benlaclair.com_

I wanted dark mode everything. So I built it.

My old portfolio was on uxfol.io — a template, bootcamp projects, nothing that felt like me. I kept looking at developer portfolios and dark-themed editorial sites thinking “that's the energy I want” but nothing in my toolkit let me get there. So I scrapped everything and started from zero.

The dark background, the cyan glow, the glitch effects, the monospaced details — this is the aesthetic I've always gravitated toward but never had a reason to ship. A personal portfolio was the perfect excuse to go all in on it. No client constraints, no brand guidelines to follow. Just the vibe I actually like.

10 hours, a blank repo, and a lot of caffeine.

I built the whole thing in about 10 hours using Next.js, React, and Claude Code as a dev collaborator. No template, no starter kit — just an idea of the mood I wanted and a terminal window.

I'll be upfront: I used AI to help me code this. But “AI-assisted” doesn't mean “AI-designed.” Every visual decision — the color system, the animation timing, the glitch behavior, the layout rhythm — came from my head. Claude Code was the engine; I was driving. Knowing how to direct AI toward a specific creative vision is a real skill, and this project is proof of that.

What I'm most proud of is how it feels. Most portfolios are basically slideshows. I wanted mine to feel like a place — something you explore, not just scroll through. The transitions, the hover states, the little moments of motion — that's the stuff that made this project genuinely fun to build.

The nerdy stuff I got to build.

This is the part I get excited about. These are the visual systems running under the hood — the effects and details that give the site its personality. Click any card to see it in action.