Welcome to Authentic Style. My name is William Smith, (although please call me Will), & I’m a web designer from Salisbury in the UK. You’re viewing my new blog which I’ve just added on to my portfolio.
I thought I ought to create a post that explains a little bit about this site, and about me, for anyone who is interested at least!
Who am I?
I’m a 21 year old web designer, drummer, a fan of heavy rock music, a squash player, a very mediocre footballer, a perfectionist, a lover of typography and a big big geek! I was born and raised in Essex and then moved to Dorset when I was 10 years old. I’ve been living in Dorset/Hampshire ever since and am lucky enough to live in the middle of nowhere, although I quite often complain and take it for granted!
My career started after I finished college. I was fortunate enough to be given a chance designing websites at the fabulous Giant Peach HQ in Wiltshire, and haven’t looked back since. Now I’m 3 years down the line working now at Atelier in Southampton, with a brief spell at Redweb in between. In my 3 years in the industry I’ve learnt a lot, but look forward to learning even more still and one day going it alone.
What is Authentic Style?
The main Authentic Style site acts as my portfolio site. I designed it back in late 2006 and just recently decided to add this blog to it. I thought it was about time I started writing a regular blog and I hope that some of the posts will be helpful to you, or at least interesting. Please excuse the occasional ‘real world’ post, but I do try to stick mainly to writing about design, typography, css, resources etc etc.
The future…
Who knows what the future holds, but I hope to still be involved in a hands on way with design. I have a growing interest in usability and user experience design, which I would like to pursue further in the coming years. I think that just about sums me and this site up, so in the meantime please check out some of my other posts and subscribe to the RSS feed to stay up to date.
Keep in contact…
If you’d like to, feel free to follow me on Twitter, or check me out on LinkedIn.
Rob York — February 10, 2009 @ 3:06 am
Nice blog Will, not over powering like so many design blogs. The final piece of the Authentic Style puzzle!
Will — February 10, 2009 @ 4:14 am
Cheers Rob!
Now I just need to regularly update it. Can’t wait to see yours online as well.
Dan — March 31, 2009 @ 10:14 am
Great work on the new Authentic Style site. I’m in the process of putting together my own site and was wondering what might have persuaded you to brand your site “Authentic Style” as apposed to just using your name. I’ve found very little information on this particular topic and it’s something I’ve really been struggling with as I begin to develop my own online presence. Any help you could give me would be much appreciated. Thanks.
Will — March 31, 2009 @ 10:26 am
Hi Dan, thanks for the comment!
I had thought about using my name, but as its Will Smith, I decided against it for obvious reasons. I thought it would be better to go with something a little more unique and creative. Also, if I ever decide to employ people, using ‘Authentic Style’ makes it easier to do so, rather than if I’d chosen ‘Will Smith Design’ lets say.
Check some of these links out about personal branding. Hopefully you might find them interesting! http://delicious.com/search?p=personal+branding&u=&chk=&context=main&fr=del_icio_us&lc=0