i’ve thought about making this space for myself for the past 3 years: a room on the internet that was a reflection of parts of my personality in a way that didn’t make me feel like a commodity, but instead was a form of self expression in a lovely digital format. i didn’t want everything to be for the purpose of contributing towards my career or my creative output, but to also contain memories of the things i’ve consumed and experienced. i also wanted to try not to conform to the design standards that have naturally grown with the understanding of interface usability, and instead chose to piece together each page with its own unique personality and form. i loved the balance of creating this cozy space while also maintaining enough modernity to be functional (it scales across screen sizes...this is new for me!!!). what resulted is something i’m very proud of and hopefully this place can also be classified as a digital garden to other curious web creators i’ve seen.

the term ‘digital garden’ is not invented by me, but is used to describe a website that grows and shifts with its content/creator. it doesn’t follow the conventions that come with the modern web with its consistency in formatting, excess of white space, and simplicity in knowing exactly where you’re supposed to go. instead, a digital garden is reminiscent of the small web (sites that were made during the early years of the internet), which was a time when pages were made online not by designers, coders, or companies, but by individuals who wanted to put together a quiet space for themselves that worked as an archive for their interests, thoughts, creations, pictures, etc. it was widely used for fansites, personal libraries, watchlists, resources -- basically anything you could ever digitally document..altogether, it seemed to be your entire digital footprint combined into one url, and because of that, it was chaotic and unbound. i was really inspired by this concept because of how pure it felt. these websites didn’t have followers, ads, revenue, or even any exposure, but you can find some of them now (albeit through lots of searching) and you can tell they simply have genuine love put into them. what an unfiltered, inviting concept: the creation of something with the most honest intentions.

cloverfield isn’t entirely the perfect replication of a digital garden or a neocity or geocity or piece of the small web of the past because i’m not free of my own motivations, but i did try to design this website exactly how i’d like it without the judgment of the viewer in mind. to a true fan of early 2000s websites, this doesn’t pass the test for being free of modern website conventions, but i’m only human!!! and also a very contemporary product designer haha...as for the content, yes, i know it does contain professional work, but that’s only because i love it here and i’d like to use it for as many purposes as i can. lastly, the largest fatal flaw, is that this isn’t coded in plain html/css and actually not hand coded at all. but if it matters at all, i’ve tried that several times with my first digital library, previous portfolio, and attempt at a neocity in the past; and although i love those sites, they weren’t sustainable or adaptable to my needs and i quickly lost the endurance for each to continue. but anyways, even though i spent this whole paragraph explaining how this isn’t actually a digital garden, it still is nhu’s digital garden and i’m so happy to be here smelling the digital flowers and picking the pixel clovers with you!!!