When your portfolio stops making sense

What happens when your portfolio site is no longer needed?

That’s the question I ran into when it was time to “update my port.” Most of my paid work comes through platforms like Contra and Upwork now, not from someone scrolling a grid of old designs. The classic portfolio template just… doesn't matter anymore.

At the same time, my day-to-day as an art director has shifted. I’m spending less time pushing pixels and more time trying to refine outputs: testing models, dialing in prompts, building little systems so things look and feel right each time. I’m thinking more about how the work is made than about adding another slide to a deck.

Somewhere in there I realized: the thing I actually want isn’t a new portfolio. It’s a place to work in public.

What this is

This is my public design lab.

It’s where I:

• Test AI tools and workflows
• Try to get consistent, intentional outputs instead of one off “cool images”
• Experiment with how far I can go without a full Adobe stack
• Blend my fringey interests...consciousness, weird philosophy, ufology, with the very normal reality of paid client work

Some posts will look like process notes. Some will be more like visual essays or “what I’m noticing” reports. Some might be a bit strange.

I’m using this space to figure out things like:

• How do I get a similar visual result every time and only change the light or mood slightly?
• What’s the right balance between automation and actual art direction?
• How do I let the weird, curious parts of my brain into the work without making everything feel unprofessional?
• What are we even doing anymore?