Gaurav Singh

My website is a place to think, document, and keep a record. It's a portfolio, but more than that it's an archive of what I've worked on and how my ideas have shifted over time. Social media is built for fleeting updates; this is built for permanence and control. Here I own the narrative, keep both the milestones and the messy path behind them, and hopefully offer something to people working their way along similar paths.

The reason to run my own site is ownership. So much of our digital life sits on third-party platforms; this is one space that's fully mine, where I can document my work without someone else's constraints. The journal is the heart of it, a place for reflections and technical notes, and the whole thing keeps changing as my interests do.

The design aims for simplicity and clarity. I control everything, from the typography to the layout, and that's the point: I got tired of template-driven systems that all look the same, and I wanted to tell my story in my own way rather than in the shape an algorithm prefers. Sections like Education, Work, Projects, Teaching, and Research lay out the professional side, and the clean layout and whitespace are there to keep the content readable. I care about accessibility and simplicity, and those values drive both the tooling and the presentation. I'd like to add interactive pieces later, like project visualisations, but the focus stays on keeping it authentic and independent.

Timeline of changes

Period	What changed
2000–2004	Starting with HTML. In 2000 I found HTML and Microsoft FrontPage, and web design caught me. I built simple static sites, just to make something other people could open. Then Macromedia Flash let me add animation. The projects were basic, but they showed me that design could carry an identity and pull people in.
2005–2009	Learning and growing. By 2005 I was using CSS and JavaScript. CSS split content from presentation, which made designs easier to change; JavaScript made them interactive. I picked up Photoshop for the visual work, borrowing from the precision of print. This was also when I started thinking about a designer's responsibilities, about making work accessible and inclusive, which became central to how I approach user-centred design. I was starting to see the web as a tool for storytelling, not just a canvas.
2010–2012	Using CMS tools. As life got busier I moved to content management systems: WordPress, Joomla, Tumblr. They made it easier to manage content and just write, WordPress for flexibility and Tumblr for a content-first simplicity. But the templates and plugins kept getting in my way. The convenience cost me control, and that pushed me to look for something more genuinely mine.
2013–2019	Moving to static sites. By 2013 I was tired of the churn of social media and the clutter of most platforms. I wanted simplicity and permanence, which led me to static site generators like Jekyll. Static sites let me strip things back to content and design in HTML, CSS, and Markdown. I leaned into minimalism: whitespace, structured layouts, a restrained palette, every element earning its place. It was faster and more secure too, and the site turned from a portfolio into a lasting archive. (The Creative Independent, n.d.) The lesson of this period was that less is usually more, and that good content reads best with room around it.
2020–2024	Building my own space. In the 2020s I wanted to balance creative freedom with newer tooling, so I moved to a Jamstack setup with Eleventy, Nunjucks, and Markdown. It let me build a highly customised, minimal site on my own terms. I started designing directly in the browser rather than in a separate design tool (Lupton, 2014), which made experimenting more immediate. The result reflects how I see myself now: focused, adaptable, clear. (Walter, 2011) I want the site to tell my story thoughtfully (Harvard Business Review, 2021), not just be a technical exercise. AI, AR, and voice interfaces are interesting, but I'm cautious with them; I'd rather the site stay a place for real engagement than a place to show off whatever tool is newest.

1. Harvard Business Review. (2021, August). Design physical and digital spaces to foster inclusion. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2021/08/design-physical-and-digital-spaces-to-foster-inclusion
2. Lupton, E. (2014). Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students. Princeton Architectural Press.
3. The Creative Independent. (n.d.). How to Make a Website for Your Creative Work. Retrieved from https://thecreativeindependent.com/guides/how-to-make-a-website-for-your-creative-work/
4. Walter, A. (2011). Designing for Emotion. A Book Apart.
5. Graham, P. (n.d.). Paul Graham's Essays. Retrieved from http://www.paulgraham.com/articles.html
6. Norvig, P. (n.d.). Peter Norvig's Website. Retrieved from http://norvig.com/
7. Lemire, D. (n.d.). Daniel Lemire's Website. Retrieved from https://lemire.me/
8. Morville, P., & Rosenfeld, L. (2006). Information Architecture for the World Wide Web. O'Reilly Media.
9. Maeda, J. (2006). The Laws of Simplicity. MIT Press.