
Why I built all of this
I got into graphic design and web in high school, back in 2003. They were teaching us HTML on paper and I thought “wait what — what's the point of learning this with a pen? I want to make a real site.” So I made a real site. Meanwhile I was photoshopping friends' faces, making flyers for tiny parties and underground raves. Serious stuff.
Sometime in my early twenties, people were actually paying for that, so I kept going. Between 2008 and 2012 I was freelancing unofficially; from 2012 with a VAT number, when my accountant finally cornered me.
Since then: websites, brand identity, packaging, some video, apps, prototypes. I work for a bunch of different clients — not 3, definitely more. Finding clients was never the problem. Managing them was.
HubSpot CRM, Notion projects, Wave invoicing, WordPress + 8 plugins, Gmail. Five tools. Five logins. Three contradictory sources of truth. Zero time left to actually design.
In early 2025 I gave up and started writing Rodion. Not to launch a startup. To finish my workday at 6pm instead of 10pm.
Today I use it, and some clients use it. It works — you have to know how, it's not for everyone, but it works.
