So, I’ve been fiddling around with this concept I’ve started calling my ‘uniquestyler’ approach for a good while now. And just to be clear, it’s not some fancy piece of software or a complicated system someone else cooked up. Nah, it’s more like a personal project, a hill I decided I needed to climb myself. I just got so incredibly fed up with every single thing I put together looking like it rolled off the exact same assembly line. You get that, right? Every website, every little graphic, it all just started to blend into one big, boring mess.
This whole thing really kicked off a few months ago. I was tinkering with a small side hustle, a personal blog I was trying to get off the ground, mostly for my own amusement. And man, I must have spent actual days, no exaggeration, just endlessly scrolling through themes, templates, you name it. Nothing, absolutely nothing, felt like ‘me’. It was like trying on a rack of clothes where nothing fits, or it’s all in colors you’d never wear. Super frustrating, to put it mildly. I was pretty close to just throwing in the towel, thinking maybe I just don’t have that ‘designer’s eye’ or whatever they call it.
Then, a lightbulb kind of went off. Or, more like a dusty old memory resurfaced. Years back, I worked with this guy, a bit of a character, definitely marched to the beat of his own drum, but a downright wizard when it came to design. He told me once, clear as day, “Quit staring at what everyone else is pumping out. You gotta dig inside. What makes your brain buzz?” That phrase just stuck in my head. So, I made a snap decision: ditch all the pre-made stuff and try to build something from scratch, something that genuinely felt like it had my fingerprints all over it. That was the official start of my ‘uniquestyler’ quest.
The Inevitable Messy Phase
Alright, let me be straight with you – those initial attempts? An absolute catastrophe. Seriously, a complete and utter dumpster fire. I just threw everything I could think of at the screen – clashing colors, fonts that looked like they were screaming at each other, layouts that made no sense. My monitor looked like a toddler had discovered a paint palette and gone on a rampage. It was certainly unique, I’ll give it that – uniquely terrible! My partner took one glance over my shoulder and just started howling with laughter. Can’t say I blame them; it was pretty comical in a painful sort of way.
I quickly figured out I was trying way too hard to be ‘different’ just for the sake of it, without even knowing what my version of different actually looked or felt like. It kind of took me back to my first ‘proper’ job right out of university. I was so desperate to make a good impression, I’d stick my hand up for every task, try to use big words in meetings, and probably just ended up looking like a nervous intern trying too hard. This ‘uniquestyler’ thing felt a lot like that. I was forcing it, and it showed.
So, I had to take a massive step back. Like, hit the reset button hard. I told myself, “Alright, pal, calm down. What’s the absolute bare-bones basic here?”
- Fonts First, Always: I decided to really wrestle with typography. Not just randomly picking a font I thought looked cool, but trying to understand why certain typefaces appealed to me. Was I going for something traditional? Super modern? A bit quirky? I burned an entire weekend just experimenting with different combinations for headings and body text. It was slow, painstaking work, but also surprisingly satisfying when something clicked.
- My Own Color Story: Next up, colors. Instead of grabbing a color wheel or looking up the ‘hot new palettes’ everyone else was using, I started thinking about colors that I actually, genuinely enjoyed in my day-to-day life. The deep blue of that comfy old hoodie I practically live in, the specific shade of green in the local park where I take my dog. Sounds a bit daft, I know, but it helped anchor my choices in something real and personal.
- Layout with a Point: Then came the layout. I started asking, what’s the absolute number one thing I want someone to notice or do when they see this? And I built the structure around that core purpose, instead of just trying to cram things into boxes to fill space.
The Kind-Of ‘Eureka!’ Moment
Bit by bit, ever so slowly, things started to fall into place. It wasn’t some sudden bolt of lightning from the heavens. It was more like patiently chipping away at a stubborn piece of wood. I began with really small changes. For that blog I mentioned, I landed on a super clean, very easy-to-read font, a seriously restricted color scheme (basically two main colors and one tiny accent), and a layout so simple it was almost invisible. Probably wouldn’t win any design awards or blow anyone’s mind. But for me, it felt… good. It felt like it was actually mine.
If there’s one big takeaway from this whole ‘uniquestyler’ expedition, it’s this: It’s not really about trying to conjure up some earth-shattering, never-before-seen masterpiece. It’s more about making deliberate, conscious decisions that reflect your own individual taste and what you’re trying to achieve, even if those choices end up being pretty straightforward. It’s about being intentional. And honestly, it’s a never-ending process. I’m still fiddling with it, still learning new things. It’s a bit like that garage I’ve been vowing to clean out for the past five years. You tackle one corner, it looks a bit better, you feel a tiny bit of motivation, so you do another little bit. It doesn’t really have a final ‘done’ state.
So, there you have it. That’s been my little escapade into finding my own style. No silver bullets or secret formulas, just a ton of trial and error, a fair bit of wanting to tear my hair out, and eventually, something that feels a little more real. Maybe this rambling account helps someone else out there who’s feeling a bit stuck in that ‘template rut’. Just pick a starting point, any point, and start making it your own.
