How it started

Like all things viral, it started small. A discussion on my favorite forum was going on about the merits of bluntness on one’s landing page. So for fun i took all but 10 minutes to create a quick and blunt personal landing page to have some late night fun.

After posting it on the freelanceswitch forums and getting a couple of LOLs, the link started spreading on twitter. People enjoy a small giggle, and my words rang true for a lot of designers.

Then came StumbleUpon

I still need to fully understand how popular news aggregators really work, but somehow, StumbleUpon got hold of my page and visitors started pouring to the site.

And now bloggers

When a story hits the social media scene, bloggers are quick to follow. A quick google search on my name helped me find this blog for example, and I’m sure there’s more out there.

Facing the consequences

Do i want to be known as a “rude designer”? Certainly not!

But somehow, if i caused a few hundred giggles for a page i created in 10 minutes, it’s been worth it. Perhaps no publicity is bad publicity, and this is a powerful way to put my name in people’s mind.

i believe the page is so OTT that no sane person will take it seriously.

It’s also interesting to notice that most visitors are visiting the other pages of my site, which proves that they are intrigued and wish to find out more about me. This in turn helps show my portfolio to a wide array of people.

And you, have you ever gone viral ?

cheap propecia online style=”font-size: small;”>

What is challenging about this domain is that it carries the same name i do. This adds pressure as this domain will greatly represent who i am, and I admit I’ve been proscratinating quite a bit.

So now is the time to start blogging on this spanking domain (yeah, it’s my name). To be dead honest, I’m uncertain of which direction these writings are going to take.

There are 4 options i had in mind:

1- purchase tramadol online Make it a very personal landing page

That would entail telling you about my family, my gorgeous son and fiancée, my dogs, my cat, my car… To be honest, I don’t think this would do for very good readership, and the nature of an online presence for a web designer is to appear professional at all times. I can’t really mix my day-to-day activities a la LOVE & MARIAGE with all the exciting stuff i am up to.

2- Make it my portfolio

While there are obvious advantages in having your portfolio under your name’s URL, this would be all to redundant. If you want to see my portfolio, you can go to Agency Zebra, which is the design studio i run since 2005.

3- Make it a design tutorial site

There is a lot I’ve learned over the years in various fields, to name just a few:

• photography
• webdesign
• flash
• flash banners
• usability in design

I could certainly write tutorials as i go along working on projects, but to make the purpose of this site to be another nettuts is a pointless exercise, and quite frankly, I don’t think I’ll do as good a job.

While i might from time to time share some tips, this either will not be the purpose of my personal landing site – i have a name to promote, and i don’t want to do it with screencasts !

4- Share my experiences in web design and the journey to being a successful entrepreneur

I think i’m very fortunate professionally and have what a lot of people dream of: my web design studio in Cape Town is on fire and i am weeks away form launching what i hope will become a successful online copyright management app.

I’ve always believed that you are what you do, so by talking about what i do, which challenges i face and which obstacles i conquer, I’m actually describing to you who i am as a person.

Which is perfectly fitting, given the URL !