It's hard to believe how much time has passed, better yet how time has flown by. I vividly remember my friend showing me the first line of HTML and the rest is history. That must've been 1996/97-ish back when I was just a youngster starting out in this "web" thing. The site has and always will be a hobby project and nothing more. Unlike actual client projects at work, this is my blank canvas/palette and here's the journey...
2001
// v1.2 - The first version of my site was actually in 1998, however can't find the files nor is it on archive.org. Macromedia Flash and Dreamweaver had just hit the market and were game changers. If you look close at the photo, you'll see a broken Flash file. I can't even remember what the animation was (haha). This particular version was influenced by a number of gaming sites from that era. Dark, high contrast colors, rigid layout with a heavy use of tables as you can see. I honestly wasn't using any CSS back then, but then again it was still in its infancy (1996).
2004
// v2.0 - I went the minimalist route with version 2. I can't remember if there was a particular site or sites that influenced me at the time with this minimalist theme type, but I rolled with it. I utilized a simple jump menu on the homepage to take the user to the various sections. There was a 7-year gap between this site and the next version in 2011. During this time I was full steam ahead in web development and had little time to spend on my site. Fast forward to 2011...
2011
// v3.0 - 2011 I was into my second year at efelle primarily focusing on front-end development. This was also the first time working with a creative group in a creative environment. I can honestly say this re-sparked my creative juices back to my foundation (design). During this time I also took on more fun projects for friends, friends of friends and family.
2012
// v4.0 - The previous version didn't last long, however remember, I was excited to be back in the "front-end" world. This was also a shift toward a "less is more" approach as deep down I've always been a minimalist person. I removed the portfolio pages as most of that work was outdated and didn't serve a purpose seeing how I had been out of the graphic design world since college and hadn't drawn anything in while. This was also the first version converting my site into more of an online resume. I also transitioned my domain to marctakeuchi.com.
2017
// v5.0 - Another big gap between versions however kept the same simple "resume" theme. The main update with this particular site was the use of Bootstrap and Sass and was the first "responsive" version. That was the most fun aspect about this version, but overall wasn't extremely happy with it. I had transitioned out of front-end development into a client facing role so my focus was on digital marketing and SEO.
2020...
// v6.0 - Well, here we are. Not much to say about this version other then the inspiration and overall design came on a whim. I can't pinpoint what the spark was however design is something I think about all the time. Art in general has been part of my life and a hobby since I was a kid so even though I'm far removed from doing design full time, I still like to stay engaged the creative world. As I mentioned in the intro, this is my fun online hobby project. Will I change it up completely next week, month, year, retire it altogether? We'll see!
