Other Websites by San
I’ve been creating Web pages (and, in some cases, entire sites) since the Web first went public back in 1993. Web-design fashion changes all the time, and websites evolve (and sometimes disappear), which can make it awkward to link to them as examples of my design work. I’ve already shown you a few, so I’ll just briefly describe here a couple more sites I’ve built.
A Portfolio Site for Another Artist
I built a website for my sister as a surprise birthday present. (And boy, was she surprised!) The site showcases her collages, poetry, and two short plays she wrote; and is also, of course, another example of my Web design. It’s the most minimalist Web design I’ve ever done, which is appropriate given the very spare, purely abstract collages that it showcases.
This montage is much busier looking than anything on the actual site. If you go there, you’ll see why just shrinking one of its rather minimalist pages into a little “splash image” like this one wouldn’t work. The same design approach that works fine in one context can fall flat in another.
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A Small-Business Webzine
Although I usually freelance, I have occasionally worked on staff. Years ago, at the request of my then-employer, I created a small-business webzine (and, later, print magazine) targeted at freelance professionals.
I designed the site, hired a small staff, and built what rapidly became the world’s most successful site of its kind (as defined by “traffic” — that is, numbers of readers).
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We won design awards and garnered glowing reviews in the mainstream press. The high point was when we were nominated for a British Academy Award — in an “Entertainment” category, no less! I went to the posh awards dinner in London, which was fun, but we were beaten by a British bird-watchers site.
That’s me (the tall guy in the maroon shirt) supervising a press run of the print version of the magazine.
All this was during the dot-com boom (late 1990’s–early 2000’s) and, like most sites at that time, we lacked a viable business model, lost money, and eventually went under. I learned that being “Editor-in-Chief and Creative Director” of a small, struggling magazine isn’t as glamorous as it sounds. I also learned that managing staff is very different from managing vendors (which is what I was used to). I made a lot of mistakes, but I think I did pretty well on the creative and technical side.
Oh well… you know the old Amish saying: We grow too soon old and too late smart.
Bits & Pieces
I’ve crafted various components for other websites over the years, such as business text, popular columns, illustrations, and brief animations. Although I’m an experienced creative director and have managed entire teams, I’m still primarily an individual illustrator, designer, and writer at heart. I’m happy to create components for use by other Web developers in their projects, and I can take creative direction as well as give it.
I created the “Center for Advanced Graphics” logo for a college where I’d previously taught a computer-graphics course. They also hired me to create this illustration, which utilized a version of the logo. Both the logo and the illustration were used on their website and in a printed brochure I designed and produced for them. (Click the illustration to see the logo, and vice-versa.)
I invite you to look around this site (Sanstudio) and my other main site (Santhology) to get a good sense of what I’m capable of. Perhaps there’s something useful I could do for you, too. If so, it’s easy to get in touch and tell me what you’re thinking.
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