If you’ve been here before, you’ve noticed: grizz.lu doesn’t look anything like it used to. Same address, same pages, but a completely different mood. Here’s why.
A clean site, but a little cold
The previous version did its job well: dark, cosmic, tidy. But it only half felt like me. It showed projects, not the workshop where they get made. And that’s what Grizzlu really is: a bear tinkering with curious things in his workshop, late at night. ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ
The whole redesign starts from that image: the bear’s workshop at night. A starry sky outside, a desk lamp on inside, notes and photos taped all over the place.
Warm-dark
The background is no longer a bluish black, but a deep aubergine, a warmer kind of dark. On top of it, two colour families:
- the violet, of course. It’s the colour of the bear and of the studio’s identity, so touching it was never an option;
- honey and terracotta accents, the newcomers. They’re what warms everything up: the squiggle under headings, the strips of masking tape, the glow of the fire.
Things you can almost touch
The rest of the redesign is about texture. Project cards are stickers stuck on slightly crooked, straightening when you hover them. “See more” links are printed on packing tape. The photos on the About page are polaroids. Shadows are dithered into pixel checkers and buttons actually press in when you click, like on the hand-built web of the 2000s.
There are a few details to discover too: the navigation forms a constellation that assembles as you scroll, and at the bottom of the homepage a campfire shows, live, how many bears are connected on the studio’s Discord.
Under the hood, almost nothing moved
No new architecture this time, I covered that when the site launched: it’s still a static, self-hosted, fast website. Two things did get strengthened along the way:
- privacy: fonts are served locally and no request leaves for any third-party service while you browse. Even the campfire counter goes through my own server, so your IP address is never sent to Discord;
- the words: everything was rewritten in a more natural tone, much closer to how I actually talk. A personal site that sounds too formal is a bit like welcoming friends in a suit.
What’s next?
The workshop is open. The next notes will be about what’s being built in it: Potch 2.0 is out, and Dawnless Era is moving forward. If you spot a crooked pixel, or have thoughts about the new scenery, come say so by the fire. 🐾
Written by Grizzlu
← Back to news