Building my portfolio like a product.

The brief

I treat this site as a product with one user and one job.

• User: anyone curious about who I am, not only recruiters.
• Job: answer "who is this person, and what do they make?"
• Proof: craft. The work is the evidence: live tools, real screenshots, case studies.
• Conversion: a conversation. Every page ends with "Let's chat."

That brief came on October 8. Most of what happened before it was finding it.

Where it started

On September 15, 2026, I rebuilt my 2021 Indiana University portfolio and a Notion page into one static site. It has no framework and no build step: hand-written HTML and CSS, with small scripts that generate the repetitive pages.

Decisions

1. Sep 15Start from plain HTML.

   Hosted on Vercel, with no framework to maintain. Version one was a homepage and seven case studies.

2. Sep 16A wordmark instead of a symbol.

   I drew eight logo directions as SVGs on one page and picked a plain wordmark.

3. Sep 16Put games on the site, but make them free until played.

   Snake, Galaga and a generative lo-fi radio, loaded only when someone scrolls to them or presses play.

4. Sep 16Every case study from one template.

   A small script writes each project page from structured content, so every page has the same shape: the problem, what I did, results, what I'd do differently, artifacts. Anything I hadn't confirmed was tagged in the copy instead of guessed.

5. Sep 20One system, a macOS desktop.

   Folders and windows across the whole site, inspired by renee.wiki. I also cut the thin pages.

6. Sep 21Try other framings as real pages.

   A product requirements doc, a field notebook and an engineering schematic, each a working homepage rather than a mockup.

7. Sep 27An Apple design pass, but keep my font.

   Semantic colors, an 8-point grid and calmer glass. I kept Poppins instead of switching to the system font.

8. Oct 1Launch the desktop.

   Unconfirmed details were hidden from visitors rather than shown with placeholder text.

9. Oct 4A quieter direction: Stamp.

   Gallery-like and artifact-first, inspired by liumichelle.com. Real screenshots instead of descriptions.

10. Oct 6Headlines say the problem, not a number.

    Each project's title says what it solves. The figures moved into the supporting line, and every number now matches my resume. The resume itself is now generated from one source file.

11. Oct 8Write the brief, then cut everything that didn't fit it.

    The site is for anyone curious, not a job application. I removed the role-seeking lines, replaced my red name seal with my name brushed in black ink, and added a Builds tab for the tools I make.

12. Oct 9Two more brand finalists.

    Ink, monochrome with a brush wordmark, and Desktop Craft, Apple-style polish. Both were built as live pages.

13. Oct 11Every build gets its own story and a screenshot of it in use.

    If the work is the evidence, a thumbnail isn't enough. Each tool got a case page and a capture of it actually running.

14. Oct 11Stamp becomes the homepage.

    The project pages were restyled to match, so clicking a card no longer drops you into another design.

15. Oct 11Let an AI reviewer read the code that builds this site.

    My Code Improver subagent reviewed the page generator. Its top finding was real: a template page was publicly reachable. I fixed that and the other thirteen findings.

16. Oct 12One design, and the tools run live.

    I retired every other design. Web apps on the Builds tab now open live in the page, the background got a soft gradient, and the games moved to their own arcade page.

Backlog

From the backlog I wrote on October 8. Done items stay on the list, so it stays honest.

• DonePick one direction and retire the rest. Oct 12
• DoneA case page for every build, not just a thumbnail. Oct 11
• DoneReal screenshots of every tool in use. Oct 11
• DoneAnswer or cut every unconfirmed detail on the live pages. Oct 11
• DoneConsolidate five layers of stylesheet into one design. Oct 12
• OpenAnalytics on every page, counting "Let's chat" clicks. That's the one number this site should move.
• OpenReal artifacts for the EY and Tritooling case studies.
• OpenBrush 김채운 by hand and scan it in, instead of using a font.
• OpenA link preview that shows the work, not statistics.
• OpenA custom domain.
• OpenSelf-host Poppins, the last request that blocks the first paint.
• OpenFinish and publish the case study on choosing this brand.

Considering

Ideas I haven't committed to yet.

• IdeaA bookshelf: what I'm reading and what stuck.
• Idea"How I work" principles in About.
• IdeaAn excerpt from my memoir, The Treaded Path, and a list of my Medium essays.
• IdeaOne testimonial from someone I've built with.
• IdeaPlayable cards: a mini TypeRace or Snake right in the grid.
• IdeaA public changelog. This page is the first step.

Last updated October 14, 2026.