The old site was a WordPress theme with minor customizations. The new site is built from scratch with a deliberate visual language.
The aesthetic: Dark creative-tech. Think terminal windows, mono fonts, and the kind of design you'd see on a developer tool's landing page. Linear and xAI were inspirations — clean, technical, no decoration for decoration's sake.
Key decisions:
- Background: near-black (#08090A) with subtle radial gradients for depth
- Typography: Geist Mono for headings (technical feel), Inter for body (readability)
- Cards: subtle borders with hover glow effects — the only "fancy" interaction
- Grid: 1180px max-width, 3-column project grid, 6-column lab area grid
- No images on the homepage — the content speaks for itself
The component architecture:
Every section is a standalone component. The Hero, ProjectGrid, LabAreas, NotesPreview, and AboutSection are all reusable. Data flows from a single site.ts module.