January 1, 2006

Hell Freezes Over

It took me nearly two years to make this website. This is partly because of how busy I've been and partly because I'm insane.

My insanity takes the form of perfectionism. I find it nearly impossible to produce work I judge to be anything less than exceptional. This may sound like a false negative, akin to the sort of answer one gives in job interviews when asked to identify a personal weakness, but in practice it can make it difficult to produce exceptional work, or produce any work, really, as witness the interminable length of this project.

In fairness to myself, even the relatively sane tend to go off the deep end when it comes to issues of identity. This is particularly true when the identity in question is that of oneself or one's company. Still, even allowing for a sizable dollop of small-business-owner angst, I'm at the extreme end.

Case in point: The new design for this site didn't just need to be good; it needed to be good in a way that aligned perfectly with my business and hence with me, since my business is mainly me—me plus a handful of project-based consultants. This sense of alignment, of harmony and "rightness," is nearly impossible to achieve, besides being subjective as hell. It is also the essence of good design. Sadly I haven't a clue how one gets there aside from charging ahead with bullheaded determination, trying everything one can think of, repeating backing out and regrouping, succumbing at times to frustration and self-doubt, but then trying again and failing again, over and over, until something finally works. Ideally.

Happy Bullets

Such is the story of my re-christened website, minus the excruciating details, which I'll spare you. Instead this is a time for celebration. I jumped over my shadow, as the Austrians say, and finished the project.

Two big happy bullets:

• My business, formerly Bluearcher Media, is now Luminous. Goodbye faithful archer, hello happy sunflower.
• This website is new as well. Revamped and redesigned, it uses haikus in place of business copy (I couldn't bear to write business copy) and features a weblog about making websites (you're soaking in it).

My thanks to everyone who suggested a new name for my business. Your courage is not forgotten. Big thanks too to Blaise K and Beth Cherry for their design help. Extra big thanks to Andrew Boardman, who convinced me to do this and was unflagging in his support (design and otherwise), and to K for her love and so much more.

My only remaining concern is hell. Now that it has frozen over, are all the poor souls down there stuck forever in ice? If so, it must have been a drag when they realized that the sudden drop in temperature, which had only just rescued them from the ravages of eternal fire, was to be their icy doom. Sorry, people.

Published in Business, Luminous, Process