Monday Postcard # 134 – Nerding Out

Over the past weeks, it was a bit quieter here than usual. This was not due to the Covid-19 situation but rather due to the fact that I have been working on something behind the scenes. As you may have noticed, The Pink Lookbook has received a face lift.

I started this website in 2015. Initially, I only wanted to share some travel tips. Many of my friends ask me for advice when they travel and one day I decided to put all my recommendations on a website to make it easier to share – I lost track of all the emails with my tips and had to start from scratch every time. With a website, I could just forward a link with nice pictures and everything in place.

Over the years, the site grew. In addition to the travel content, I started interviewing inspiring women, artists and worked on more detailed guides for travel, arts and fashion. I even started sharing my Oma’s recipe. Moreover, I have been sending you a weekly postcard for more than two years. In the course of this, my reader base grew and I have been receiving many emails, texts and calls from strangers and friends with whom I (re-)connected over this medium. 

After five years and with over 400 articles, it was time to give the site a much needed makeover. I had the feeling that a lot of it was lost due to the layout which only showed content in chronological order. I wanted to make it easier to navigate and find all the content. With this new layout, I hope I have achieved it.

I first started thinking about this revamp a few months ago. But, frankly, I had been procrastinating for the longest time. I knew it was a mammoth task. At the start of the lockdown in Austria, I thought, “When if not now?”. I spent many days (and nights) working on the concept, making mood boards and getting inspiration online. The past 10 days, I was in a rabbit whole of building the new site, migrating all the content and designing the end version.

As you see, I was “nerding out”. I just cannot help it, but once I start working on such a project, I am lost in this virtual world. I am not the most patient person, but designing a website pushes me to my patience limits. (Can you believe you can spend three hours to design headlines?) But once you see that you make it work, it is amazing – even if it is the smallest button finally linking to the right content. 

Sounds nerdy? It is. And I enjoy it and am proud of myself of what I tought myself over the past five years. When I started, I had no idea about graphic design programmes, web development tools, programmes and templates, search engine optimization or anything remotely related to social media. 

This website is proof of what we are capable of. If there is a will, there is a way. And especially in the digital world, there is so much free and amazing content to get started and get better.

I hope you enjoy this new design as much as I do. Have fun browsing and do let me know what you think about it.

Have you also been using social distancing to finally stop procrastinating? Or are you still procrastinating about something? Get started! You will feel so much better once you are done with it – you will feel accomplished and have your mind free to focus on the next steps. Let me know what you are up to, I always enjoy hearing your stories.

Have a great week ahead!