My New Website

13.12.18 — Burnley

I recently looked back on a blog entry from two years ago, a post which discussed the process of creating what was to be the new-look design for my website, by now rather familiar as the design you are currently looking at. Although novel at the time, I did recognise that it wouldn’t be a design which stuck around forever, as I did end this post with: “here’s to the next two and a half years!”

I may have been somewhat optimistic in making said statement, as I’m here today just two years later discussing the impending launch of a new design. If you take a moment to re-read, you’ll see that I outlined how I had learned a lot since the previous design had been launched, and I have to repeat myself heren as I say that the same is true once again.

I might lose some of you here in the boredom of wittering on about design, and so if you do find yourself dozing off, scroll down a little further in order to pore over some rough previews of what the new site will look like. If you’ve decided to stay with me, let’s have a quick look over the past two iterations of my website’s design.

The first I like to call “the green design” because quite literally everything was green. Titles were green, links were green, and even the preview images for projects had been run through a green filter. The layout was also very square and rigid, making the whole design great for ensuring optimum text legibility and cementing my personal brand, but not much else. The single-column structure didn’t allow for any kind of dynamic layout, and the green smothered the unique look of each individual project.

The second and current iteration, then, was a much-needed improvement over the first, and I call it the “grey design” due to – you guessed it – an overuse of grey. The green was relegated to the ‘Home’ and ‘About’ pages of the site, and there were opportunities to have wider and even full-width images peppered in amongst the text.

With time, however, I begun to realise that the new design had been merely a lick of paint instead of the more thorough re-thinking that the site really needed. I had tinkered with typefaces, image widths, and colours, but I hadn’t really made any significant layout or functionality changes. I was still using the same basic ideas which date back to ancient sketches I made way back in 2012, which you can see as you compare the old design files below.

So what’s next for my site?

This time I have started from the ground up, trying my best to not default to doing things as I have done them in the past, but rather fully examining whether they should be changed. It just so happens that the structure, the first step in developing how the site will work, did not end up getting modified all that much. The familiar three menu items have been joined by a new one, even though it is not actually a new page – just one that has always existed but has had to be accessed from elsewhere. All four options will now be quickly accessible from the redesigned menu bar:

Home
Work
Blog
About

The main structural change comes in the breaking down of the content of the ‘Work’ and ‘Blog’ areas of the site. An attempt has already been made at doing this on my current blog, with an easily-missable link to the travel section barely visible in a column to the right of the content. This puny content-sorting menu will be replaced by a much more visible one in the new design, with the two areas now to be broken down as such:

Work
- Featured
- Typefaces
- Miscellaneous
Blog
- Everything
- Travel
- Design Writing

The minimal and bold style is one I’ve always tried to maintain, and the new design should advance it even further. Gone are the shadows and shades of grey, they’ve given way to a simple black and white colour scheme which should let the content shine through. Of course my trademark green hasn’t been lost, but I’ve changed it to a full neon green – I thought that if I’m going to do green, I might as well go all in! Don’t fear for your retinas just yet, though, as it will be reserved as an accent colour for smaller elements and highlights.

If you’re reading this then I’ll go and assume that you’re most concerned about what will become of my blog, as it will be undergoing some major design changes. Let’s cut straight to the chase and see what’s going to happen:

Larger images

Images will now take up even more space, with captions hidden away unless they’re particularly useful.

A more varied layout

It’ll be possible to place these larger images in different layouts and at different widths, so I’ll be able to tailor the look of each post as I go.

Highlighted quotes

To break up monotonous text, or as an overview for those of who you prefer to look at the photos and skim read, interesting quotes will now be blown up much larger.

Background colours

A subtle detail, but each post will now have a pastel background colour derived from the colours of the images it contains.

Mobile optimisation

Usage data shows that lots of you read my blog on your phone, so the new mobile version has been especially considered. Full width images, clearer text, and a more spacious layout should make for much easier reading on the go.

You’ll notice that I haven’t posted any full screenshots, and that’s because I’m still fussing over final details and the text hasn’t been written yet. I’ll soon have the completed designs soon, but I think I’ll wait for it to be coded and launched live for you all to check it out in full!

If you’d like to be a beta tester, though, please do get in touch! I’ll need some people to check out the code once I start the development. Cheers!

Manchester & Sheffield

12.12.18 — Sheffield

It’s been a while since I updated my blog, I know, but I’m back and as confused as ever. Said confusion is due to the fact that I’ve now to try and recount two trips to Manchester from two weeks ago and not mix the details of the two up. I probably will either way, so I’ll keep everything short and sweet as damage control, and also because I’ve to get this post out quickly in order to start on the backlog of updates I’ve not posted yet…

In between toiling away on my new website (it’s nearly finished I promise) and my portfolio, I’ve also had the pleasure of heading out to spend time with my parents in a few places in and around Burnley. About a fortnight ago we found ourselves in Manchester once again (after I covered our market trip in my last post), this time for a spot of shopping and to check out the city’s creative district, the Northern Quarter.

As I’d enjoyed visiting the crafts shop Fred Aldous so much during my time as a design student in Leeds, I dragged my mum into their original shop in Manchester. There we decided to have a go in their traditional photo booth in a moment of madness, and had a good laugh when the machine spat out the results, still covered in the photographic chemicals.

After stopping for coffee and a bite to eat in a lovely coffee shop along the way, we headed back home, but before three days had gone by I found myself Manchester-bound once more! This time I hitched a lift over with Abi and Danni, as the three of us were due a long-awaited catch up over some bratwurst and glühwein on the markets. That we did with great gusto, all before stumbling upon a little photo booth van amongst the market stalls. With it being free, we decided that we had to give it a twirl, and the props provided led to a hilarious quartet of photos!

That evening the three of us headed back to Danni’s for a few cheeky drinks, which soon got suitably out of hand – but one has to have a proper drunken catch-up every now and then, no?

Anyway, after taking the Sunday off to recover from this, on the Monday morning I found myself once again on the move, only this time back over the border into Yorkshire. I’d arranged to spend a couple of nights at my sister’s student house over in Sheffield, and she’d kindly offered to show me around her city as she’d a couple of days to spare in between her busy uni schedule.

To say that me and Ellie crammed a lot in during my visit would be an understatement, as it felt like we were constantly on the move, eating and drinking our way around the place non-stop!

Explorations began the moment I arrived, as she gave me a quick tour of the city by night, including the gorgeous Winter Gardens and the festive street markets. It was here that we stopped for a Christmas tipple, before I decided I’d brave trying out poutine, a Canadian dish which is basically chips and gravy with the addition of cheese curds.

Being a northerner, I am naturally a huge fan of the humble chips and gravy, but it was the cheese curds that had me on high alert. Anyone who knows me will know that I am picky about cheese at the best of times, and the word ‘curd’ cannot be said to be all that appetising. I was, then, quite delighted as I discovered that the Quebec folk have come up with a winner here, as I did indeed enjoy the glorified chips and gravy.

After this we wandered back to Ellie’s house to drop off our stuff, and then headed pretty much straight back out in order to let our hair down with a few cheeky pints and some spontaneous bingo and karaoke in some bars along the way. After a chance encounter with a takeaway guy who used to serve Ellie her preferred end-of-night dish (cheesy garlic bread) in one of the clubs, we decided it might be time to head homebound, and so I slept my Guinness off in preparation for an early morning.

Ellie had plenty planned for my first foray into Sheffield by daylight, staring with a biology museum that she’d been wittering on about since my arrival. Ellie’s a biology student you see, and, as you may have gauged, I wasn’t really expecting to enjoy said museum as much as I thought that she thought that I would. I won’t judge if you have to re-read that sentence to make sense of it.

Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised at the kooky little converted laboratory that Ellie whisked me off to in the University of Sheffield Biology Building! The relatively small museum was packed to the rafters with curious specimens and artefacts, and I followed intrigued as she led me through the different complexities of life form. We spent quite a while in there before heading to our next stop: the lift in the Arts Tower.

I know what you’re probably thinking: what’s so interesting about a lift (an elevator, for international readers) anyway? Well, this lift is unlike most others, as it’s a non-stop step-on/step-off system! They’re called paternosters, and I found the whole affair rather interesting, so you should go and read more about the thing or check out a video of how it works below – the shoddy photos I took just can’t do the thing any justice!

After surviving a trip in the thing, we hopped (literally had to) off back on ground level and took a stroll upwards through the campus. Ellie had decided we’d have a pizza lunch at Proove, a wood-fired pizza place near her house, as she’d had the place recommended to her time and time again but had never caught a chance to visit. We grabbed the £7.20 lunch menu, and it did not disappoint! It was once of the nicest pizzas I think I’ve ever had, and we followed it up with a delicious dessert consisting of the stretch pizza dough filled with banana, pistachio and Nutella – bliss!

Wandering through the University of Sheffield

After lunch, Ellie had to nip in for a short lecture, so I plonked myself down in the University Union’s little café and worked on my new website for a while. When she returned, we nipped back to her house once again to drop off our bags, and then started up a rather steep incline to visit one of her favourite spots, Bole Hill.

After a while putting the world to rights up atop the breezy hill, the cold soon got the better of us and we descended back into the centre of Sheffield. For tea that night I was whisked along to a place called Church in the Kelham Island area of the city, as Ellie had been told that they offered a mean vegetarian donner kebab.

At first the menu had the two of us rather confused, as there wasn’t a vegetarian symbol in sight, and most of the menu seemed to be taken up by chicken wings and pulled pork and the like. When we asked the bar staff, however, we were surprised to learn that everything on the menu was in fact vegan, and so we chose four of their dishes to share at, wondering how on earth they were going to serve us vegan BBQ ribs – I was rather dubious!

Any doubts were cast astray when the food arrived and we got stuck in, however, as everything was absolutely delicious! Helping ourselves to pulled pork and cheese fries, a plate piled high with ribs, a quinoa salad and a donner kebab, I proclaimed that it was nothing short of witchcraft that the whole affair had been totally vegan. After a cheeky margarita at a Mexican bar nearby, we grabbed a taxi home, making a mental note to pay Kelham Island a visit again in the future.

The next day began rather slowly, as we headed into the city once more in order to grab some breakfast. Ellie had once again found a lovely little independent coffee shop famed for its delicious banana bread, which was served toasted with a little bit of butter, and was absolutely delicious and undoubtedly one of the best breakfasts I’ve had in quite some time. ~~I don’t recall its name, but I’ll ask Ellie to let me know and edit it into this post once I find out.~~ It was at Tamper Coffee!

All too soon it was time for me to head back to the station to catch my train back to Lancashire, but Ellie will be back home for Christmas soon, so it wasn’t such a huge goodbye as I’d become accustomed to whilst living abroad! Since this visit to Sheffield, I’ve been up to even more, but I’m afraid that I’ll have to leave that until another blog post. I’ll leave you, then, with the mental image of me waving Ellie out of Sheffield train station with a mouth full of Tesco’s festive turkey and stuffing sandwich – nothing says a British Christmas more than that!

The First Three Weeks Back

24.11.18 — Burnley

As I sit in my room here in England, surrounded by an array of candles that I lit in order to try and heat up my now-forever-cold hands, it doesn’t feel like three whole weeks have passed since I left Madrid. It’s true that my dad’s visit may have eased the transition somewhat, but I’m still in the process of re-adjusting to the realities of living back in the great British countryside, for better and for worse.

The first week back provided the opportunity to indulge in a few things I’d been wanting to do upon my arrival, including a lunch at one of the tastiest British food spots I’ve ever eaten at – luckily situated in a tiny unsuspecting looking hut just a short car journey from our house. My mum also took me into the centre of Burnley, which I hadn’t admittedly missed all that much, but it was interesting to see how it had all changed with renovations during my time in Spain. The ending of said works meant I could finally take a half-decent photo of the hand-painted sign which I find so pretty amongst the otherwise rather dull architecture of the centre.

Burnley gets on board with modern design

It seems like Burnley has embraced modern design.

After a long time away in big cities like Madrid and Leeds, I noticed that I really appreciated some of the things that I had previously taken for granted. I have spent various amounts of time over the past few weeks just watching the sky’s colours change as the sun goes down, and I particularly enjoyed a trek around the local reservoir with my mum – as cold as it may have been!

After allowing myself a few days of relaxation, I’ve been back on the preparations for my next professional steps, starting with an overhaul of the design of my website. I know I say that I’m doing it a lot and that it usually never comes to fruition, but now I am bound by the need to get myself back into employment, and surprisingly things are moving along quite quickly.

I’ll share details of where I am in the process in a separate blog post, but for now I’ll just moan that the hours spent idle behind my laptop and my mum’s refusal to put on the heating and cater to me being accustomed to a warmer climate all mean that I have been getting quite (see: very) cold. Perhaps counter-intuitively, I found that getting up and moving – albeit in the cold winter air of the countryside surrounding my house – gets my blood flowing and makes me feel somewhat warmer, and so that’s what I’ve been doing when I’ve not been fretting over pixel-fitting and other web design nonsense.

One evening, after my mum had woken up from her post-night-shift sleep, we spontaneously decided to head to Manchester to make our rounds of the huge Christmas markets that take over the centre once a year. My mum, dad, and I spent a good few hours snacking our way around the stalls, enjoying highlights such as delicious garlic mushrooms, gammon sandwiches and my personal favourite: a cherry and chocolate brownie.

Last week I also had the excitement of a couple of days spent in Leeds, heading for a meeting with a company whose name I shan’t disclose, and – of course – spending plenty of time catching up with uni friends. I stayed over with Em and Lincoln, who were so gracious as to let me crash at their lovely new house for a couple of nights, and managed to have a kebab evening with Rhea and Luisa, a coffee with Danni, and half a day having lunch and a work party with Izzy in her new studio space.

I was treated to the joys of the state of British Public Transport.

On Thursday morning I had the misfortune of having to use the British public transport system to meet my mum and her friend Sue in Manchester for a trip to the Trafford Centre. After being rinsed of over £26 just to have one of the trains terminate a station before expected, I eventually made it to the big shopping centre, where we spent a full day looking at watches and enjoying a delicious Five Guys lunch.

Since then, I’ve poured many more hours into getting my new website and portfolio together, and I will, as mentioned, update you on all that in an upcoming blog post. Right now I am watching the orange sun set outside my window, and enjoying the comfy embrace of the “fancy” chair that I stole earlier from our downstairs office.

I must dash now, however, as I’ve to get dressed and perfumed and ready to go out for a lovely Italian dinner for a catch up with Amber and Jess. Who knows, we might even go out for a few drinks and a boogie afterwards…

My Last Days in Madrid

12.11.18 — Madrid

I sit here in chilly Burnley writing this post exactly a week after me and my dad landed in Manchester Airport, marking the end of over a year of me working and living in Madrid. As I mentioned in my previous post, he came over to visit for the last four days of my time in the city, and naturally we got up to all sorts of mischief…

As my dad had arrived during the celebrations of El Día de todos Los Santos, or All Saints’ Day, we had to head to buy a few sweet treats that are eaten accross Spain during the festivities. Heading to La Mallorquina, an age-old bakery bang in the centre of the city, we grabbed some buñuelos (similar to profiteroles) and huesos de santo (literally “saint’s bones”, marzipan stuffed with sugar and egg yolk).

After we’d tried these sweet delicacies, we began our ascent towards the north of the city to eat in one of my favourite lunch spots: Casa Dani. This restaurant is famous for its tortilla (Spanish omelette) and menú del día (set lunch menu), and serves some of the best authentic Spanish food in the city, situated although it is across a few stalls in a hidden market.

We were lucky to have arrived just before swathes of locals descended on the place, and so managed to grab a lovely spot where we were treated to a three-course meal including oreja a la plancha (fried pig’s ear) and lentejas (lentils with chorizo). Once stuffed to the brim, we left the market and headed for our next spot: Chamberí station.

I wrote about this abandoned Metro station a while back, but I knew that my dad would appreciate snooping around the old tunnels, and that he did! He also grabbed a photo of me stood by one of the old advertising billboards down at the platform, as I noticed that it combined two of my true loves: old typography and lightbulbs.

After this we headed back to the centre for a beer, and then descended through Lavapiés as the sun set, stopping for some bao along the way. Once we’d stuffed ourselves and reached the southern end of Lavapiés, we headed back to Madrid for a tipple in a secret sherry bar which has stood pretty much untouched for years and years!

The next morning, Saturday morning, signalled the moment I had to move my suitcase and belongings out of the apartment in which I’d been living and into the hotel to spend my last two nights with my dad there. With two pairs of hands to help out I was soon unpacked in the hotel, and we returned to the city centre for the next day of frivolities.

Our afternoon began with a trip to Bodega de la Ardosa, a classic must-do when in Madrid. The bodega is a dusty old bar which is always packed out, but the secret that the locals know is that if you clamber under the bar itself, you will reemerge in a hidden room around the back where you can be served the best tortilla in the centre of the city!

After sampling the tortilla there, we wandered through Malasaña, stopping at a couple of street markets along the way. Working up more hunger, we eventually grabbed a table at Ojalá, which my parents had enjoyed during their last visit, and ordered lunch.

Lunch was as lovely as ever there, but I particularly enjoyed a fancy coffee that I treated myself to, which came full of cream, dulce de leche and a shot of Bailey’s. Don’t mind if I do!

We then wandered idly round Malasaña and the rest of the city for a while longer, before catching a bus down to Retiro where the plan was to hire a couple of bikes and cycle around the picturesque park. With time passing us by as it did, however, and with the bike hire shop busily attending to other customers, I deemed it too late in the day to bother as we’d a table booked for our meal later.

The place I’d booked for us to eat at was at the other side of the park though, and so we walked through it regardless, stopping on a terrace overlooking the lake for a pre-dinner coffee.

The surprise place where we’d be having tea (what we in the north of England call dinner, if you’re getting confused) was an Asturian restaruant, as I wanted to introduce my dad to a bit of Asturian culture as best as I could without taking him up there – and I could think of no better way than through the region’s amazing cuisine!

The restaraunt did not disappoint, and we gorged our way through four delicious courses, all washed down with the natural cider which is typical of the region – well, what else were we going to drink? My dad even had a go at pouring it out from a height as is done to aerate the bitter cider. I sent all this to Kevin, my friend with whom I’ve spent many a tipsy weekend in the region, and he was very much approving.

After heading to bed with bellies full of delicious cachopo, fabada and chorizo a la sidra, I had a Sunday planned which would take us out of the city and into the mountains for a slightly different day of exploration. We headed up to El Escorial, one of my favourite spots for a day trip away from the hustle and bustle of the centre.

Up in the little town we were first treated to yet another slap-up meal as we nipped into a little bar that I have been visiting since the first time I paid El Escorial a visit last year. The place is run by three generations of the same family, so there’s always great conversation and even better food to be had!

We then skirted the outside of the huge monastry that dominates the skyline, snooping through the gardens until my bladder commanded that we head back into the town to find a bar for a coffee and a much needed toilet break!

After a quick stop in café, we headed into the bowels of the monastry to explore the basilica which sits at its heart. My dad was stunned by its interior, which is much darker and more gothic than the typical church interior. Unfortunately photography isn’t permitted inside, so you’ll have to make do with this selfie that we took in which you can see more of us than the building’s façade, rendering said photo rather useless.

Having worn ourselves out on the slopes of El Escrorial, we eventually headed back to the train station and returned to Madrid, where we alighted in Lavapiés to spend what would be my last evening there. To mark the occasion I’d arranged to meet up with one of my best friends that I’d made whilst there, Napo, and the three of us went out for some beers and a delicious pizza meal together. Me and Napo then waved each other off for the time being, and me and my dad had one last cheeky drink in Lavapiés before turning in for the night.

The next day was Monday morning, and although we’d to leave the hotel room and stow our luggage away for the day, I was determined that we’d make the most of our last 12 hours in Spain – especially as we weren’t due to fly until 9pm anyway!

The day’s main activity was to be the bike ride that we’d not managed to squeeze in a couple of days prior, and so our first stop was the bike hire place to pick up a bike for my dad. As I did when my sister and her boyfriend visited a while back, I grabbed myself one of the city bikes (well, I might as well use the credit I had left on my BiciMad card) and we headed into Retiro park to explore its expansive sights on two wheels.

After returning the bikes and wandering back through the park, we had lunch at another spot which I shall miss rather dearly – the delicious burger chain Goiko Grill. There I introduced my dad to their monstrous and delicious burgers, and we stuffed ourselves to ensure that there’d be no chance of us getting hungry at the airport later.

Burgers eaten and a couple of beers drank, it was time for one last stop before heading back to the hotel to pick up our stuff – it was churro time. One cannot visit Madrid without enjoying a plate of the crispy treats dipped in creamy chocolate, and I certianly wasn’t going to leave without having one last fix!

All too soon came the moment in which we’d to head to the airport, and so after picking up the luggage and an irritating delay to our departure time, we soon found ourselves landing in Manchester just after midnight. My mum had kindly driven there to pick us up, and so we made our way back to the comfort of our house in the countryside, making just one quick stop for a cheeky McDonalds’ drive-thru on the way.

As I said at the start of this rather long post, I have indeed been back in old Blighty for a week now, but I shall have to reserve all updates on what I’ve been up to since my return for my next update. Right now it’s getting quite late, and I’ve some knitting to attend to!

I’ve flown a thousand miles and aged 50 years along the way…

Toledo

08.11.18 — Toledo

Once my days in Madrid had suddenly become numbered, I realised I had been there for over a year and a half and still hadn’t made a trip that most tourists manage to make in the few days that they’re there: a day out to Toledo. Before heading off, though, I had a few days to fill before my dad made his visit, so I spent a few days making a coffee shop tour of the city in order to start work on my new website.

More on aforementioned website antics later, for I was soon down in the south of the city and ready to board the coach to Toledo – a trip which was included in my 20€ monthly travel pass! The Madrid City Council have very much got it right with their approach to public transport. A pretty dull journey followed, with the sky looking worryingly menacing throughout, but the rain held off as I disembarked in the old capital.

For those unfamiliar with the history of these two cities, Toledo was the de facto capital of the area until 1561, when King Carlos II unified the kingdoms of Castile, Leon, and Aragon to create the beginnings of what we’d now call Spain, and moved the capital to Madrid. Toledo went into a pretty steep economic decline after this, which was actually a blessing in disguise, as the city’s old monuments have been frozen in time and now make Toledo the spot to visit.

A lovely addition to the city has to be the set of public escalators installed to take visitors up the side of the hill on which Toledo sits and into the limits of the walled city. I made good and proper use of these, not wanting to exhaust myself before time, and began wandering the ancient streets to see what I might find.

Similarly to my Valencia trip, I hadn’t really done any research or made any plans before heading off to Toledo, and so the plan was to pass through the city to see what I uncovered along the way. I admit that in a city so densely packed with treasures as Toledo this may not have been the cleverest idea, especially as the weather was threatening to dampen my day, but onwards I soldiered, taking in the sights and stopping for a snack along the way.

You’ll notice that I’m neglecting to point out what anything is or explain any of the architecture that I saw along the way, and that’s because I generally avoided the swathes of tourists and hence didn’t get a chance to find out what anything was myself – so you’re just about as clued up as I am! I really wasn’t really in the mood for an intense day, so hopefully you can just enjoy the beauty of the place without knowing too many details just as I did.

Reaching the other end of the city centre

With the historical centre of the city being quite small, I’d hit the far end of it all earlier than I expected. The weather had cleared up quite nicely though, and the sun was making an appearance, so I meandered quite leisurely back through the centre and back towards the bus station.

After I’d been disappointed that a bar I wanted to eat at was closed, I decided it was as good a time as any to return towards Madrid, and so bought myself a snack for the hour-long journey back and descended the escalators once more.

Although I did have a lovely day wandering the streets of Spain’s old capital, I think I’ll have to come back for another visit in the future and explore the city in a much more organised fashion. It’s definitely a treasure trove of Spanish history and a must-do for anyone with the opportunity to visit, but for the relaxed day of bar-hopping and lounging around that I’d envisioned, it was just a little too touristic to fit the bill.

Until next time Toledo!