Who Are You? 👤

Writing an about page for your website is like introducing yourself in a group setting. Who are you? What would you like others to know about you? What are you all about?

As you can imagine, writing an about page is not that easy. I procrastinated writing my own for quite some time. It took me six blog posts before this website had an about page (and for that matter, a menu).

But at some point I couldn't procrastinate any longer. How would my readers know who I was, if I never introduced myself?

That's when I used the power of Kev Quirk's blog. His post The Importance Of An About Page helped me create my first attempt. I have to admit though, that it didn't represent who I really was. Yet!

I explained why I write my name the way I write it (with the coolest letter of the alphabet), I talked about my job, I explained why I started this blog and listed some of my hobbies.

Basically, the ingredients of any good about page where present:

• What's your name?
• What do you do?
• Oh, you have a blog?
• What do you do other than blogging?
• What do you look like because people want to see pictures?

Still, it wasn't really me. I can't say what was missing. But it wasn't really me.

Really me

I've had my personal website for a while now. In the last months, I began shaping it to really represent who I am:

• I write about personal matters, such as my painful journey as a writer, how I turned one of my blog posts into a talk or my end of the year reflection.
• I write about topics that I care about, instead of writing about topics that others care about.
• I document my priorities on my now page (what's a now page?).

Now that everything else about my website is representing the real me: why not write an about page that does the same?

An about page that represents who I really am

I think what my first about page attempt did for me, was lay a foundation. In the beginning of this website's journey, I didn't really know who I was on my personal website. I didn't have much that represented me.

But now, that I've been blogging for almost a year, I'm able to tell my story. Each one of my posts represents one part of this story. And I reference to these parts of my story on my about page.

And so, eventually, I tweaked my foundation. I shortened the part why my name contains the letter Q (Niq with Q). I reflected on why I became a UX designer (work). I thought about why I started this blog (blog). I asked myself what other thing really represents me (travelling).

And there you have it: an about page, that communicates: this is me, this is what I do, this is what I'm all about. ✨