Yanno, Nin, your initial thought reminded me of something a favourite musician of mine once said. Paraphrasing as best I can, they basically stated how when you set out to make things you always want to let it take its shape as you go along. Trying to get into a project with a very specific outcome in mind is actually opening the doors to a lot of frustration in the process, especially when you're in the middle of learning how to even do it. Granted, that advice was given from someone who worked better with experimenting and getting things wrong in order to find what's right. I always found it interesting to take into consideration, with how I work.
But yeah, long-winded way to say I'm with ya'll there on how one thinks about a site they make. It really is kinda just this dynamic snapshot of what's going through your mind, ain't it? From a collage of neat little things you find yourself drawn to, to a grand amalgamation of deep-rooted thoughts and feelings stemming from life and experience, or in my case a means to simply capture that which is. For the likes of me websites are great for encompassing that which is a living amalgamate itself. In short, I am a being. I am complex. I feel many things. One medium, one style, sometimes ain't enough, and so the nature of a website comes into play in a world where you're kinda expected to be a one dimensional thing.
Stepping away from waxing poetic for a moment, there definitely ain't no shortage of being driven by aesthetics and tastes— especially as an artist. I'm the type of guy whose eye more often gets drawn to anything colorful, flavourful, and most importantly, weird, cartoony and fun. I am also the type of guy who likes to keep things organised. I guess, in a sense, a lot of my current web design sensibilities basically boils down to being able to mix a sense of chaotic organisation, if you will. I like order, but I want just a smidgen of chaos in it. This is why I've always been so enamoured with sites, since I first even got internet access as a young teen. Websites don't always have to be just one thing, or just one style. People can make them one uniform way, or they can go
bonkers banana beserk on each page, so it feels like every section you go to feels like its own space. A website within a website, eh? Eh?
To loop it back, that same musician I mentioned has a website of their own that used to be like that. For a long while each section that covered a different aspect of their tastes and interests ended up being styled differently. I got super inspired by it so much so that it pretty much revitalised my want to make a site again, after my first attempt at one in the turn of the decade around 2010. Granted, as of recently they did end up revamping their site to make it more minimalistic and resource-savvy. Honestly, I gotta respect such a move since it really shows how they've changed as a person, plus the site still looks neat on its own merits. It just reminds me how much the style of a website can tell a lot about its maker, much like any other medium for the matter.