Crafting Imperfection: A Carlos Whittaker Story
A designer typically does not set out from the beginning to craft imperfection; our heartbeat is to push the limits of perfection beyond that which has been established so we create the new order.
But the more I work in web development the more I rejoice in the simple things that aren’t perfect; I like working with that which is broken and attempting to create something that is a little less broken than it was before.
I’ve had the unique pleasure of working with Carlos Whittaker in both a professional and personal setting. When hanging out with him in situations where the noise of the crowds are gone and raving fans can’t reach him you see something entirely different: You see yourself.
You see someone who’s just as messed up as you are and someone who desperately needs a savior. You see someone that’s real, authentic, genuine, and broken. You see a guy who would be nothing without his family. You see a fellow sojourner traveling the murky mixture that is family and career. You see someone just as confused as everyone else, or at least a man who will admit it.
There’s really nothing to this iteration of his blog that’s especially unique or groundbreaking; it’s just a blog with some titles, text, comments and a simple sidebar. It is the everymans blog, the archetype of ordinary. It’s your blog and it’s mine. It’s the blog that I believe says:
I’m just like you. Welcome.
In addition, as I type this, there are a number of elements that probably need fixing. Design was rushed, development a bit too, but the thing that we spent the most time on was the background image. It was the backend, the supportive-element that was so crucial.
You see, Carlos is nothing without his family; his wife is everything. For most people running a typical 15″ display, you’ll just barely see her off to the side. Many of the visitors will never notice her.
But she’s there. Silently watching her husband tackle the world and being the strength that he needs when he comes home from war.
I honestly believe that the image, in conjunction with it’s very stripped-down appeal, is the best part of the entire presentation here. It’s not “perfect” nor was the goal to be so.
But it’ll do the job. People will complain about the new look, but those people complained about every look, and, if they were seriously honest with themselves, they could admit that they weren’t reading his blog daily because they got high off the design but because of what he writes. So, essentially, the people who “get” Carlos know that it’s never been about how it looks but the content he brings and the opportunity he provides for connection and community.
And hey, he’s a blogger. It’s a blog. Let’s go back to the basics and make it look like one.
The famous will never have peace with the masses because the masses will never see who the famous really are; their struggle has always been the more internal and introspective kind, and for Carlos it’s always been this: Lord, I want to make Your Name famous, not mine.
I already liked the new design, but after reading this it’s definitely solidified it for me. Well spoken.
back to the basics… on the web, and in life. the simple truths. love it.
So well written! Clearly, you know who you’re working with and in doing so have captured what in my opinion is the essence of design – to complement and enhance what already exists (in this case Carlos) not to recreate it.
I like what you wrote. I think you did a great job of capturing what you set out to while keeping the design in a certain vein of where the web is heading. Now if you would kindly make it readable, I’d appreciate it. I will say that when I first went there, I thought it was broken.
It has nothing to do with this post, but I would like to say that after just seeing how my wife stuffed my headphones in their case, I might have a comment for Friday.
I actually loved Carlos’ blog about a year ago. That was when I first started regularly reading it. Then, came a big change. All of a sudden, it looked too professional. It had the featured story with a big photo and then snippets from a few other posts below. There was a disconnect with the mission of the blog. The blog is about a man who’s just like me — a man who admits faults and struggles but still finds grace in the Savior. But the blog design had become a polished corporate look.
Fast forward a few more iterations, and it became a simple, design on a primarily white background. Not exciting, but I liked this one. Nice typography, nice spacing, nice organization.
Now, as for the newest one… The text is just too hard to read. If the site is all about the message then the text shouldn’t be that hard to read. White words on a grayish background is rough on the eyes. And the background is just one big image, with no difference made for the sidebars, etc. Again, this causes it all to run together and hurts readability.
Luckily, I read ragamuffinsoul.com mainly from an RSS feed. So I’ve been pretty immune from all these design changes over the last year or two. If I had two pieces of advice for Los, they’d be: 1) Worry about utility first (how easy is it to read, understand, navigate), and 2) Stop changing the design so daggon often!!!
Just my $.02!
I love the implied message of the background picture. It is one of those things that you won’t “get” in a cliche’ blog. It’s unexpected. It’s message is not for everyone but those who get it appreciate it more.
As for the layout, I really don’t give a rip. I’m a regular. I visit the site once a day or whenever it’s updated. I come for the content and the honesty. If Carlos is involved, it will look cool.
My only beef is that you make the text pane or the “blog” portion more readable. The text blends in with the background. If that is not going to change, I’ll just read it in my RSS reader, so no big deal.
Great job John. I appreciate your heart and your contributions to the Kingdom.
I follow most blogs primarily through Google Reader; So I rarely click-through unless there is embedded content that didn’t come through or I’d like to leave a comment. Because of that, I wouldn’t have noticed for some time that Ragamuffinsoul got updated (or that his wife was hiding off to the side) unless I was told.
However, I think you’d find that most people would agree that the new design is nice, but they just can’t get over the white-on-white between the text and the background. It *IS* difficult to read. It demands a lot of eye-strain to read the text unless you scroll the page to a point where the white text is above the darker portions of the background.
I was surprised you (of all design geeks I know) were satisfied with this. It’s not like between all the cool photographers Carlos knows and your web skills that you two couldn’t have pulled off the same design effect in a way that was more appealing.
Awkward comment ahead:
So my resolution at work is 1280×1024. All I see of Heather is a breast. She’s more than that (also a good blogger).
I’m gonna have to stick to reading it in google reader. Now that I’ve noticed, it bothers me.
many of can say, that without our wives and family, we are just spinning in circles…stop spinning…
I second the comment about the boob. Even on a massive 22″ monitor, by expanding the page all the way out, I only get about a boob and a half of heather. That’s a bit awkward, for all of us.
Other than that and the aforementioned legibility issues (just throwing down a box like you have around the headers of each section that is transparent enough to still see the background image would work great), I like the new design.
all I see is Heather’s boob. I don’t think that is how Carlos would want his readers to see his wife – a faceless boob
I tend to think that the term "Alpha" and "Beta" have been taken a bit too far these days, particularly when it comes to the web. No, you haven't used either of those words in your post but that's what the new site evokes in my mind. I don't really understand why so many sites are just thrown out there on the web when they aren't finished products or even nearly finished products. To me, it cries "amateur work", which is so far beneath what you are capable of delivering. You get one chance to make a first impression and one chance only. Sorry if this is pretty harsh but, like Aaron above, I'm also surprised that you are happy with it. You are so much better than what that work depicts! The concept is great but the execution is not.
Time has granted me the opportunity to pause and reflect upon my comment above. Sorry. I know my comment was pretty harsh. I really like the concept and with the quick fix to the background behind the text it's now easily read as well. I still think a few things could be cleaned up (e.g. font size and squished-together-ness, twitter feed falling off the left edge) and I do wish the site worked a little better with IE. I use Mac/Firefox @ home and it looks/works great. I'm stuck with IE @ work and, well, it doesn't look/work that great. Nice job all the way around. Seems to fit Los pretty well based on what I know of him through his blog.
Well said bro!
I really liked the latest white background style. It was easy to read and easy to navigate. This one is growing on me though. At first there were some things that took some getting used to… the dark background with white text is difficult to read. But I totally get why he moved to this look over the "corporate" looking white background one. And yes… I go there for the content… not the design.
Dude – i saw this and it reminded me of a very similar theme i had been trying to develop for myself so i went ahead and did a quick job on it: http://www.irishmark.net
Thanks for the reminder of this theme and for the on-going inspiration
Dude – i saw this and it reminded me of a very similar theme i had been trying to develop for myself so i went ahead and did a quick job on it: http://www.irishmark.net
Thanks for the reminder of this theme and for the on-going inspiration