Spinning Plates — this blog, this journal where I think freely about anything I like — has been on my mind for years. As of 21st May 2025, it’s now a year old.

I bought the domains years ago. I wrote notes about what I wanted to say. I probably even drafted posts that I’ve since lost.

If you didn’t know, I love writing.

There’s something about opening a blank Notes page on my MacBook and letting words spill out — ideas, to-do lists, copywriting — that still feels magical after all these years. It’s the simplest form of communication. The easiest way of releasing your ideas and beliefs into the ether.

Alongside that, I’ve been “designing” websites for decades. And these days, I think I’ve reached a point where I can create sites that are both user-friendly and (hopefully) pretty. (Although I’ll be the first to admit — the main Vinyl Deli site needs some TLC.)

Spinning Plates, being all about writing, needed a design that was simple.

• Easy to read.
• Easy on the eyes.
• Quick to load.
• With clear, simple calls to action.

That was the goal.

The truth is, marketers — and business people in general — love to overcomplicate things. I know this because I’m the worst for it.

I’m both an engineer and a creative by nature, which means I’m wired to not just solve problems, but to over-engineer them until they’re heavier, messier, and sometimes worse than where I started.

It’s taken me years to realise: Stick to the problem.

Simple, right?

When you’re building anything — a blog, a business, a product — you should start by asking two questions:

• What are the core causes of the issues, problems, and flaws I’m trying to solve?
• What is the simplest, most effective solution to solve them?

It sounds obvious.

It isn’t. And for a long time, I didn’t ask.

But building Spinning Plates forced me to.

I kept the blog clean and focused:

• Easy to read.
• Dark mode when your system prefers it.
• Pretty enough to feel cared for, but minimal enough to disappear behind the words.
• One clear call to action at the end of every post: subscribe if you want to keep reading.

Performance-wise, thanks to the clean database structure (WordPress sites are notorious for database bloat), it’s fast too.

Job done. I’m happy.

Learning this has been a long journey of trial and error. But the lesson is simple:

If I’d asked myself those two questions earlier, I’d have found simpler, stronger solutions — faster.

I used to work with a guy called Alan who loved the acronym “K.I.S.S.” — Keep It Simple, Stupid.

I’d have preferred if he just taught me to ask those two questions. But hey, you live and learn.

So next time:

• What are the core causes of the problems?
• What is the simplest, most effective solution?

Keep it simple,
Jordan