///////////////////// CASE STORY
cankatoguz.com
“I’ve gone to the moon once…”
Building cankatoguz.com was more than just another project—it was a deeply personal journey. I’ve always felt that today’s websites often lack soul; they can be interchangeable, with logos swapped out and no one noticing the difference. I wanted to create something different, something that truly reflected who I am as a designer and a person.
It was the pandemic times, when I left India with a rescue flight, spent some time in quarantine… Settled in my hometown; my heart was broken for multiple reasons and I was busy as hell which helped a lot, at least, for inner-peace.
I don’t remember exactly how I decided to design and build a new website for myself. The original version of COGUZ.COM was becoming old and technologically outdated. I had been having late-night conversations with Johan Belin about why all designs look the same, and then I saw Rob Ford, founder of the FWA, post on LinkedIn, ‘Has web design creativity totally died?’ I probably connected the dots and followed the signs of the universe.
Image from Rob Ford’s post on LinkedIn.
I started with the first drafts around the end of 2020.
As always, when you’re building something for yourself, it takes way more time than it should. This project was no different.
From a very early draft, testing title styles.
When I’m working on a personal project, I usually keep a sketchbook dedicated to it. I started filling the first pages, not just with creative doodles but also with technical questions. I was going to develop the website myself to be sure that every detail had a purpose, so I needed to anticipate potential challenges from the start. I began with some drafts on a Photoshop canvas and coded a few prototypes, but none of them were promising at all…
I realized I needed to take a step back and rethink my approach. Instead of forcing an idea that wasn’t working, I decided to give myself some breathing room. I revisited my sketchbook, flipping through the pages, and let the ideas simmer for a while. But it seems I gave myself more breathing room than I needed—I ended up finding myself in a new relationship.
Me, but less cute.
Of course, there were some constants in my ideas. For example; starting with a quote from one of my favorite movies PK, a very personal reference to my India times… Adding my childhood, using details from my personal life etc. to ensure the site reflected who I am—after all, I’m not a company.
But I knew from my experience with the original COGUZ.COM that adding too much could backfire. It might feed my ego, but it could also hurt the user experience. So, I had to find the right balance between sharing my story and keeping the site simple.
A screenshot from the original COGUZ.COM – drawer easter-egg. A PK dvd is visible inside.
Testing the handdrawn logo…
Souvenirs from Goa.
I started stripping away anything that didn’t add real value to the story. The goal was to create something that felt personal but wasn’t overwhelming. It was less about showing everything and more about showing the right things in the right way.
Instead of relying on traditional navigation menus, I decided that scrolling would be the primary way to explore the site. As you scroll, animations are triggered, revealing content in a way that feels more like a journey than just browsing. This approach allowed me to guide the user through the story I wanted to tell, one step at a time.
Design drafts, production prototypes, animation flows—they were all promising. I was happy with the direction and moved on to the actual design and production.
But, of course, the process was naturally slow. Even the conception phase took a considerable amount of time, and I was juggling client projects and deadlines at the same time. I realized I needed to set a hard deadline for myself while reading tutorials about how to trigger the mousewheel.
…then I got stuck with some performance issues. I had to optimize assets, animations, and behaviors for the canvas rendering, not to mention adapting everything for responsive screens. At one point, I was ready to give up.
Then my girlfriend left me… I walked alone in the streets for a while, came back at the keyboard and I channeled all that energy into the project. It’s amazing what a little heartbreak can do for creativity!
With renewed focus, I tackled the performance issues head-on. I spent lots of hours refining the code, optimizing every animation, and more… Slowly but surely, things started to fall into place.
Finally, after months of late nights, countless personal revisions, and a lot of personal growth, the site was ready to launch. I set a date, pushed through the final tweaks, and deployed the index file.
It felt like a weight had been lifted, but also like I was sharing a piece of myself with the world. The response was immediate and overwhelmingly positive.
Testing and celebrating the launch…
Timo’s story after the launch.
When I first started my career, I used to check the FWA winners for inspiration, dreaming of one day seeing my work recognized there. Fast forward a bit, and now I’m fortunate enough to be a judge at the FWA. But receiving the FWA on New Year’s night for cankatoguz.com—the first award of the year—felt surreal. I’ve won several FWAs before, but always as part of a team or for a company. This one was different. It was my first individual FWA, a quiet victory in the midst of a rollercoaster of emotions.
Looking back, cankatoguz.com isn’t just a website—it’s a snapshot of a pivotal time in my life. The process taught me a lot about resilience, creativity, and the importance of staying true to my vision. Winning the FWA was the perfect conclusion to this chapter, but more than that, it was a confirmation that design, when done with passion and purpose, can still have a soul. And for me, that’s what it’s all about.
cankatoguz.com was also featured by Muzli, Awwwards and other design communities.
Definitely Related…
The personal website and the carpet of Johan Belin. Creative Director & Strategist and founder of Dinahmoe; the real digital pioneer.
An interactive keynote speech by Finland’s Speaker Of The Year Honorary Award winner Timo Kiuru.