It started with an idea!! I’d been using a corkboard background for my streams for years, and I wanted to bring that same feeling into the rest of my branding!
Throughout the redesign, I kept asking myself, “What if I tried this?” A portfolio inside an old computer monitor? A stream playing on a retro TV? A contact form that looks like a handwritten note? Sometimes I knew how to make it happen. Other times, I had to research, experiment, and troubleshoot until the pieces clicked!
The result is a website that feels like my own little creative corner: nostalgic, playful, and full of personality!
Starting Simple
The navigation is the simplest part of the website, and that’s intentional! With so much personality throughout the pages, I wanted the menu to stay straightforward and easy to use!
This IS where my branding starts, though!! Pink makes its first appearance here and carries throughout the website, tying all those eclectic pieces together!
The Homepage
Now we’re getting into the corkboard look!! Right out of the gate, there’s a pinned introduction, label tape, and a scattering of stickers featuring my own illustrations! The pushpins make their first appearance here, too, setting the scene for the rest of the website!
I wanted the homepage to feel like a little peek into my creative space! There’s a spot for my graphic design, my latest writing, and my other creative work... because of course I couldn’t pick just ONE thing to show off! An updating Instagram feed brings in what I’ve been sharing lately, while the neon countdown adds a little glow and keeps holiday ordering deadlines front and center!
Continuing the Feel!
Below are the contact page, the top of the blog feed, and an individual blog post! Each carries that corkboard look a little further, with layered paper, pinned photos, and handwritten text!
I wanted the contact form to feel like leaving me a handwritten note... right down to circling your preferred way to hear back! The blog previews look like photos pinned above little scraps of paper, while the posts themselves live on lined notebook pages. It’s all part of making the website feel personal, playful, and very ME!!
For the About page, I wanted it to look like someone had clipped a few newspaper articles and pinned them to the board! Serif fonts, columns, thin dividing lines, and aged paper give this page its own personality while keeping it connected to the rest of the site!
The headline “Local Creative Refuses to Pick Just One Hobby” felt VERY appropriate!! I also included a Q&A my friend Annette wrote about me back in 2019. Giving it the newspaper treatment was a fun way to bring a little piece of the studio’s history into its new look!
My Portfolio!
This is where I let my inner ’90s kid take over!! I wanted my portfolio to live inside an old computer monitor, with floppy disks representing each category! And those aren’t just pictures on the screen... the links actually work! Visitors can choose a category or use the expand icon to open the larger portfolio view!
The Projects!
Once you choose a category, you’re back at the corkboard!! I kept these pages simple so the work could speak for itself, with taped thumbnails and pink paper headings tying everything together!
Clicking a project opens a closer look: a pinned featured image, a notebook-style space for the story and additional photos, and a little taped list of categories to keep exploring!
Some categories are still a little sparse... I’m working on bringing more of my past projects into this portfolio! There’s plenty more to share. I just have to get it all ON THE BOARD!!
My Twitch Stream
And of course, I couldn’t leave my streaming page out of the fun!! My Twitch stream plays inside a retro TV, with chat tucked into an old iPhone beside it! I added scanlines and subtle shading to help the video feel like it belongs on that screen!
The neon heading changes depending on whether I’m live or offline, too! This page took plenty of experimenting to get everything lined up... but seeing my actual stream playing inside that TV made it SO worth it!!
In Conclusion
What started as a corkboard background for my streams turned into a whole little creative world!! This redesign gave me room to bring together my work, my interests, and all those little details that make Eclectic Turtle Studio feel like ME!
There was plenty of experimenting, troubleshooting, and “What if I tried this?” along the way... and I learned so much by figuring it all out! I’m still adding projects to the board, but I’m proud to have a home for them that feels this much like my own creative space!
