Clayton Harding
Work
Play
About
Resume ↗
LinkedIn ↗
The arc
A personal archive built for sharing
TOOLS
Framer
Figma
TIMELINE
Nov—Jan 2024
Media
visit the website
Overview
The Arc is a self-started CMS project that houses my favorite resources and work from other designers that I use for personal reference and to share with the design community as a hub of curated content that focuses on quality > quantity.
Result
We set a new standard for how we educate users about our product. We updated our graphics library, new motion tools and an overall better experience for new and returning users, we can now push VPN in our marketing more.
PROBLEM
Notion, Cosmos and bookmark pages aren't cut out for mass-sharing links.
"It's on, but nothing happened, is it doing something?"
Collecting and navigating digital resources remains tedious and inefficient. When trying to locate saved links, you need visual cues - something most platforms fail to provide.
Even the simple task of sharing multiple resources becomes tedious, forcing you to send links individually rather than as a curated collection.
All platforms that properly show thumbnails make it difficult to open links, and platforms that house links have awful thumbnail options. WHY CAN'T I HAVE BOTH?
Solution
Introducing the Arc—a way to organize and display my collection but also allow me to easily share them with others.
Design resources
No thumbnails, I need to see where I'm going.
Huge library but not all resources are that useful.
1-click links make it easy to open multiple resources at a time.
Design resources
No thumbnails, I need to see where I'm going.
Huge library but not all resources are that useful.
1-click links make it easy to open multiple resources at a time.
Design resources
No thumbnails, I need to see where I'm going.
Huge library but not all resources are that useful.
1-click links make it easy to open multiple resources at a time.
Solution
Even if the Arc is mostly for myself, I still need to be clear how I curate what I showcase.
Clear stories and visuals.
I'm not picking "artsy fartsy break the mold" websites. I choose work that effectively tell good stories with a clean layout, good spacing and strong visuals.
I have actually used it.
The moment I start to add things I don't use is when I upload solely to fill space and make updates just for the sake of growing the collection.
Quality > Quantity.
I only list a resource if it exceeds value for it's price or performs a task at a higher level than other resources in it's market.
Going further
A live growing collection of my favorite work and resources, all in one place.
REFLECTION
Editing a CMS takes a ton of effort. It's best to plan in detail in the beginning, instead of iterating later on.
Everyone hates reading, but they love conversations.
Balancing what we as a business want users to know V.S what a user actually wants to know is a difficult line. This project helped me learn how to use metaphors on boring language into legible content.
Sketching is for starting discussions, not beauty contests.
I typically jump into higher fidelity, but if I need to align a team on layout and abstract concepts, I’m now confident in running a workshop to rapid-fire ideas and align stakeholders from other teams.
© 2025 Clayton Harding
Reading this was a test. You passed ツ