One Quest

leads to another

Hi there!

Curious what this whole “Simulacra” business is? Let’s get into it!

The design system behind One Quest is an illusory and whimsical one. The concept behind it is to highlight the illusion and mimicry of digital products. It will continuously evolve with me and my brand as I keep learning and growing which will continue to deepen the illusory nature of digital products. Is anything actually real? Is everything an illusion? Who really knows…… 🧐

Currently, it’s created using the Gutenberg Blocks editor and the Create Block Theme plugin as I learn about WordPress and build my first web experience with it. I’m familiar with building systems within Figma, Framer, and other similar tools and decided to see how the WordPress visual editor compares. The WordPress Block Theme and Gutenberg editor definitely need some big improvements like true components, variants, more override options, and many others, but it’s a decent starting place and has been fun to explore!

Inspiration

Words

Some words that inspired the theme:

Illusion, whimsy, trickster, impish, disguise, imitation

Descriptors

One Quest is:

Whimsical, playful, fresh, vibrant, fantastical, organized, simple, minimal, systematic, open, exploratory, curious, evolutionary

One Quest is not:

Traditional, sterile, plain, common, typical

Music

Music has always been a big part of my life and these lyrics inspired me to find the incredible name for my design system! 🤩

"Everything good must end
But we can live again
In the glass simulacra"

Walkway Blues

M83

Imagery

Photo I took in Spain on a wall with graffiti. The graffiti art features a very whimsical scene filled with many sharp bold shapes that are colored pastel purple and pink, and outlined in thick black lines. There are also vibrant green leaves coming out of certain spots in the scene. Behind the purple and pink shapes are other shapes colored pale yellow. And the star of the show in the top right corner is a fantastical creature of some kind. They're wearing a large blue cloak that covers most of their face in shadow. Their eyes, nose and mouth show through highlighting their unamused eyes, a large round purple nose, and bright pink lips with a single tooth coming out of one corner. Their two hands can also be seen coming out of the cloak wearing white gloves. One hand rests on the sharp purpose shapes beside it and the other points purposefully towards the other side of the graffiti which isn't shown in this photo. What an amazing story, right??

A photo I took in Spain of some really nice graffiti art. It definitely matches the vibe of One Quest and currently it’s featured as a “hero” image of sorts for the Simulacra.

What About One Quest?

Now that you know a bit more about the Simulacra, how does One Quest fit?

What is One Quest?

One Quest is the personal brand and digital identity of me, Ben Perkins. I created it after of a ton of internal questions and creative problem solving and I’m absolutely stoked to share it! 🔥

There’s a few guiding principles behind the One Quest brand and experience:

A flexible system that evolves with me as I live
Personalized to my interests, values, and aesthetics
Minimal in aesthetic, structure, and all possible areas
Using open source tools and systems (like the Fediverse and WordPress) as much as possible

One Quest isn’t a one and done thing because at it’s core it encapsulates the spirit of discovery, evolution, and change. Even now there’s so many other possibilities I’m exploring and questions I’m excited about answering! I’m just getting started.

You can think of One Quest as me in the digital realms. It’s my name, identifier, and the thing you see. Whereas the Simulacra is the system behind it all that makes it run. It gives structure, organization, cohesion, and meaning. It’s like the vibrancy and life behind One Quest. It defines how One Quest looks, feels, acts, and the things at thew core of One Quest.

Begin The Epic Simulacra Story

The wonderful and magical tales of how One Quest and the Simulacra came to be. What is it, why does it exist, and how did The Wizard create such a beautiful thing?

March 11, 2024

One Quest Story Intro

One Quest is my personal brand but it’s more than that. It’s also my digital identity and the beginning of a redefined digital experience and system.
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