers' wedding photos (perusing wedding photography is a guilty pleasure of mine). I love seeing what the grooms are up to. The brides all look the same to me. I mean, really, how much can you change up the concept of a white dress and an updo? In the limited realm of men's fashion, the grooms have more wiggle room outside a white dress and can do bow ties or vests or linen shirts, etc. I like to see how emotional their faces can (or cannot) get.

Been working on some actual non-illustration design work. I haven't really done any layouts/type design work since school last summer. At work, there isn't a lot of flexibility to concept a design from scratch, so I thought I should keep my skills up. This is a snippet of a website design (the very early stages of creation via a Photoshop mock up).

Also been working on some calligraphy/script work. But that is for another post.

old website designs

I used to have a personal site, which was originally on homestead.com (probably defunct), that I maintained throughout high school and some of college.  I got my own domain in college (www.charming-thief.net...also now defunct), and had some fun with that, but in the end...I'm cheap.  Anyway, I found some old website layouts I made over the years.  They bring back memories, and remind me of how much I really miss designing websites.

This site was titled: "My Loneliness Tasted like Pennies" after a line from Janet Fitch's book White Oleander.

My site eventually changed to "Echo" after the nymph of Greek Mythology.  This layout was super feminine...kind of French, too.

An unfinished Echo layout of *drumroll* BRAD PITT!  I dunno where that came from.

I like the color scheme of this one - Christmas on acid.

My website was also once named "My Sweet Reverie."  This layout featured a single column design with an original oekaki of a tree.

An Italian-ish layout featuring a fairy appropriated from a painting.  I'm cringing at the bad use of Italian, as well as the really bad smudge tool job.

This was a two column design, with my blog/journal in the main column.  Very yellow...

The first design of my domain. <3  It was titled "Genesis."

Another domain design.  I used to like to come up with color schemes for my designs by selecting colors with the eye dropper tool in Photoshop.

 

"Pastoral" layout based on Jane Austen's world.

"Virgin Whore" design.  Stock photos from a Vogue magazine and a photo of the creepy Mary statue in the drawing studio at college.  I remember being insanely proud of this one.

This orchid design was based on a photo I took of a fake orchid I bought from Michaels...ha.

After quitting my domain, I scrapped up a free site somewhere, and made up this simple design.  The site was apparently "The Charcoal Swallow." ...it is now defunct.