I’ve got some news for you all.
I bought another new domain name a few months back. As many of you know, I’m addicted to quality coffee (surprisingly, I’m not addicted to coffee – I can go days without – just that when I drink coffee or espresso, I demand quality coffee and espresso). Anyway, with that tangent out of the way, I decided to get a coffee fan type domain name, and I got one.
My first three choices were gone (I hate domain name hoarders sometimes – all three choices are currently unused, but registered to cash parkers), but my fourth choice (on a list of 10) was available, so I grabbed it.
Take a peek at www.coffeekid.com
The deal is this – I’ve been thinking about having a coffee specific website for months now. I sketched it out, planned it out, wanted to see what was possible. There just isn’t any quality coffee and espresso hobby websites online — at least none with any real design modus — and I wanted to be one of the first to make it happen.
When I first started to think about it, I was just going to link it within this website in a revamped “coffee time” section. Or perhaps host it on a geocities-style website (this was before Yahoo bought them this year).
But the design for it grew and grew and grew, and it became obvious that I would need to host it at its own domain.
In that time, one design morphed into a second. The second into a third. The third was scrapped (it used frames). I started again from the ground up. I wanted how tos. I wanted to post product reviews with photos and audio. I wanted to have a photo library I could easily add to. I wanted to talk about the latest products, techniques and theories around coffee. I wanted to showcase my first love (espresso) and my newly discovered love (vacpots).
So the writing of content continued, and the design process continued. At one point, it had a full 3D style graphic design interface, but 2D and “flat” design is now in vogue, so I ditched all that for a more flat design.
Eventually, I had to launch something even though I was still going nuts with new web designs almost every week.
So while I launched a site that contains roughly 300 images, 70 pages and tons of code only a week ago, I’m already redesigning it. If you want a sneak peak, point your browser to www.coffeekid.com/newsite (ed.note, link is gone now), but keep in mind only the main page and the espresso page have any real content at the moment.
So what do you think? Like the current design, or prefer the new one? Let me know!
To be honest, I’m just glad and proud it is online. I’m pretty convinced it’s the only visually designed, advanced web site online right now dedicated to the love of coffee. There’s others of course, but they are super basic html pages that look like essays and not much more. I’ve tried to make coffeekid as visual and eye catching as I could, and have included tons of scanned photos, and even some audio recordings. I’m working on trying out video too, but I’ll have to see what the traffic is like.
As of this public launch, there are sections:
- Obsessions: The gamut of my coffee and espresso obsession. Discover my progression towards quality coffee, stuff about home roasting, and more.
- Espresso: The section of my site dealing solely with espresso, including cross linkage to other parts of this site.
- Vacuum Coffee Brewing: I think it’s the best way to make non-espresso coffee – read to find out more!
- Story Time: Coffee and tellin’ stories – what could be better? Creative writing with a definite coffee feeling to them.
- Rancilio Silvia: There is not one “fan” Rancilio site on the Net that I could find, so I created my own.
- Other Stuff: Discover recipes, some nifty images (all original), links and more.
- Reviews: A few reviews here and there of coffee and espresso equipment
- How Tos: My meagre attempts at trying to show you how to use a vac pot and brew espresso!
I also bought another domain name that’s coffee related, but I’m not quite sure what I’ll do with it yet. (ed.note, 2021 – it was the coffeegeek.com domain :))
WebMotif
WebMotif is also currently undergoing a complete redesign, and I’m having major personal issues on it. See the thing is, I finished the redesign. But I didn’t upload it because I didn’t like it. I liked it when I originally designed it but as I finished it up, I didn’t like it anymore. I have that problem. So I trashed all the new design, and started from scratch. There are parts online, but they are very raw at the moment. If you want to scope those out, check out my new logo at www.webmotif.com
The biggest problem in my design life is that I’m a bloody perfectionist. No, not a perfectionist. I’m never satisfied. I think there’s a difference between the two. A perfectionist can possibly stop when he or she sees perfection. Someone who’s never satisfied with their work can never be truly happy with it. I’m the same way with my clients’ work as well, but long ago I learned to put a halt to it at some point, otherwise I’d never get stuff done, or get paid. I get juiced about a project, get tons of ideas, but when it comes time to implement them, code them, finish them up, I’m not so juiced about it anymore. I see things I could have done differently, and I have regrets about it. (sidenote – anyone who says in life “I have no regrets” is lying, that’s my opinion). It’s not to say the work I did is the shits – it’s just that I always think I could do better.
Maybe part of my problem is “living” with a design too long.
Or maybe I just prefer the act of “working on a design”, so when the work is done, I miss it, and want to start all over again. I dunno, but it is a quirk in my nature.
A friend (who I discussed this with) told me this is a good thing for my clients and myself. It means I’m always pushing myself to do better. Maybe. But when I finish a project, finish a client’s site, instead of feeling satisfied and fulfilled, I feel disappointed and wanting. Very weird shit.
Oh well, that’s about it for this time. I had a bunch of crap I wanted to write about, but I forget it at this moment. Till next time, thanks for stopping by!
