Happy Birthday

Today is my birthday. As a personal gift to myself I am launching a new website. Its a big deal!

My previous site was an entirely custom design of CraftCMS and was built buy a friend, Jonathan Forby. It worked fantastic! Until it didn’t. I considered switching to Webflow, or Cargo, or... any number of no-code site builder options. And then I decided on Notion. Yes, the project management/note-taking app.

I’m a designer so this might seem a little strange — why not design something fresh, a new container for new work? Well. Let me list a few reasons.

1. It’s familiar

As a familiar tool, it creates a unique experience with new content. The container is now more transparent leaving the content more visible. Hopefully any shock of being on Notion fades when the work can speak for itself.

2. It’s simple

I can edit! Any CMS is too much of a content management system for me. This is as simple (and plain) as it gets. Basic content blocks.

3. It’s fun

The simplicity and familiarity make it fun! Folks are doing incredible things with Notion. I’m still learning but this gives me the platform to more easily and quickly edit my little corner of the internet. That makes it fun!

It’s been 30 months since I edited my last site. I hope on Notion I can edit weekly.

...Cons

No custom fonts. I have three options: sans, serif, and mono. I’m fairly certain this is Commercial Type’s Lyon Text. But at what point does it fallback to system fonts (depending on browser or hardware)? So here you are probably reading Lyon Text... or is it New York (Apple’s Georgia-esque serif font), or is it just Georgia?? You’ll have to tell me.

(I realize Super is a Notion builder with custom fonts. My point is to maintain simplicity.)

So...

Here it is: Notion is my CMS. In the end I want to make a website that is more poetic and less prosaic. I want to lean into sincerity, openness, and humility in design practice and presentation.

Stay tuned.

All things flow.