What I’m About to Do — Pat Dryburgh

I’ve heard it said that when giving a presentation, one should first tell the audience what you are about to share, then share it, and finally tell them what you’ve just shared. The best presenters are the people who have the ability to direct every member of the audience from point A to point B without leaving anyone behind.

If I look at my blog as a presentation, looking back I can see that I haven’t done the best job at ensuring you were following along with the journey. I’ve jumped from platform to platform to platform, changed the design numerous times in between each jump, and have changed the focus too many times to count. In hindsight, I can see how I have disrespected you, not because of the changes, but because I did not clearly communicating change before it happened.

Looking Forward

There’s no better time to self-correct than on the eve of a big change, and so with that in mind I want to let you know that I am overhauling my website. In its current state, PatDryburgh.com serves as a personal blog where I share what I’m interested in and try to create content that is interesting to you. I don’t ever want that to change.

With my move to freelance last May, I have been fortunate enough to find work from referrals and through work I have done for others. I am still encountering many amazing opportunities, but I know that at any point that well could dry up and I will need to be proactive about marketing myself and my services.

With this in mind, I have designed and built an entirely new website for myself. Those following me on Twitter or Dribbble may have seen snips of the work I have been doing.

New Digs

The front page of the site will be a place to highlight some of my recent work and introduce myself to visitors. This is obviously very different from the approach I’m currently taking, which is to display a long list of possibly confusing blog posts.

The new site will be very image heavy, with big displays of the work I’ve completed as a freelance designer. I believe my work is my brand, and is the strongest selling tool I have.

I will still have a blog, and will still post links to other sites and articles. My new blog has been built to allow for a more art-directed approach, should a particular post call for that type of treatment. I have gone through my blog and removed old posts that didn’t serve the site. This process was an excellent opportunity to see how I’ve grown as a writer, and also a reminder that I do love to write. Expect more as the new site is launched.

More changes will be coming to how the blog functions, including additional RSS feeds for particular post types. These changes will be explained in a post announcing the launch of the new site.

The Engine Under The Hood

Probably the biggest yet least noticeable change to come is the change of what’s under the hood of this site. You are probably aware that this current site is powered by WordPress. I still plan on developing client sites with WordPress for the foreseeable future.

As a challenge to myself to learn a new platform, I made the decision to give ExpressionEngine a try after seeing many designers I respect use it to power their own sites. I still love WP, but now feel comfortable enough with ExpressionEngine to offer it as an additional option to clients.

Pencil It In

Next Tuesday, November 23 is the date I’ve set to launch. I’m very excited to for you to see the new site, and can’t wait to hear what you think of it. However, I didn’t want to go ahead with the change without letting you know ahead of time.

The next time you hear from me, this whole site will be different. But please, be sure to stop by. You might even find yourself leaving with a little gift.

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