My Logo Was on a Sandwich

During my internship at Reve, many of my coworkers had their own sites. From designers to computer scientists, everyone had domains that fit them. I felt like I needed a site of my own, too! I made a site during my internship, but something felt off: the dark purples and bright yellow didn’t match my personality, the fonts felt unintentional, and I had no explanations or behind-the-scenes content about my work. I was going to make minor tweaks, but it still didn’t turn out the way I wanted.

I went to Figma and started over. I wanted my name itself to be my logo. I asked myself questions like, “How can I play with the letters of my name to make a logo?” Little did I know the answer was on my sandwich. That afternoon I ordered a sandwich from the school's cafe, and the barista put an arc under the two Ns in my name. I realized this playful gesture could be the start of my own personal branding.

Inspired, I animated and prototyped my logo in Figma and then asked Claude to help me bring the website to life. After choosing colors and fonts and finalizing the logo, Claude and I worked together to write the code and format the site! After finishing everything, I deployed it on Cloudflare.

The new site finally feels like mine. Instead of just showing finished pieces, it explains how each project came together, which is the part of my work I'm most proud of and was missing the first time around.

The biggest lesson wasn't technical. My first site didn't fail because of the code; it failed because I was designing what I thought a portfolio should look like instead of asking what mine should say. The answer didn't come from a mood board or a font library. It came from a barista with a marker and a little arc under two Ns. Sometimes the best branding is already sitting in front of you. You just have to notice it before you finish the sandwich.