Six months ago, I started working on a portfolio theme for designers and creative professionals. I wanted something that felt editorial, minimal, and distinctly Japanese in its use of space and typography. Today, Shikishi is ready.
What Shikishi Is
Shikishi (色紙) is a type of decorative Japanese cardstock, often used for calligraphy and artwork. The name reflects the theme's core idea: a clean, carefully proportioned surface for displaying creative work.
The design system uses a near-monochrome palette — grays from lightest to near-black — with a single dusty terracotta accent. Typography is HKGrotesk Light throughout, with wide letter-spacing and generous line height.
What's Included
The theme includes eleven pages: homepage, works listing and detail, journal listing, category, and article, about, for beginner, for partner, and contact. Every page includes GSAP scroll animations, a fixed dark sidebar with vertical tagline, and a full-screen navigation drawer.
Every design decision was made once, carefully, and applied consistently across the whole system.
Shikishi is built with Astro and designed to be fast, accessible, and easy to customize. Documentation and a setup guide are included.
