"A portfolio is not just a showcase. It’s a narrative of how you think, what you value, and who you are when no one’s watching the code."
Hey again, folks!
I’m Harsh, a MERN Stack developer who spends way too much time aligning divs and overthinking color palettes.
This post isn’t a tutorial. It’s a behind-the-scenes story of what I built, why I built it, and how I tried to make it feel good.
It’s about the why behind every piece, the aesthetic choices, the layout decisions, and the bugs that made me spiral.
Let's talk.
Aesthetic First
I remember staring at a blank screen, thinking “Okay, time to build a portfolio... but how do I want it to feel?”
Not look, but feel.
Most developer portfolios follow a tried-and-true formula: clean dark/light mode toggle, neatly spaced cards, GitHub links, and some scrolling animations for flair. I’ve built a few like that myself; they’re safe. They’re fine.
But what's the fun in being just fine?
I wanted to open my site and feel like, “Yeah, this feels like me.”
Not something generic. Not something overly engineered. Just… simple, easy to approach, and directly reaches the audience.
So I took a step back and asked myself:
👉 “What kind of experience do I enjoy when I land on someone else’s site?”
👉 “What mood does my site reflect if no one reads the text?”
👉 “Would I enjoy exploring this even if I weren’t the one who built it?”
Those questions led me down a very different design path.
I decided the homepage would feel like a calm night, dark, and a little mysterious. Then, as you scroll deeper, the sections get brighter and more meaningful.
No cards. No boxy grids. No stuffing everything into neat little containers just because “that’s what portfolios do.”
I wanted flow. I wanted breathing room. I wanted the layout to guide, not overwhelm.
In the end, it wasn’t just about choosing colors and fonts.
It was about making a space that feels comfortable to exist in, even for just a few minutes.
Because if I don’t feel something when I look at it…
Why should anyone else?
The Projects Section Was A Crisis
At first, I thought this part would be easy.
Just showcase a few projects, right? Maybe slap in some GitHub links, a screenshot, and a short description. Classic.
But the more I mocked it up, the more it felt… transactional.
Click, skim, leave. That’s not what I wanted.
These weren’t just “apps I made.” They were stories, mini-experiments, late-night ideas, and client deadlines turned lessons. And cramming all of that into a tiny card with a title and button? It felt disrespectful to the work.
So I scrapped the grid.
I gave each project space to breathe. A full-screen layout. Filters that matter. A drawer that opens into a mini case study, not just another outbound link.
Was it extra? Yeah.
Did it break the layout a dozen times? Also yes.
But did it finally feel better? Maybe 80%.
I Accidentally Built A Slime
No, really.
One evening, I was playing with framer-motion and somehow ended up animating a squishy blob.
At first, it was just for fun. Then I gave it a little bounce. Then drag physics. Then edge detection. Then... it wouldn’t stop moving, and I had to write a custom hook to tame it.
So now my portfolio has a slime. 🐛
It's a resident of my portfolio. It reacts. It does absolutely nothing productive.
But you know what?
It makes people smile. And in a world of cookie-cutter portfolios, maybe that’s enough.
Also, it taught me a ton about modular animation logic. So there's that. Thanks, little buddy!
My Thoughts
If there’s one thing this whole project taught me, it’s this:
"A portfolio isn’t where you prove you know a tech stack.
It’s where you prove you know yourself."
I could’ve shipped it faster. I could’ve used a template. I could’ve kept it “professional."
But I chose to build something that felt personal.
That felt playful but polished.
That wouldn’t just tell people what I do, but show how I think.
And the result?
A site that I don’t just use as a link, I use it as a reflection. A conversation starter. A little piece of the internet that’s mine.
So... Why Am I Sharing All This?
Because if you’re building your portfolio, or even just thinking about it, I hope this gives you the courage to:
- Skip the rules
- Lean into your weird ideas
- Prioritize how it feels, not just how it performs on Lighthouse
- And build something that makes you smile when you hit refresh
You don’t have to make a Slime.
But if you do… name it something cool. (Mine doesn’t have a name yet. Suggestions welcome.)
Visit My Portfolio
If you want to explore it, here it is: harshprakash.vercel.app
And if anything stood out, confused you, or made you curious — I’d love to hear from you.
Happy coding!
Thanks for reading!
If this resonated even a little, I’d love to connect: LinkedIn | X
I share dev insights, coding hacks, and the messy bits we usually don’t talk about.
Always open to a good tech talk, feel free to drop a message.
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