ColophonHow the sausage gets made
A colophon is the note at the back of a book that says how it was made – the typeface, the paper, the press. This is that, for my website.
Two sites in one
This site has two registers. Composed is the default – the version I’d hand someone I’ve just met. Candid is the same person with fewer filters. Flip between them with the ⇄ arrow in the nav; it works like a dark-mode toggle, except what changes is tone, not brightness. The site remembers which you prefer.
Words and code
I write the words; the code was written with Claude – I directed, it executed. Building AI is what I do for a living, so hand-cranking every line to prove a point would have been foolish. This is how the work actually gets done.
Built with
Astro, a static-site framework that ships plain HTML and almost no JavaScript – fast to load, cheap to run. The markup is hand-written and kept small enough that one person can hold the whole thing in their head.
Type
Your device’s own system font for now, so nothing has to download. A chosen face comes later.
Colour
One accent, doing the work: a cobalt blue with coral highlights. Composed keeps it to small marks on warm-white paper; candid floods the page and inverts the text. The coral highlights stay put in both.
Where it lives
Domain registered with Porkbun, hosted on Cloudflare. Traffic is measured with Umami, which I self-host through my own domain – privacy-friendly, no cookies, and nothing handed to a third party. I can see a page was read, not who read it.
Made by glitch
Designed, written, and directed by me, Gabriele Hasson-Birkenmayer, under the name made by glitch. An industrial designer who moved into product management, and taught herself enough of the tech to build this.
A colophon is the little note at the back of a book that says how it was made – the typeface, the paper, the press. This is that, but for my website.
Two sites in one
There are two versions of this site and you’ve found the honest one. Composed is me with my professional voice on; candid is me after the second coffee. Hit the ⇄ arrow up top to switch. Same person, different amount of filter – basically a dark-mode toggle for how much I’m behaving myself. And yes, it remembers.
Words and code
The words are all mine. The code, though? I wrote that with Claude – I dictated, it typed. I build AI for a living; hand-cranking every line of CSS to prove I could would’ve been a total waste of my time.
Built with
Astro: plain HTML, barely any JavaScript, loads fast, costs almost nothing to run. No Squarespace, no drag-and-drop, no 400 npm packages I don’t understand. I kept it small on purpose, because future-me has to maintain this and future-me is lazy.
Type
Borrowing whatever font your device already has, because making you download a typeface to read three paragraphs is rude. A proper one’s coming.
Colour
One accent pulling all the weight: cobalt with a coral highlight. Composed keeps it polite; candid says screw it and floods the whole page. The coral highlight sticks around either way.
Where it lives
Domain from Porkbun, hosting on Cloudflare, analytics from Umami that I self-host on my own domain so no third party gets a look – no cookies, no creepy tracking, no idea who you are and I’d like to keep it that way. I can see a page got read. That’s all I need.
Made by glitch
All of it – design, words, direction – is me, Gabi, working as made by glitch. Industrial designer who taught herself the tech, which is a polite way of saying I had no business building this and did it anyway.