The first design tried to reproduce the corkboard too directly: a brown field, white paper rectangles, a pin, and a repeated card grid. It satisfied the noun in the brief and missed the reason the metaphor was there.
What failed
Everything carried the same material treatment, so Notes, Essays, Logs, and Projects felt interchangeable. On mobile the “working wall” became a long stack of boxes. The theme was visible before the person was.
The decision
I kept the board as an information model rather than a background texture. Discovery pages can be energetic, asymmetric, and selective. Once a reader opens something, typography and context should take over.
Projects now behave like case files. Writing appears as a chronological trail. “Pinned” means current or important; it no longer requires drawing a thumbtack.
What remains unresolved
The editorial system is cleaner, but cleanliness can become another costume. The next test is whether real screenshots, unfinished notes, and project history are allowed to bend the system without breaking it.
Next
Add material from actual work, then revise the layout in response to that material instead of polishing empty containers.