Escape Key Graphics Gets A Redesign

05 03 08 - 14:19 Here's a look back at previous designs
By John Potter
It seems like only yesterday, but my last redesign was in July of last year.
I've been happy with the design, but blogging was new to me and It's taken me close to a year to figure out what's working for me and what's just taking up space on the page for now. I was beginning to feel the look was a little cluttered and I just wanted a new cleaner feel in general. I've eliminated some of the bells and whistles, so if anyone has any complaints, please let me know.

Here is some background on the site...
In 1996 Intracorp Games had just closed it's doors and it was time for me to find something else to do. Westwood Studios had just released Command & Conquer that Christmas and dominated the PC game field so decisively that a lot of game companies closed their doors (C&C was super cool though). I wouldn't mention Intracorp, but you can see the influence of having just worked at a game company for two years in my early designs. Anyhow...the internet was big news at the time, but most people really didn't know what it was. I had a pretty good idea because I had been BBSing (using Bulletin Board Systems) for some time, but I didn't know anything about HTML. In fact I didn't know any script languages at all. The internet seemed to be one of the next big things so I decided I would get into it (with absolutely no idea what I was doing).

Okay...so step one would probably be "learn to build a website". I went out and bought Laura Lemay's "HTML 3.2 in 14 Days" and went through it step by step and was competent with HTML in about 14 days just as Laura Lemay had promised.

The next obvious step was to create something so that I could show off what I had just learned, so I came up with the idea of Escape Key, but I had no clue what information to populate it with. It started out as kind of a vanity site, although the term didn't exist yet. I posted my resume and basic information about myself. I did put effort into the look and feel though. The screen capture from 1999 is pretty similar to the original (you can see that I also made the site into a small personal portal for a while). It was like an aerial view of a beach with little buildings you could click on. It did succeed in getting me my first job as a web designer.

Now you may have noticed that the site started out as EscapeKey.net. Later, in 2001, I decided to create EscapeKeyGraphics.com to market myself as a freelancer. I kept EscapeKey.net and although there is always some content difference they usually mirror each other in look and feel. Right now I am using a REALLY stripped down layout for EscapeKey.net.

I hope you enjoy the new look and feel of the site, and please feel free to post comments.

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Please note that EscapeKeyGraphics.com and all graphics/objects/images/writing on it were designed, written and made by John Potter and are his exclusive property, unless otherwise stated. Seek written permission from John Potter first if you wish to reproduce any of the items contained on this site to distribute elsewhere.
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