Your identity across the web, starting with a single avatar.
Making Profiles Personal
Gravatar started as a simple idea — one avatar that follows you across the web. Comment on a WordPress blog, post on a forum, sign into a new app, and your face is already there. It’s become one of those quiet pieces of internet infrastructure that most people use without realizing it.
But Gravatar had been growing beyond just avatars. By the time I joined the team, it was evolving into a full identity platform — a free, portable profile that could represent you anywhere online. My job was to help that evolution feel right.
Profile Customization
The core of my work was the profile customization experience. Gravatar profiles were becoming little one-page personal sites, and people needed real tools to make them feel like their own. I introduced controls for accent colors, background colors and images, patterns, and header images — giving users the ability to build a profile that actually reflected their personality, not just a generic card with their name on it.
The design challenge was keeping it accessible. Color pickers and background options can quickly become overwhelming, especially for people who just want something that looks good without a design degree. The goal was expressive but approachable — enough knobs to make it yours, not so many that you freeze up.
Simplifying the IA
Beyond the visual customization, I worked on simplifying and focusing the overall information architecture. Gravatar had accumulated features over the years, and the experience needed to be tightened up — clearer navigation, more focused flows, less cognitive overhead. When your product serves millions of people across every skill level, simplicity isn’t just nice to have. It’s the product.