Version 1

I met my good friend Sheila West in a previous life at MPS Development in North Vancouver. We worked together and found ourselves of like mind on the importance of usability, design thinking, and the importance of aesthetics in software design.

When I decided to go solo, Sheila created the first visual treatment of the brand, along with a site design that conveyed the creative and more technical aspects of what I do. The focus at that time was requirements discovery and documentation, only to shift to a more full product and interaction design focus a couple years later.

Sheila’s was the only version of the site to feature the crow imagery. On knowing that Corvus is the family of crows, ravens and magpies, I’m usually asked ‘why that?’ The answer: I really like these birds. They’re clever, social, curious and can be a little loud; I share those qualities in different degrees, so I went with it. I got some feedback that crows do historically have a bad rap as symbols, so in the next version the crow image went away, but I stuck with the name. If you didn’t know it, crows are also a bit stubborn.

Version 2

I never met Damien Tanner in person but I got to know his work through his Ma.gnolia Blossom dashboard widget. Motivated to get on the content management bus, I chose Rails-based Typo and contracted Damien to set one up with a fresh look at the theme. He did so, and came up with something quite transformative. I don’t have a screenshot of the site as Damien did it, but his work was the basis of the theme I was using until today.

It was in this version I dispensed with a formal homepage in favour of brining visitors directly into the lifeblood of what I do: thinking about what makes great software. To stand in for the orienting value of a homepage, we brought in the Introduction Box, the yellow space at the top that can be closed from view for those who know me and what I do.

Version 3

A couple years later I asked Eric Grossnickle of Mighty Dream if he would do a little touch-up work on the theme. I knew Eric from advising on his social web app thesis project, and was impressed with his talent, now evidenced by his growing portfolio.

Eric freshened up Damien’s theme and added some convenience macros to Typo, but his most important contribution was off the website where he came up with a new business card. It was a radical departure in brand, but came at the right time as I was well into working with Ma.gnolia and had grown more interested in product design and strategy, as well as the social web.

Version 3

As the Typo project get more and more quiet, WordPress really took off, so I eventually asked Tzaddi Gordon of ThriveWire Media to migrate the site to WordPress and to re-create its look in a custom theme. She did so, adding some considerate additions like a dynamic 404 page to go with a well-coded theme and setup.  I’m really happy with WordPress, but couldn’t have made the move if I felt like I was giving up something in Typo. Tzaddi made sure that didn’t happen, and it’s been smooth sailing since. Except when I break it, which is when Tzaddi steps in again to fix my completely innocent missteps.

Version 4

Today I’m happy to unveil another big jump forward for the site, this time crafted by local designer and musician Frederick Brummer (aka Overmind Productions). I met Frederick through his day job at LiFT Studios when we worked on a project last year, and really liked his design style and insights.

Frederick did an extensive collaboration with me to figure out where to take the site, bringing a great deal to the new theme beyond pixels and code. He also put a lot of work into the site’s typography, something I had only given passing attention to in previous versions. The improvements that a change in typeface can bring are striking. Yes, I have seen Helvetica, but I can still be surprised by the impact of type.

The Twist

Here we are, then, up to date. I have a weird thing about my site: I only ask someone to work on it once. I’ve been very happy with and recommend everyone I mention here, but I love the idea of every revision being a totally new look at where I’m at. Doing this keeps me mindful that design isn’t just about making something, that its process often reveals what is otherwise unnoticed.

I don’t take this approach in my regular work, saving the eccentricity for my own properties rather than clients’. That makes it more fun, of course, and turns my own site into a project that pushes me into new areas in unexpected ways. I couldn’t do it any other way. Here’s to a great 2010.

• I broke quite a few links. In fact, I broke every link, and image macros don’t work so I’ll still be cleaning up old posts for a few more days. Popular posts have been redirected, but if I broke something you linked to just let me know and I’ll add a redirect so you won’t have to change anything on your side.
• If you’re so over RSS that you’re back to email, you can subscribe by weekly email in the sidebar. If you do, I won’t tell anyone you’re a inbox-hugging hipster .
• Speaking of RSS feeds, the old ones are almost certainly dead. Please re-subscribe with the convenient links in the sidebar.
• I’m using Tumblr for bookmarks, but have no solution for digest posting of said bookmarks. For now some recent links show up in the sidebar, but If you have any suggestions for turning these into weekly blog posts, please add a comment.
• Comments. I’m using the Intense Debate plugin to provide a kitchen-sink of comment functionality including replying by email and a number of other cool tricks. This area is certain to be one I want to develop more.
• It’s not really a blog thing, but I have started a CorvusTweets public Twitter account to complement the private personal account I’ve been using for a few years. Please follow, and if you don’t have Make Fast Money or Guru in your description, I’ll follow you back.

And lastly, props. Big props. Props the size of the sun to the staff and contributor community behind WordPress, and authors of various plugins I’m using. I’ve linked all the plugins after the jump. After a few weeks of seeing how things go, I’ll be making donations to all those that I keep using.The plugins that make my WordPress install soar:

• Akismet for protection from filthy filthy spam.
• Contact Form 7 for a very flexible contact form.
• Google XML Sitemap to add a little sitemap to search results that point here.
• Intense Debate Described above. I have to say it was a bit of dodgy import, and it’s a very complex offering. If any plugin gives me pause, this is the one, but my hopes are high.
• KB Advanced RSS Widget for adding RSS feeds to the sidebar with more control.
• Link Summarizer which posts a summary of links used in a post at the end of the post. I wish news sites did this more. I wish news sites linked offsite more, for that matter.
• Obfuscate EmailThwarts email address harvesters should I choose to show my email in a post.
• Secure WordPress tweaks this and that to make WordPress more secure.
• Statpress Reloaded for visitor stats. I usually make a point of not tracking them, but I’ve been convinced that they have utility beyond ego-grooming (or ego-destruction, depending on the numbers).
• Subscribe2 handles the post digest email subscription.
• WordPress Backup automatically emails copies of your database, theme and plugins for daily backups. This works the right way, which is not having to think about it until you need it, and realizing it’s all taken care of for you.
• WPtouch iPhone Theme generates an iPhone/iPod Touch-friendly layout. Sweetness.

This year,it’s a move back to Retrix for hosting, a change of engine to WordPress from Typo. So far I’m finding this new ride to be exceptionally comfortable, and owe a big thanks to the WordPress and its community for what they’ve built. Typo is a nice system, with one of the nicer admin interfaces, to boot, but we just weren’t right for each other. C’est la vie.

The move was relatively easy, heavy lifting done by Adam Roth for migration and Tzaddi Gordon for custom theming. A mobile theme is available thanks to Brave New Code’s WPtouch iPhone Plugin. It packs a lot of theming control into one plugin, and is well worth a donation given how simple to use and effective it is in generating an almost instant yet complete mobile theme. Bam!

So, a few rough edges remain in migrating content, and my plugin curiosity isn’t sated quite yet. Please pardon any messiness around here for the next few days.