the personal dominion of j.a. mathias

Tuesday, April 28 2009 at 9:28pm

I’m fifty, fifty designs old and I like to kick…

Here it is, three years in the making, numero fifty.

There is a lot I want to talk about in regards to this design and what it means, but that is another post in another section. For now this is a welcome, have a look around kind of thing.

A couple of notes, and realize the answer to all the following is “Yes, I know.” Aside from that please let me know if anything is broken.

1. The site doesn’t work/look right in IE.
2. Your forms lack validation.
3. The miscellaneous page lacks content.
4. I can’t find the dark side.
5. The advertise page lacks hard numbers and stats to tempt me into buying space.

Folks have said…

1

#Shawn Grimes on Apr 28 2009

Love it James! Love the illustrations and little details all over the site. Bang up job my friend. BTW, check your email…

2

#Joel Steidl on Apr 28 2009

So, this is only the 2nd of 50 designs that I have seen…besides your old school PSDs you showed me at work.

This design is so very nice and many people are going to come here and drool.

P.S. Regarding #2 - Of all people, I can’t believe you let that one slide. :-)

3

#Matt Brett on Apr 28 2009

Wow, James!  This is gorgeous, from top-to-bottom, side-to-side.  I’ve spent the last 10 minutes sitting with my nose about a foot from this 24” screen combing through all of the little details.  Very, very nice work!

4

#Elliot Swan on Apr 28 2009

Love it. The details in your designs are always incredible… Like Joel, I had no idea there’d been 50 designs on here. You have an archive somewhere?

5

#Min Tran on Apr 29 2009

The design looks great. I love the texture, illustration and type. My only suggestion is you should have the title tag for the view post page. It’s good for SEO :)

6

#Jonathan Christopher on Apr 29 2009

Hey James! Website is really looking great. The small details are just stellar, loving the textures as well. The integration of your hand-made illustrations/elements really pulls it all together. I’m loving the way you’ve treated the forms as well. Stellar job!

7

#jmathias on Apr 29 2009

@shawn, thanks sir! I appreciate it and also the bug reports :)

@joel thanks sir, I’ll show you some of the other designs at some point, really the last one and this one are the best there is so it’s fairly pointless to look at the others.

@matt, wow, thanks sir, I really appreciate the props and the retweet.

@elliot, thanks kindly dear sir, I appreciate it very much.

@min Thank you and yes I agree, completely overlooked the browser title, I was so excited to launch, I’ll get that squared away asap.

@jonathan thank you sir, I’m really happy with how the illustrative bits came together and I’m glad others appreciate it as well.

8

#Nick Shepherd on Apr 29 2009

Looks really good James!  It’s never a disappointment to see a new design by you.  I love the septapus!

9

#Jim Sefton on Apr 29 2009

Great site! I have been following since the early days and your designs get better and better. I love the way this design showcases your illustrations… I wish I could create art like that!

Congrats!

Jim

10

#Colin Devroe on Apr 29 2009

The fact that this site doesn’t work in IE is a feature! :) Great work as always James.

11

#Lea on Apr 29 2009

James, already gave you two cents worth on Twitter, but I felt like gushing again because I LOVE this so much. I love the little delightful surprises, like hovering over your copyright symbol, your face, and the octopus. The colours are just… wow. A pro, you are, dear sir!

12

#Peter Flaschner on Apr 29 2009

James, this is really lovely work. Congratulations!

13

#Sean Cannon on Apr 29 2009

Excellent work, as always!!

14

#jmathias on Apr 29 2009

@nick thank you sir, appreciated.

@jim thanks sir, one of my overall goals was to put the illustrations in a better light, so they wouldn’t get lost in the blog anymore. I feel like I’ve accomplished that goal and your statement makes me feel even more confident in that decision. Thank you for coming back again and again.

@colin, yes I feel the same way and I can’t even explain how good it feels to say bye IE.

@lea, thanks again so much, a guy can never hear that enough I promise. :)

@peter, well thank you sir, I really appreciate it.

@sean, you sir are a scholar and gentleman. How is the family and life treating you?

15

#Peter Hall on Apr 30 2009

Great stuff James. This is (yet another) really great site!

Have you been reading that simplebits article about ampersands, incidentally? ;)

16

#jmathias on Apr 30 2009

@peter, thanks sir, appreciated. And yes I did read that article, and I like the ampersand and I agree with adding as much flair to an otherwise dull font set that we have to work with on the web. Although I would like to have a few more quality ampersands to work with as well.

17

#Arun on Apr 30 2009

Great work James! I loved the details you have taken care of, especially the smile on your face and the cute pink arrow which shows up when I hover on that black skull (i wonder if everyone noticed it).

All the best! Take that, chief ;)

18

#Sean Cannon on Apr 30 2009

@james, my family is doing wonderfully! my little girl is now almost 2 years old and we have another beautiful girl on the way!

life is exciting, amazing, fun, and most importantly peaceful! i can not ask for anything more. :) thanks for asking!

19

#jmathias on Apr 30 2009

@arun, thanks, I appreciate it, there of course are more hidden things to find.

@sean, that is great to hear congrats for sure!

20

#Chris J. Davis on Apr 30 2009

Beautiful job man, just beautiful. And I love the hidden details, like the eye pokes.

And I like Shawn, love the illustrations.

21

#jmathias on Apr 30 2009

@chris, thanks sir! going to get some new illustrations up soon too. eye pokes are my current favorite thing ever.

22

#katherine on May 19 2009

James, discovered your site via Pattern Tap and wanted to say I really love the design!

23

#jmathias on May 19 2009

Thank you Katherine, I am glad you are enjoying it, makes the whole thing worthwhile when folks enjoy it. :)

24

#Carlos on Aug 6 2009

Why don’t you have a RSS feed to your content?

25

#jmathias on Aug 6 2009

because I want you to come and read my content here. :)

26

#Foxed AKA Johnathan on Nov 30 2009

Always love coming back here, completely infrequent reader yet at the same time an avid follower. Generally get stunned by each design you concoct, and it’s always by the litte things. In v50 for example, the rollover to go back to top ... simple but so clever and cute. The only wish really is that you had a gallery of all 50 designs ... my favourite still being the black and grey of The Commune :)

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