How this site was built.

A working surface for the designer-developer claim. Built solo. Shipped from the same toolchain the case studies reference.

Stack

The build itself

FrameworkStatic HTML (V1) → Next.js 15 + Vercel (V2)

StylingHand-rolled CSS · custom properties · zero utility framework on V1

SansInter Variable (Google Fonts)

MonoJetBrains Mono

HostingVercel · cookieless analytics

CalendarCal.com (popup embed in V2)

Sourcegithub.com/bbremges-source/personal-website

Built withClaude Code (Opus 4.7) as pair · spec → code → audit → fix loop

Tokens

Studio Workbench palette

--bg#F4EBD9, newsprint paper

--fg#111111, true ink black

--accent#8B2418, Marvel/MTG ruby

--accent-strong#5C150C, body links

--success#1E5A3A, metric numbers

--border#DAD2BD, hairlines

ShadowsNone. Anywhere.

GradientsNone. Anywhere.

CornersSquare. 4px on small chips only.

What this site refuses to do

The negative space

The brief is anchored as much by what it leaves out as by what ships. The discipline is keeping the list short.

No greeting hero. No "Hi I'm Brian."
No portrait, anywhere
No skill bars, no logo soup, no testimonial wall
No "passionate" / "human-centered" / "world-class" / "rockstar"
No magnetic hover, no scroll-jacking, no parallax
No emoji. Anywhere. Including commit messages.
No glass morphism, no backdrop-blur
No shadows. No gradients. No browser chrome on screenshots.
No newsletter signup, no contact form, no chat bubble
No GA4. Cookieless analytics only.

If you want to read the full brief that drove this build, the canonical document is Build_Handoff.md in the repo. It's the same brief Claude Code reads when generating updates.