A web designer never truly stops tinkering with their own website. The years have passed on my since my last site refresh. For the new year, I’ve gone with a somewhat major overhaul of my site, including going with an actual color for the first time (rather than my typical black and white palette).

Still rocking it out with Publii, the static site CMS (Content Management System). I’ve reworked the site on top of their new premium Reveral theme. I’ve gone with a light and dark color palette that changes automatically based on day or night.

• Main Color: #cce3f0
• Dark Mode: #194055
• Highlight Color: Bright Red / Orange #E95638

I have been somewhat busy with blogging and plan to more, so I have added a search feature to my site, to help (mostly me) find stuff. :)  While I am not sold on Apple’s new Liquid Glass design (part of iOS 26), this redesign features rounded corners and that “frosted glassy translucent” effect.

In an attempt to try new ideas, and as pushback against AI generated imagery, my likeness throughout the website is represented by iPhone-generated emojis, rather than photos. Call it a feeble attempt to resist AI image creation, but if the internet wants to generate fake photos of me, it will have to work to make it happen.

While not directly related to the design of the site, after thinking way too much about branding and domain names, this new site also marks the official launch of my personal site at a new domain: yowalsh.com

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Ongoing Spanish Translation For Publii CMS

I have recently had multiple projects based on Publii CMS. Publii is an amazing program that makes it easy to create and manage your website. The developer community has also provided a number of translations. However, one of Publii's previous limitations was the lack of a complete Spanish translation. So, I took it upon myself to fill in the blank.

Over the course of a month, I reviewed and translated more than 1,300 lines of code into Spanish, both for the main program and for the text editor (theme translations may come at a future date).

Once this was finished I submitted the merge request from my Github, which was accepted at the start of the new year.

If you are interested, you can click the button below to download the latest Spanish language pack for Publii CMS.

Technical Details

• The translation of the code was completed in Sublime Text.

Publii 0.44.4 Spanish Language Pack

Geraldine Ovalle wanted a new design for her website in preparation for launching and focusing on her new projects. The new website needed to be clean, modern, minimal, and fast. It was also necessary to optimize for internet searches, for greater visibility.

For this project I selected the Splitian template from the Publii Content Management System (CMS) as the base of the site. I then brought the essentials from the old site into the new design. We keep the emblematic logo of the previous versions.

In addition to the CV, classes and workshops present in the previous version of the website, we added a section for her publications, which include the Huellas y Sabores website, the Chilean Heritage & Culture book y el eBook: Huellas y Sabores.

Technical Details

• Highlight color is the same purple as previous versions of the site - #7D14C0

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For 2023 I decided to give my personal website design a refresh. It was my first project using the Content Management System (CMS) Publii.  I started with the Square template by filling in the basic content (images, text, etc).

I chose a palette of colors (or rather absence of colors) - black and white. To make the links stand out, I applied a yellow underline, similar to a highlighter. The inspiration for this came from Manuel Moreale's blog.

For a unique touch, on mobile devices, the site navigation appears at the bottom of the site similar to a native phone app. It is intended to attract attention, as well as making the site much easier to navigate, as all navigation is close to the visitor's thumb, allowing for easier reach - particularly on phones.

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After the release of the print version of Huellas y Sabores I developed an e-book to increase the publicity and visibility of the project. It is a copy of the original in terms of content, and has been created as EPUB and MOBI for a wider audience. It is a simple and somewhat minimalist book with an emphasis on easy reading.

Technical Details

• The programs used for the development of the e-book were Photoshop, Calibre, and Microsoft Word.
• Available Formats: EPUB y MOBI.
• Language: Spanish.

Download eBook (EPUB) Download eBook (MOBI)

After the release of the book la Ruta Newenche I developed an e-book to increase the publicity and visibility of the project. It is a faithful copy of the original in terms of content, and has been created as EPUB and MOBI for a wider audience. It is a simple and somewhat minimalist book with an emphasis on easy reading.

Technical Details

• The programs used for the development of the e-book were Photoshop, Calibre, and Microsoft Word.
• Available formats: EPUB y MOBI.
• Language: Spanish.

Download eBook (EPUB) Download eBook (MOBI)

Labels for a line of hot sauces

Salsa Macca was a product released near the end of 2015 by Macca Producciones, a family company of an Australian-Chilean couple that operates between Villarrica and Pucón in south-central Chile. For the launch of his product line, they needed three attractive labels for a line of sauces.

The labels had to be quite minimalist, attractive and easy to understand. Each label has a graphic representation of the flavor of the sauce, in addition to the nutritional information and description of the product.

A simple business card was designed as a secondary product, sharing design elements with the labels, and with a diluted boomerang in the background.

Technical Details

• REIS and Open Sans fonts were used in the design of the labels and card.

Print and electronic design for the book Huellas y sabores de mujeres en la cordillera.

I was contracted by Geraldine Ovalle and Natalia Barría, two winners of the Regional Fondart in 2014, to provide the design for their book, Huellas y sabores de mujeres en la cordillera. The idea was for this particular book to be the first of three volumes, each of which would cover a different sector of the Araucanía Region of Chile: Mountains, Valley and Sea. They were looking for a modern and attractive design.

Instead of a more traditional table of contents, I opted for a more minimalist style, placing the chapters in large type, with the names of the sections – if any – below each chapter. The illustration of the tree is an araucaria – a highly symbolic tree of the region. This helped to highlight the book and draw attention to the interested reader, separating it from other publications and projects have placed the design as a secondary interest, the investigation being the primary focus.

Although the book mainly consists of research, there are also several pages of photos. The biography section has a photo of each participant with a review noting how they came to be part of the gastronomic world, and the names of the corresponding businesses and/or products. Also, each participant has a photo page that highlights the business and product.

Technical Details

• The measurements of the printed book are: 200mm x 200mm.

• It was designed in Adobe InDesign and Photoshop.
• The book contains 68 pages, including: front and back covers, introductions by the authors, an illustrated index of the participants, and a photo page dedicated to each participant, showing their businesses and products.
• The book uses a mostly green color palette, specifically using a dark green (#2d342d) and a lighter variation (#d7daa1). A darker charcoal background (#2c2d28) was also used for the photo pages.
• The fonts used in this project are: Oswald (Cover and Table of Contents), PT Sans (Biographies), PT Serif (book text), y Vladimir Script (italics on biographies and photo pages). The main lettering font – PT Serif – is in 10pt size, with 13.5pt line spacing.
• The book Huellas y Sabores de Mujeres en la Cordillera was sent to print at the end of October 2014 with a first run of 250 copies.

After the release of the book I developed an e-book to increase the publicity and visibility of the project.

Website for the Huellas y Sabores Chilean Heritage project.

Geraldine Ovalle and Natalia Barría, two winners of the Regional Fondart in 2014, published a book called Huellas y Sabores de Mujeres en la Cordillera. An accompanying website was later designed to further spread the information about the project.

The Huellas y Sabores website acts as a sort of web portal for the project in general, where one can learn more about the proposal and purpose of the investigation, read the biographies of the people who participated in the project, a brief presentation of the authors, a news section, and more.

The new website helped spread information about the project, finalized in a presentation at the Liquén Cultural Center and the creation of a Facebook page, which attracted a significant audience.

Technical Details

• The font used on the site, as with the printed book, is PT Sans.
• The website was originally created using WordPress but later adapted to a static format. Learn more here.

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