Check out the KIRUPA Redesign! 🍊

The site was born in the 90's. It should look and behave like it! What do you think about the new 8-bit/pixelated design?

Guess what site got redesigned recently? Yes, the KIRUPA site got rebooted! 🎉

In the following video, I walk through some of the highlights and provide more backstory behind the 90’s pixel-art aesthetic the site has dialed up to the 11s:

Digging a little deeper, in many ways, this redesign was partly an excuse to work with Pasquale D’Silva. He is not only one of the most talented designers and animators I know, but he is also one of my oldest internet friends. We first crossed paths on the forums over 20 years ago and have crossed paths professionally many times since then. While I typically handle all of the design work myself, I wanted to get an outside perspective from a long-time insider for this redesign.

Now, one of the benefits of working with a designer whom you’ve known forever is that we quickly got to a shared understanding of what this redesign should focus on. The site’s design needed to get back to its roots:

There are a few details that stand out about the site’s early designs:

1. Subtle animations throughout

2. Sharp corners

3. Bold colors and typography

4. Pixelated mini-icons

5. Random quirky design elements inspired by old video games

We wanted to capture as many of those details in our new design as possible, but we also recognized that design tastes have evolved. A 100% revert to a early 2000’s era design won’t scale. The underlying web technologies have evolved to support richer capabilities (ie: custom fonts!). Not everyone likes snazzy animations. Multi-page articles are great for boosting pageview counts, but they aren’t great for usability or SEO. And much more! It was a balancing act.

Till Next Time

As you navigate through the redesigned KIRUPA site, you’ll see a bunch of obvious (and sometimes subtle) nods to the old design while still being grounded in the reality of 2024.

If you have any feedback on things you like (👍), don’t like (🤢), or just want to share some thoughts (😃), this forum thread or Twitter / X post is just what you need. The redesign will never truly be done. I’m going to keep making small tweaks for many years into the future, so your feedback will be valuable!

Cheers,
Kirupa 👾