From the start, I wanted a minimal website. Firstly, I enjoy the minimal aesthetic, though the irony is I am not a minimalist in real life. Secondly, the minimal layout allows content such as writing, art and design to shine. Most portfolio and publishing sites such as Behance, Medium and Substack are white to make content readable and accessible. After referring to these examples, including templates from Salient, I decided on the colour scheme to make it my own.
Colour Scheme
Initially, I wanted to challenge myself and use the colours I do not usually use as my colour scheme. Below was the colour that I used at first.
#7D3780
#CBAFCC
#E9BD43
#2C4857
#D4DADD
The initial colour scheme for the website.
While I do not mind using the yellow and purple colour scheme, I did not resonate with the scheme as much as I wanted to.
Once I finished designing my logo (which I will describe in the next section), I decided that the purple and yellow were too jarring. Perhaps, it can work out in different situations but definitely not for my website.
#879A77
#C9AD93
#73787C
#EDE8E4
The current colour scheme that I am at peace with.
Logo Design
My previous logo was just a wordmark logo lianne.my. When I first started lianne.my using WordPress in 2021, I was not in a good emotional state to think through certain design decisions. Hence, I decided on a boring wordmark logo because I did not have the confidence to create my own logo and branding as branding is not my expertise.
Figure 1: Wordmark logo from previous website.
Fast forward to 2024, I felt that my logo looked very dated. Since it was a website upgrade, I thought why not just update it despite my inadequacies?
My logo was influenced by the things I observed in 2024. Firstly, I was influenced by the Guan Hoe Co. Ltd. monogram in Ipoh. Secondly, I was in Taiwan in August and that trip left a deep impression on me. One of the things that I did in Taiwan was to create a name seals (印章/yìnzhāng) for myself.
Figure 2: Monogram sketches with LL letters as the main focus.
My initials are LL but that was the hardest monogram to create compared to other alphabets. Most of the alphabets have different shapes and it was easier to combine and still be legible. For example, the combination of LL looks like another rectangle, whereas the combination L with other letters forms a contrast between straight, diagonal and curved lines.
Figure 3: Monogram sketches with the LL letters and 林 (lín).
I decided to experiment if I could add my Chinese surname which is 林 (lín) as a form of contrast. I noticed a pattern between my initials and Chinese surname. My initials are LL, and 林 is made of two 木 (mù). Why not combine both surname and initials since they come in pairs? As for the shape for the monogram, I decided to create a square with rounded corners because I want to my website as a shortcut on my app.
Initially, I wanted to make the logo in black, but I felt that my site was so minimal that the logo almost blended with the website. As much as I do not like red, I thought that a pop of colour might help. Again, I went online to find a red that could act as an accent. I managed to find one darker red. Other than that, it came out nicer on print and I managed to design my name cards based on that.
Figure 4: Final design.
I have not created a branding guide for my logo as it is not necessary. My priority is populate my blog with art and visual culture documentations. This concludes my documentation about my website revamp for the year 2024.
