Command + Shift + R

I couldn’t help myself. I’ve refreshed my site again, just a year (and a bit) after building it. The reason? Well, there are a couple.

My old site felt like it had an identity crisis and while that reflects me quite nicely, it was a bit of a mess. It wasn’t a blog, nor was it a portfolio, but it was trying to be both. So that’s the first reason; streamlining.

This new version of my site is more of a hub for all things me. It’s incredibly self-indulgent. But when you have the thought ‘I wonder what Kieran is up to’, as I’m sure many of you do on the reg, this site will answer that.

The second reason is that I wanted to. Simply that. Whilst there was some development involved, I’ve been hankering for a new design task. And that’s one of the bigger parts of this picture.

I’ve always fancied myself a designer but despite that, I’ve recently, well for a while now, been pushing that aside. There are a bunch of reasons for that but ultimately I need to get back on that path. You may think it strange then that I’ve removed my art and design stuff from the site. Going forward I’m using Instagram as a kind of scrapbook for that stuff because I’m a simple being and it makes me feel good when I get likes. From now on, all of my smaller pieces will be pushed there and linked here.

Behind the scenes, I’m working on a new portfolio site that will showcase my bigger projects and commission work. Due to the nature of my job, (I’m a web designer and full-stack web developer) I have a bunch of work I’d love to share. Alas, contracts dictate that I can’t share these as my work so I’ve had to think of a cunning way to skirt this issue but more on that later. Fortunately, I do have some other stuff to share though.

The long term plan is to get back into creating stuff more regularly but the arrival of my second child has killed my spare time. Therefore I need to be more realistic. I’ve got a million and one ideas floating around my head but I’m now going to focus my attention on just some of those. This means you can still expect to see written content posted here; both personal and for other outlets. I’ve also planned some design freebies which will be shared here as and when they’re done. And moving further forward still, I’m hoping to create more video content for Next Gen Base and myself. I’ve already got some ideas cooked up which I’m pretty excited about.

Ultimately I want to create more stuff of worth and while I’ll still write personal posts, honestly it’s a kinda therapy, I’m keen to share some of my knowledge. So expect some tutorial type things in the future.

But for now, I’m just setting the groundworks so bookmark this site and follow me on Twitter for future updates.

Image courtesy of Brent Timmermans on Unsplash