#023: Elisabetta Balconi's Portfolio
An elegant and minimalistic portfolio with a unique flair.
We’re back with a new edition of Web Wizards! I’m excited to showcase another exciting portfolio site, this one is to the point but still unique and exciting in how its visuals are presented. Take a deep dive into Elisabetta’s creative world and how she created her site.
Got a cool website you’d like to see featured? Let me know by replying to this email or reaching out.
An Intro
Hello, I'm Elisabetta Balconi, she/her.Â
I'm a Creative Director and Digital Designer, and I've been working for almost 15 years in the amazing Pixel Universe supporting international agencies and brands.
My focus is on immersive experiences for fashion, luxury, art and retail.
➤ Socials: LinkedIn, Dribbble, Instagram
About the Site
My Portfolio has a very simple and minimalistic design, I wanted to let the videos and images speak for themselves, with just the necessary information for a complete overview of every project.
Collaborator(s): Just me, I designed and developed the website with Semplice.com, a visual coding plugin for WordPress.
Tools: WordPress
Q&A
What did your concept ideation process look like for this project?
It has always been very hard to me to come up with an effective"self-branding", be it because you need to display your best skills not only in the project you've worked on but also on their container, or because you want to express enough of your style and personality but in a way that does not shadow your work.
So I've decided to go with an elegant and minimalistic approach that could allow projects to be properly celebrated, but at the same time I tried to develop a style that could speak about myself a little bit and not feel cold.
How did you strike a balance between creativity and functionality in this website design or build?
I really wanted to make people appreciate the projects that I've worked on and what was my part in those, so I tried to let the creativity of every project speak for itself without interfering with lots of interface or even info.
By doing so, I've managed to keep things simple and hopefully facilitate the UX.
What challenges did you have whilst designing/building this site?
The hardest part of the process is hands down the concepting and design phase: is what I'm designing cool enough? Easy enough to understand? So you keep sketching and sketching a lot of different things, and at the end you get to the point where either you pick something or you're not going anywhere :)
What are some of your favourite elements/features on the site?
I really like the "about me" section. I want to get to know people and speak with them, so that I can properly show the real me. For this reason this page doesn't have a lot of information, but I love the animated picture of myself, with the little wink ;)
What’s one new thing you learned during the entire process?
That at some point you have to get your things out there, even if they're not perfect or you still think you could improve them. There's always time to make improvements, but it's really rewarding when you finally see that you did it and you're able to have your space.
If this website was a lead single, what song would it be and why?
That's a very difficult question :) I think it would be something like minimal electro, let's say Dark Waves by Robot Koch, one of my favourite artists for electro music. I'd pick this song because it's chill but intriguing and mysterious at the same time, a little bit like myself :)
Thanks for reading! Definitely reach out if you’d like to be featured or would like to recommend a site to feature.