Dying Art Media: Starting Over

This is a weird one. Dying Art Media is here and it’s basically the new ninjarefinery.com

All in all, I didn’t see it coming. But had always kind of hoped it could happen. I got made an offer for the website that I’ve been running for almost exactly 10 years. A mish-mash of ideas, issues and untidy-setup that I’ve wanted to gut-out for ages. Waiting for the right chance to start again, and well, the opportunity came to me.

Of the 10 years building the old site, I’d say the last 3 or 4 are where it all started to properly click. Working with the guys at fullsync.co.uk and enostech.com. Talking about all the same obstacles and challenges. It became clear that things could be done better, and ultimately, they were.

Now, I can take all of that and start fresh. Doing the same thing, but starting from the ground-up with better practice, the knowledge and experience of 10 years learning things the hard way.

Dying Art Media is the same in all but name. Still me, similar content, with a broader scope to cover and ideally a bigger, better site in a faster period of time.

Dying Art Media

Why Dying Art Media? Well, I’ve grown to really dislike the Ninja Refinery name, as well. I’ve always loved the logo, and the iterations of it. But when I started the site originally, it was killthekage.com and carried a skull and cross-bones logo.

The appeal for a skull has never gone away. Something striking, bold and looks good on a t-shirt. So with that in mind, and the general focus on the written word as the primary output for the website. It felt suitable to consider the theme of a skull again, and the fact that writing is a dying art in the gaming/tech space, to a degree.

Death, skulls. You get it. But…..it’s also time for things to get a bit more colourful. Black and white has been a solid core of all my design, and whilst that’s where I’m most comfortable. I want choice and vibrance. Hence the sugar skull.

The Dying Art Media logo and fonts will change over time, as will the colours. But to that point. There are colours!

The future

I think it’s fair to say that being offered money for my little hobby site has been validating in a way I never really expected. I’ve just done my own thing, and assumed people aren’t bothered, or that it’s just me doing me. But as site traffic has consistently increased and a value has been applied to the site. It feels like I wasn’t actually just doing it all for the sake of it.

The whole original purpose was just to see if I could build and run a website of some description. And it’s just gone on from there.

Will Dying Art Media reach the same level? Hopefully. Does it matter? Not really. I love doing this and getting involved in the geming industry even on the periphery. It’s always going to be a passion project, but there’s no harm in wanting to do it bigger and better.

No change

Apart from a new site, logo and losing 10 years of content. It’s all the same…..

Dying Art Media will hopefully one day be able to support others that want to write and join in. Even if it’s just guidance on how to avoid all the pitfalls I’ve fallen into over the years.

It’s all still a learning process, this isn’t some grand victory. It’s just a chance to start over, continue doing something that I love and do it a bit better this time.

I want t-shirts and merch. I want to work with coffee roasters, game developers etc. It’s all there to be done, it’s all fun, and it’ll all be here. If anyone ever wants to join in, they’re welcome to. If people don’t care, that’s fine. I’ve carried on for 10 years, regardless, and I’ll do another 10.

There’s no expectation to sell and start again, again. This is the 2.0 I’ve wanted for a while now, so this is where all the effort will go. The other sister sites are gone. There’s been enough experimenting, learning and getting carried away on whims……..for now at least.

Same content, but more and a broader variety.

Dying Art Media is a fresh start, a continuation and a commitment to keeping the written word alive in the gaming and tech space. The name makes more sense, the approach is better. So let’s fucking go!