Speeding Through 2016
On December 31 2016 at around 3pm, I was reminded by Charles Deluvio that I had until midnight to push an update (no matter how small) to my personal website — a tradition that I’ve been keeping up with these past few years. It’s my way to look back, reflect on the year and challenge myself to put something up online in time for the new year. This time I ended up screen recording the whole 5-hour process: from design to development.
Process aside, while working on my site I reflected upon everything that happened during the year from a personal perspective. Without further ado, here are my lighthearted takeaways from 2016 without getting much into details and in no particular order:
- I experimented a lot.
- You can rent an old bank and turn it into a coffee shop.
- Getting an outdoor sign approved by the city is not a simple process.
- Kickstarter works — you just gotta hit a major milestone in the first few days.
- Front-end development tools are changing faster than ever — what was cool a year ago is pretty much obsolete today.
- I can’t go back to browsing the web without an extension that replaces my new tabs (and from the looks of it, I’m not alone).
- I love digital, but there’s just something about physical products: no bug fixes, not tweaking. You ship once.
- If it’s a patch, make sure it’s sewn on.
- Never thought I’d be designing socks — then again, I did design a sweatshirt.
- My friends opened up the best bun joint in town — which also became my most popular photo on Unsplash.
- Speaking of photos, I realized that I mainly shoot when I travel. I’d like to change that.
- I gave a talk to a bunch of designers (and have yet to release the slides). Maybe I’ll release them in 2017.
All in all, it was a crazy year that made me more than ready for 2017. Onwards.
www.kirillz.com
Wanna work with me? Unsplash is looking for a like-minded designer and front-end developer to join the team. Shoot me an email at design@unsplash.com with a blurb about yourself and the design/development challenges that you’ve faced this past year :) You can also learn more about our open positions and hiring practices at https://unsplash.com/hiring
