A Fresh New Look

A Side Project That Actually Saw the Light of Day?!

Being an engineer, I frequently find myself diving into a multitude of side projects, often exceeding the time I realistically have. Let me share with you one particular venture that perfectly exemplifies this tendency. It took me over two years of intermittent work before it finally reached a form that’s primed for release ⭐!

Previously, I had a Jekyll site, which was a breeze to set up thanks to GitHub's excellent support at that time. However, the website didn’t have the aesthetics nor the features I desired, as it relied on a third-party theme. Since I had no intention of diving into the Ruby ecosystem to create a Jekyll theme, I started researching alternative tools. After careful consideration, I chose Hugo, the fastest static site generator that’s built in Go!

And so, a new pet project was born: developing a brand new Hugo theme! Fast forward to the present, and I can proudly say that the work is “done” (for the time being, at least). 😅
You can already see it in action on my website and on a dedicated demo site .

In this post, I’ll be sharing some details about its development.

A Creative Endeavour

When it came to designing the theme, I wanted it to reflect my personality, so I took on the challenge of creating my own design. As someone without a background in the arts, it was a daunting task, but thankfully, I had some ideas to kick things off.

I knew I wanted to have a timeline of cards to showcase previous work experience, and I wanted the rest of the site to incorporate a similar design. There was no doubt about the color scheme: dark mode all the way!
But the rest was trial-and-error. Looking back, though, I now realize that it might have been wise to use a designer tool to ensure that all the different pieces fit together cohesively. It could have saved me a couple of complete rewrites!

However, that was just the beginning of my journey. The next step was to learn how to create vector graphics and come up with not one, but two logos! It wasn’t a walk in the park, but I’m happy to say that I made it through unscathed. My personal logo, in particular, fills me with pride. It cleverly incorporates my initials into an infinite symbol, making it visually appealing and symbolic!

Introducing Aurora

After putting in a ton of hard work, I’m thrilled to introduce Aurora, my fully responsive Hugo theme designed with the user in mind. Its minimalist aesthetic guarantees a clean and accessible experience, while its seamless integration across different devices ensures that everyone can use it, regardless of their preferred platform.

I made privacy a top priority during the development process — Aurora doesn’t collect any personal information, and everything it needs is hosted by the site. This ensures that visitors can use the theme with confidence and without worrying about their data being collected.

I’ve open-sourced it on Github , so it’s available for anyone to check out and use. Whether you’re a developer looking to incorporate it into your projects or just someone who wants a stylish and functional theme for your own site, I can’t wait to see what people will do with Aurora.

So why not take a look and give it a whirl today?

Conclusion

Designing a theme for my personal website was a challenging but rewarding experience. It allowed me to unleash my creative side and acquire new skills along the way. I’m thrilled with the final result and eager to share it with the world.