Nina Alter · designer + maker + thinker + user

Click image to view Flash site.

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2001: My first ever website, built to promote my graphic design work & to... well, try something new.
I had no expectation-of nor any inclination-to shift from print into digital work at that point, tho it finally happened in 2004... and there's been no looking back!

Representing Myself: Concept & Execution
Because this was a piece for myself and targeting an early-adopter creative-industry audience, I set out to create something more whimsical and experimental than would be appropriate for most paying clients. I also wanted to really exploit the opportunities Flash allowed that HTML didn't (minus obnoxious swirlies & sound effects), and develop a grid system outside the usual rectilinear variants, and one that included motion.
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Using the full space of the screen differently and in a way that felt more interactive and less web-pagey, was my primary goal (note: this was 2001). Not to put conceptual hoo-ha above functionality & usability, an intuitive interface with easily discoverable pathways was also a top priority. As well- having just left behind an industry that almost exclusively targets teenage-boys (action sports) I was hungry to create a look/feel for my site that was more whimsical and fun than it was badass or gnarly, though not powder-puff or Fisher-Price... and more delightful than my usual inclinations towards Swiss/German simplicity.
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Bigwheel.net: What's the deal with the domain name?
The domain I chose, namely because branding myself with myname.com just felt weird- and pigeonholing myself as a "this" kind of a creative or a "that" kind of creative at the core-brand level, also felt wrong (still does)... so something more emotionally evocative and less finite, was the guiding caveat. Finding a picture of myself on my first BigWheel, I saw in the object and in my body language sitting atop it a sense of whimsical freedom, independence, and an optimism that the whole world was out there for me to conquer. Yes- the entire 1/2 block of Bardstown Trail that I was allowed to ride up and down- it was all mine...
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Upon piecing-together that most American kids from the 60s thru 80s also associate these emotions with the ubiquitous toy that almost all of us had at one point- and that personally for me as an adult, these emotions continue to resonate as some of my most deeply felt values, bingo- there you go. Abstractly it's me, the abstractness is conceptually relatable to others in a simple 1-2 punch that the word BigWheel evokes... and bigwheel.net is super easy for folks to remember in conversation.