Notes from the build.
Thoughts on code, design, and building software worth using.
I Finally Made an Instagram for This (Yes, Really)
Eight projects into freelancing and I've never had a proper place to share the process - just the polished portfolio. That changes now.
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Built in a Week: The Lazy Mermaid Murals, and What a Portfolio Site for an Artist Actually Needs
A mural artist's website has a completely different job than a booking platform. Here's what I learned building one in seven days - and why the gallery had to come before anything else.
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Red Flags to Watch For Before You Pay a Developer (A Guide for Non-Technical Clients)
Most people who get burned hiring a developer aren't naive - they just didn't know what to look for. Here are the specific warning signs, before money changes hands.
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5 Things Every Website Needs Before Launch (That Most Sites Skip)
Not design opinions - just the small, unglamorous things that quietly determine whether a site actually works once real people start using it.
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Three Photos I Took With My Phone (And What They Accidentally Taught Me About Design)
I never expected photography to teach me anything about building interfaces. Then I looked back at a few of my own phone photos and realized I'd been thinking about framing this whole time - just in the wrong medium.
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What I Actually Ask Before Starting Any Project (And Why Each Question Matters)
Every project I've ever regretted started with skipped questions. Here's the discovery process I actually use now, and the specific reason behind each part of it.
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The Difference Between a Website That Looks Done and One That Is Done
A demo can look finished in five minutes. Actually, finishing something takes a lot longer - and almost none of that extra time is visible unless you know where to look.
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I've Built Five Trekking Booking Platforms. Here's What the Industry Doesn't Tell You Online.
After building booking systems for five different trekking and expedition companies, some patterns kept showing up that had nothing to do with code - and everything to do with how this industry actually works.
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Why Your $199 Website Quote Isn't Actually Cheap (And Your $8,000 One Isn't Either)
Pricing in web development makes no sense from the outside. Here's what's actually happening on both ends - the $199 quote and the $8,000 one - and how to tell which one is lying to you.
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Why I Rebuilt My Portfolio From Scratch (No Templates, No Shortcuts)
Every developer's portfolio looks the same. Here's why I spent weeks building mine from a blank file instead - and what I learned about scrollytelling, animation systems, and actually finishing something.
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