2004 / August 15^th/ Opening Reception

Welcome! This is the unveiling of my newest web site, Warpspire. This is a grand occasion and I want everyone to enjoy themselves to the fullest. As promised, coffee and tea will be served shortly. What’s that? I’ve just been told there will not be coffee and tea; we’ll have to settle for pie and punch. So please, take a piece of pie, grab a cup of punch and site down because we’re going to celebrate like it’s 1999.

I’m going to kick this blog off with a good old fashioned design review. It may be boring to those normal folk out there, but for those design geeks this is as good as it gets.

I started Warpspire last year as mostly a piece to add to my portfolio and to have a bit of fun. I’ve always strived to do something different, and boy was the first version different. That version sure didn’t last too long, so I took it upon myself to use a few photos and create a better version. As you can see, I was a bit naive with some of my thoughts, but I’m proud to display my ignorance. It shows how I’ve grown as a designer.

Origins of this design

Now let’s not be fooled, this re design has spanned across half a year. I’ve taken quite a bit of time to think this through, both functionality wise, brand wise, and design wise. I knew I wanted something that projected my personality so I started brainstorming words that described me. I came up with a few, “California”, “Music”, and “Volkswagen.” Soon after I found this stunning photograph and right there and then I decided this would be the basis for my redesign.

The path of my design

The first concept I came up with really only served the photograph and nothing else. It wasn’t terrible, but after staring at it for a few weeks, I realized it was not the direction I wanted to go.

The second concept I produced came after the excellent wicked worn series. I loved it. I had attempted to achieve those effects with version 2 of this site, but it didn’t quite get there. Now that I had to the tools, I thoguht I had a final concept. A few days later after staring at the design I noticed I had commited a design sin. I became so utterly infactuated with the worn look I didn’t think to use it in moderation. I overdid it. Majorly.

The third concept I produced I really liked, hell I loved it. I thought it was a great design, but I decided not to go with it. I felt as though I just sat over at www.blakems.com and copied all of his design elements, which isn’t too far from what I did. Being the honest person I am, I couldn’t have let this pass me by and haunt me day to day, so I threw it in the gutter.

It came to me like a dream

Finally I was sitting at my desk one night opening envelopes and “it came to me like a dream.” If you’re a designer, you know exactly what I mean. It’s like a small epiphany. I rushed to Photoshop and just had to create. I was sick of my old site design and tore it down for the time being and replaced it with this inspired graphic. I loved it and got some great feedback from my friends. I decided to go with it and what came up is what you’re looking at right now.

Obviously I didn’t get here all by myself. I’d like to point out a few websites that I have copied and stolen ideas from. I suggest, no I demand you check them out. They are masters of their art and deserve all the best.

• www.cameronmoll.com
• www.justwatchthesky.com
• www.blakems.com

That’ll be all for my first real ‘blog’ entry, it’s been fun and I hope you enjoyed the pie and punch. I’ll be posting an overview about how I dealt with the IA and functionality of my redesign sometime soon. Until then, explore this site in more detail. I think you’ll find there’s a lot more information than appears on the surface. I’ll be updating other sections of this site heavily in the next few weeks. If you see an error somewhere, please disregard it unless it persists for longer than 72 hours. This thing is very much a work in progress.

1. 

   Daniel Oliver

   August 10^th | #

   Great site Kyle. I love the design, without question one of the nicest looking blogs I have read.
   I’m also looking forward to reading your entries in the future. Your first post is a blinder. Keep it up.

   Daniel Oliver.

2. 

   Kyle Neath

   August 13^th | #

   Why thank you Daniel :)

   First comment and I haven’t even set this thing live yet. Much more is to come, much much more.

3. 

   Wired

   August 16^th | #

   Dude, love the new design!

4. 

   Kat

   August 16^th | #

   It looks fantastic. I think it’s probably the nicest looking powered by WordPress site I’ve seen so far. :-)

   Be prepared for some porno visitors because of the word ‘fluff’ which I never realized until recently had any porn connotations.

5. 

   Benjamin

   August 17^th | #

   I encountered your site in the WordPress forums a few days ago, and absolutely loved the temporary splash graphic. I wanted to post it in the forums, but I thought it would be out of place.

   All I can say is: good job.

6. 

   Kyle Neath

   August 18^th | #

   I am overwhelmed with the compliments I’ve gotten on this design. Just wanted to take some time to thank you all - those of you who have emailed me - those who have posted in forums - and even those who have posted in their blogs.

   Expect more coming Monday.

7. 

   Anton

   August 20 | #

   Fantastic design!
   Be forwarned: You’ve just been bookmarked.

   Did you say something about pie and punch?
   looks around

8. 

   Christina

   November 30^th | #

   I came across your web page by accident while searching for something and it just caught my eye so I looked into it. I like your formatt because of how it appeals to me. It’s very nice because I can see a whole lot of personality on how you write your journal entries and such.

   You seem to be very good at what you do. I hope you get the best out of your college that you should get. But yeah, I am going to read everything on this web page as soon as I have time.

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