Hey, everyone!
It's been a while since I shared some design work.
I feel a little bit ashamed because I'm a huge advocate of sharing work, and I wasn't leading by a good example lately. Client work (under NDA) is still taking most of my focus and time these days. But today, I'm jumping back on track to tell you about two of my "own" projects.
But before I do so, I'd like to ask you to be discreet. These are still in progress and yet to be released. I mean, feel free to tell your friends it's coming, but please, hold on with your public Tweets for now.
Reelz
The first project I want to talk about (this is a world premiere 🥁) has the codename
Reelz.
Last year, when we worked on our new agency showreel, I noticed there isn't a "go-to" inspiration source for design showreel videos. It takes a lot of manual searching to find good videos, and the latest releases are often missed and forgotten. (Unless someone retweets them.)
I want to change that.
Since last December, I've been saving inspiring video showreels in categories like UX/UI, motion, graphic design, or 3D. The goal was to create a collection of videos that I could save in my personal inspiration library.
But as the list of links started to grow, I thought I could do much more with it. Besides, why not help teams and individual creators to promote their work?
And just like that, a new project was born.
To be more specific, I designed and built a new website in Webflow that works like a video gallery (incl. filtering by topic/category). It’s a creative feed showcasing inspiring and noteworthy content. Similar to sites like SiteInspire or Awwwards. But this one is for design videos!
The website itself is already finished and filled with content. I'm only doing final polishing and thinking about the last missing piece - the name and domain. But otherwise, it's pretty close to "done” for the first version.
I'm attaching two previews to show you the latest design. The homepage and video detail are the most important. But the site also includes a submission form so that anyone can add their video.
In the end, it should be a community effort to help this grow, and that is exactly my intention for the future.
New portfolio for @nwjczk
The second project is a new portfolio for my colleague and friend Nela. She's a video producer/cinematographer, and we've been working together for a while now. We always have such a great time! For example, we collaborated over the new agency video I mentioned above.
Nela currently promotes her work on Vimeo and Instagram. But we recently talked about her having a portfolio website as well. Simple page to present work and share a short bio + CV.
We saw this as a great opportunity to experiment, and we're already in the early stages of making it happen. The draft I'm sharing below is quite "raw," but it outlines a possible creative direction we may go for.
The vision for the web experience is to have a lot of moving parts, so everything feels "restless." Some of the ideas we're exploring include a horizontal text scroll loop, animated thumbnails, or a "white noise." background. There is even a possibility to use some old VHS/film effects because that's Nela's favorite style. I'll design and build this in Webflow, too (one-page website). As far as my experience and research go, it's all doable.
I hope the website will help Nela push her "brand" further and get more attention for her work. But most importantly, we want to enjoy the process of making it because that's what it is all about.
I’ll be sharing more updates about both projects here in this newsletter and on my socials. Work-in-progress IG Stories and Tweets are coming!
Once they are ready to launch, I’ll ping you again so we can all enjoy hitting the publish button. And who knows, maybe even do a Q&A session and share unused versions.
Have a great week, and see you soon!
A.
Links & inspiration
A collection of links to stuff I'm currently digging
🔤 Font - II Increments Sans - A rhythmic and composed sans-serif that could fit nicely anywhere. PS: It’s on sale!
📚 Book - Will by Will Smith - A gift from my girlfriend that turned out to be way better than expected. Will offers a very personal insight into his whole life and how he became who he is today. Three chapters in, I can’t get this book out of my hands.
🧩 Plugin - Glyph Picker (Figma) - Do you need to grab symbols such as “©, ★, ▲, →,“? There is a Figma plugin for that! I use it almost daily.
🎦 Video - Being Nyjah Huston (The Pivot Podcast) - Nyjah is one of my favorite skateboarders and a role model in work ethics and discipline. Btw. There is a few more nice podcasts with him on The Nine Club.