It's official, v5 of www.k97.in is live!
This has been genuinely exciting for me. After years of having my website hosted on various third-party platforms, I finally have my own web space with complete control over everything. The previous versions always left me feeling constrained, like I was renting rather than owning my digital presence.
The long road to custom
I've been thinking about building a custom tech stack for what feels like an era, and I finally started working on it properly. The wireframes I sketched out had been sitting in my notebook for ages, just waiting for the right moment to come to life.
When I moved into high-level design work, something unexpected happened. I was struck by the BMW i8 concept design, specifically those futuristic, flowing curves along the sides of the car.
Even though the production version of the i8 turned out quite different from the concept, I couldn't shake the idea of translating those flexuous curves into my website design. After several interpretations and iterations, I arrived at this design.
Design inspiration from unexpected places
I think I managed to do justice to the car's original aesthetic, though I completely understand this kind of design inspiration can be totally subjective. There's something about taking inspiration from completely different industries, automotive design influencing web design, that appeals to me. It forces you to think differently about digital spaces.
What's next
I don't intend to dive into the full design and development process here right now, but I'm planning to document it properly in a detailed post later. There are quite a few technical decisions and design challenges worth sharing with anyone interested in building their own custom platform.
For now, let's keep this simple and ceremonial. The v5 is here, it's mine, and I'm pretty chuffed about it.
Time to see what this new space can do.