History of Adesina Media

I’ve been working as a web designer for quite a while, and I always get a bit of a kick taking a look at my older work.  While clients and contracts usually get the most attention, there were definitive periods in my web history where I carved out my online home with the trends and best practices of the time – some still in action, many long gone.  This page gives you a glimpse into the development of Adesina Media over time, where I’ve gone over time, and where I’m heading.

Jasmine’s Window

Barely out of high school, I found myself using the web as an outlet from the rigeurs of school. Determined to become a geneticist, I spent my days buried in Chem equations, and evenings fleshing out the design ideas that I had scribbled in my notebook during class lectures. It wasn’t until my best friend asked me why I wasn’t studying (web) design that I realized that we are all better off making a living out of what we love. Jasmine’s Window began namelessly during my high school years, and took shape during my first few years at Fordham University. It featured downloadable image sets of beveled buttons and splashy headers, each created as a dedication to my friends and family. Though my skills have improved, I still tend to pocket my favorite designs for those that I care about.

Midori Girl

My own domain name, and I thought I was just the coolest. Midori Girl started with the strongest ideas from Jasmine’s Window, and grew to become a collection of interactive novelties. The Nirvana Nook, a flash application that allowed users to decorate a room with little drag and drop icons, was born from a little boredom and a great deal of interest in making actionscript work (what I considered to be) wonders. You can tell the site was from a dead era in usability – the first face of midorigirl.com was notable for its timely message encouraging users to update their flash players to version 5. The second face of Midori Girl was lovely enough, but faded about as fast as my love of Midori Melon.

Adesina Media (HTML)

The midorigirl.com domain name expired at around the same time that my interests changed a bit – I was looking organize my growing portfolio in a manner that would serve as a digital portrait of my work and design ethic. I find that as a designer, you end up wearing a new series of hats each time you approach the computer.  It is in this dynamism of roles that you are pushed to be your most creative. As I developed Adesina Media, I wanted a new site that would reflect this sensibility, and also highlight the direct connection between design and complexity of personality. The notion of identity is mulitfaceted, and I knew that for me to have a personal collection of my work, it’d have to be as ecclectic, interactive, and communicative as I could allow.

Adesina Media (WordPress) and Adesina’s Kitchen

As the age of static pages waned and designers learned to let their content fly free from their styles, I found myself plunging headlong into the CSS Zen Garden and content management as fast as my feet could take me. Or maybe I should say as fast as my fingers could clack away at the keyboard. After creating my first custom template in WordPress for a client site, I decided to take the plunge myself and move Adesina Media into what I considered to be blogging software on steroids. The program has served me well, allowing my content to sit pretty in the database while I swap out looks to suite my mood. This particular template embraced my growing love of photography, particularly the flowers I’d been growing in my own garden.

In 2008, as a means of combatting the NYC gray with colorful plates of deliciousness, I started my food blog, Adesina’s Kitchen. Originally, recipes for Farfalle alla Carbonara and Hibiscus Lemonade shared the same space as web sites and print works from my portfolio. However, the site quickly took on a life of its own and moved to its own space with a separate but cohesive look. Almost 300 recipes later, the site has now become Spice or Die, a food blog representing my love of a fearless global kitchen.