Leonland - Leon Barnard

About Me

I am an American who recently moved to Prague. So far I've found Prague to possess the vibrance and beauty of the great cities in the U.S., but with fewer of the disadvantages associated with living in them. Once I get a handle on the language, I think I'll enjoy living here even more. My apartment gets great light, which makes me happy, and has probably spoiled me for all future dwellings.

I am an Interaction Designer, which means that I help make software easier to use (if you're curious, this document provides a pretty good description of what I do). I also try to do various kinds of art in my spare time.

I grew up in Madison, Wisconsin. Much of the way I am has to do with growing up here. A medium-sized, progressive city surrounded by the conservative, rural Midwest. The Midwest: the last place in the country to catch up with the latest fashions, but nearly world-reknowned for sincerity and good neighborly-ness. Madison: defined primarly by the University of Wisconsin - Madison, a huge, public university spread-out on an Isthmus between two large lakes, known for it's liberalism and lively college life (read: drinking - hey, Winter is long and cold, what else are students supposed to do?). I think that growing up there also made me feel that there was a lot to see outside its boundaries, which may have inspired my love for travel.

About this Site

Leonland was born in the late Spring of 2000. Two events of significance occured around that time:

  1. I was getting ready to graduate from College, and;
  2. I had just bought my first digital camera (an Olympus D360-L. 1.3 megapixels, no optical zoom, and quite chunky compared to today's point-and-shoot digital cameras)

As a student I had had web space as part of my computer accounts, but was about to lose it upon graduating. I had gone through various incarnations of a personal web site for several years, so, in truth, Leonland really began sometime around 1997, but getting my own domain name caused me to make more of an effort to maintain it. In any case, when I bought the name Leonland.com, I already had some pictures from 3 years worth of travels to put on it.

Soon after I graduated I left for Europe to begin on a six-month internship in the Netherlands. Having a web site allowed me to post pictures and stories from my adventures in a new and totally foreign country for my friends and family. It also gave me something to do on many of my nights and weekends spent alone. It was hard to make friends because I didn't speak the language, and the town I lived in was small and pretty lifeless (not to mention the fact that I'm rather shy). I would typically pick a place to visit on the weekend, then come home and upload the pictures to my site. It made me pay closer attention to my surroundings and probably elevated the experience just a bit as a result.

The primary purpose of this site has always been to show pictures from my various adventures and experiences to my friends, family, and anyone else who happens upon it. Since graduating from high school, I have moved out of state eight times (as of early 2008; this is also why my Travels page is organized into chapters, because each time I moved created a clear division in my life), so there are a lot of people that I have gotten to know and don't get to see regularly. I like the idea that any of them can look me up at any time and get a glimpse of what I've been up to lately with a few clicks of their mouse.

While I have dabbled in other hobbies, I never seem to get away from Leonland-ing for very long. I think that web design, having both technical and creative components, excites several parts of me at the same time. It also gives me a challenge any time I feel like trying something new, as there really is no pinnacle when it comes to web design, especially as web technologies and web design applications advance.

I decided to blog-ify my site in 2005 by managing it through Movable Type. My site is hosted by Dreamhost.