Immersive Web Design – This Isn’t Wix, Baby!
So, how did I end up on this journey?
After several years out of the web design/dev game, running my own online reselling biz, I decided to jump back in. At first, I wasn’t sure there was even a point. I mean... Wix! But then I wandered over to awwwards.com to see if anything exciting was happening on the web, and that’s when I discovered Rogier de Boevé—a Belgium-based creative developer—with a site that knocked the dust off my pixel-farming brain. I had a pretty good idea what kind of code was humming under the hood.
Some years back—honestly, it’s all a blur—I started Bruno Simon’s online course on JavaScript’s Three.js library. I made it up to lesson 16 and, for some reason, stopped. Who knows why? Thankfully, there’s no expiration date on the course, so I was able to hop back in. I started from lesson one again because I needed the refresher—and Bruno had added a lot of great new material.
As for the 3D part—just for shits and giggles—I learned Blender during the COVID lockdown. Turns out, I was really going to need that. You can export models as .glb files and plug them right into a website using React.
So... what is Three.js?
Three.js is a powerful JavaScript library that lets you create 3D graphics directly in the browser using WebGL. It provides a higher-level, more intuitive way to build interactive 3D scenes—complete with animated objects, lighting, shadows, and even full environments—without needing to write raw WebGL code. In a word? Immersive.
A bit about me: I’ve actually been at this a while. I graduated from art school with a focus on print graphic design, then went on to study computer science at the University of Delaware for a couple years. A fellow student introduced me to websites, and I was hooked. My first site was built on UNIX using the Vi editor and PERL. Shudders to think.
Eventually, I found myself working at agencies and corporate firms like PricewaterhouseCoopers (both the Philly and London offices—yay!), designing and building web and interactive products. At one point, I got the big idea to drive from Philly to LA. (Pro tip: Don’t take Route 50 the whole way—you’ll lose your mind.) That move led me to meet one of my motion design heroes, Chris Do of Blind, and to land freelance gigs with companies like Fox Searchlight Pictures.
Fast forward to now:
I’ve come to realize there are websites… and there are WEBSITES. The latter are emotional, storytelling-driven, immersive experiences—and that is what I want to create. That’s where I’m throwing all my pixels now.
⚠️ Note: The current layout of my site clearly borrows from Rogier de Boevé’s brilliant design. It’s just a temporary scaffold while I build my own immersive experience from scratch. Big respect to Rogier for the inspiration—his work lit the fuse.
Top comments (0)