▸ CH.09 — COLOPHON
the site you're on was designed out loud — here's the transcript.
no framework templates, no Figma-to-code handoff. i built everything in the browser, talking to AI agents as collaborators. cozy-CRT direction, light + dark themes, responsive + a11y pass — all iterated live.
every pixel you see
was argued about.
was argued about.
— timeline · phases of signal
phase 01
tuning the dial
picked the voice (broadcast, warm, honest). chose 4 fonts. drew deploy. iterated directions until 'Cozy CRT' locked.
phase 02
channels live
hi-fi on every section: hero, about, work, case, writing, now, uses, signal, 404, footer. iterated in-browser, not in a mockup.
phase 03
paper mode
light theme that isn't just 'dark theme inverted'. re-tuned amber, green, shadows, scanlines so it reads like sun-bleached paper.
phase 04
responsive & a11y
responsive specs, design tokens locked, a11y audit, light + dark themes verified. wrote this very page. deploy got a nap.
▸ routes
/ home · you are here
/about who & why
/work case studies
/work/:slug case study
/writing the journal
/writing/:slug one post at a time
/now what i'm working on now
/uses the stack · right here ↓
/signal say hi
/* the lost channel
FRAMEWORK
nuxt 4 · static ssg
prerendered, ssr-rendered html. no runtime data fetching.
STYLING
tailwind 4 + design tokens
every value is a css var (var(--…)). token pipeline → css custom properties.
CONTENT
@nuxt/content · markdown
writes like a notebook, ships like a site
FONTS
Space Grotesk · Fraunces · JetBrains Mono · Caveat
display / serif italic / mono / hand
HOSTING
static · prerendered
fast enough that you don't notice
ANALYTICS
none
no cookies, no banner, no tracking
— five rules, taped to the monitor
RULE 01
one signal per screen
red is never decorative. if it's red, tap it.
RULE 02
warm, not cold
dark mode that smells like coffee, not a server rack.
RULE 03
type does the heavy lifting
four typefaces. one job each. no decoration.
RULE 04
motion carries meaning
blink = now. pulse = live. everything else sits still.
RULE 05
deploy everywhere
if a screen felt lonely, the cat moved in.
1
cat