Studio Sophy Turns Ten
The evolution of Studio Sophy.
It’s been a reflective few months as I turned 30 and wrapped up an eventful year. But one milestone I’m hitting this week is the 10-year anniversary of this website. Studio Sophy has seen all the twists and turns of my career, reflecting every career pivot as it evolved in layout, content, and navigation every few years. It’s mirrored my journey in all its messy splendor, and I’m proud of that.
January 2015. Burnt out little me escaping to the beach after pulling one too many all-nighters questioning my life. I needed to rejuvenate by creating something. Then I went home and built this website.
Ten years ago, I was in the middle of my undergrad education, struggling to figure out my career while stuck in a major I didn’t like. I knew I loved photography. I was decent at graphic design. I had yet to discover the tech industry. But I liked blogging, and saw the potential in bloggers becoming entrepreneurs who made their careers on the internet. So I signed up for a Squarespace subscription on a student discount with a surefire determination to make it as a creative out in the world. I was going to use this personal corner of the internet to write and share my work. As I thought about my career after graduation, I didn’t want to be defined by a one-page text-based resume that emphasized my only real professional accomplishment: a degree in architecture. Instead, I wanted to be the author in my own story, and build a space that showcased my many other, and much more interesting, talents.
Found the OG mission statement I wrote and reading it back ten years later, I have no notes. I clearly had a vision for what I wanted to create and it has never wavered.
2015 was a transformative year as this dedication to make a brand for my professional self gave me the motivation to work on this website day and night, oftentimes staying up at the campus library until closing (living off Hot Cheetos) to build a portfolio website I was proud of, whether it was designing the perfect logo or learning a bit of Javascript to customize my Squarespace template. Having a living, breathing blog pushed me to create more art in order to showcase more work, because now they had a place to be published. I was experimenting with new media and formats nonstop, making art through photographs, cinemagraphs, graphic design layouts, digital illustrations, hand-drawn illustrations, animation, actual paintings, and words. I shared the work I did at school. I wrote about my dreams and turned them into manifestos. I had so much to show, so much to say.
A year later, I ordered business cards. If I was going to be a legit, professional artist, I had to look the part. “Studio Sophy” had become my creative alter ego.
20-year-old me was constantly sprinting towards her dreams, and would be proud to know that years later, those dreams would become reality.
Even though it didn’t lead me to a successful career overnight, this website has slowly and surely molded my career into one I have (and love) today. I get to work a day job where I solve complex problems and design for e-commerce. In my free time, I explore a wide range of hobbies and tell stories about them on this blog, whether it’s traveling, illustration projects, or interior design projects. My creative needs are fulfilled, and I’m happy.
2015
I built the first version of my site with the limited amount of photography I had to work with. The focus was on photography and architecture work, but my blog contained all sorts of experimental projects.
2018
I’d graduated and had started my professional career as a visual designer, but wanted to pivot to UX design. I updated my portfolio with UX projects, and as well as explorations in other art mediums I’d discovered (animation, illustration, etc). The homepage turned into a long intro page that showcased my case studies better.
2019
I began my product design career journey, and streamlined the site into something clean and professional. I finally had “real” work to show to for hiring managers snooping around.
2021-present
I became much more comfortable and established in my career, and let my personal work and branding take the spotlight. I established a style guide, and adjusted the navigation and content so it tells the story of my professional vs. personal work. Since then, the site has stayed consistent in its layout. Ultimately it’s about the work showcased, less so the format.
On writing
I miss blogs and long-form written content. I miss back when people on the internet were known for their humor, wit, intellect rather than their looks. I love storytelling, and I think photo-first sharing (ahem, social media) is erasing good storytelling.
In ten years, even though my art has evolved, one thing that’s remained is a deep passion for writing my blog. Writing has helped me to reflect on and document my professional and personal life as I lived through an extremely transformative decade. My work doesn’t present itself; I get to control the narrative. I tell my own story, and others’ stories that I find interesting. Writing helps me make sense of the mess in my head, organize ideas, simplify, and communicate them. Keeping this blog up-to-date has only made me a better writer, and an even better thinker.
Here’s to the next 10 years.