The Hunt That Started Many Years Ago
Back in January 2012, I wrote the very first post on the DESIGN DPI blog about something I had been trying to track down for many years: the very first website I ever designed.
At the time, I knew it existed somewhere.
I also knew finding it was not going to be straightforward.
There were old CD-ROMs, ancient backups, floppy disks, failing hardware, dead ends, scratched media, half-working machines, and all the usual chaos that comes with digital archaeology from the late 1990s. I even wrote then about how the search had turned into a mission, partly out of nostalgia, but also because that first site mattered. It was the beginning.
And now, after all these years, I’ve finally found it.
Rediscovering My First Commercial Website
That makes this post feel a bit special, because it brings things full circle.
Back in 2012, the blog began in earnest with a story about trying to recover the origins of DESIGN DPI. Now, in 2026, I can finally look back at that original work properly. Not as a vague memory, not as a corrupted disk, and not as “version 2.0” found by accident on some ageing machine… but as a real piece of design history from 1997.
That original design was created for Clinical Data Technologies, making this not only a personal milestone, but also the rediscovery of the very first commercial website I ever produced. Looking back now, it marks the earliest chapter in a journey that would eventually lead to DESIGN DPI.
Even better, the recovery itself felt fittingly old-school.
Using IsoBuster, almost as an afterthought, I managed to recover nearly everything from the disc. The images, the structure, the pieces that brought the site back to life, with one frustrating exception… the original index.htm file itself. Typical. After all these years, the one file you most want is the one file that still refuses to cooperate.
Even so, there was more than enough there to reconnect the dots.
One of the most striking parts of revisiting the site was seeing what Clinical Data Technologies was actually offering at the time. Long before modern remote data capture and same-day workflows became standard, RECORDplus was already pointing in that direction, which makes this first website feel even more tied to a genuinely forward-looking piece of software.
It is hard not to smile looking at it now.
There are details in it that immediately date it in the best possible way, not least the repeating GIF background tile, which feels like a perfect little time capsule from that early era of web design. Times New Roman font, default blue hyperlinks (thank-you Mosaic Version 0.13)!
This was the era of early web design. Netscape Navigator. Simple layouts. Limited tools. A completely different internet. No WordPress, no page builders, no modern frameworks, no endless libraries and platforms. Just ideas, curiosity, trial and error, and the excitement of building something that could actually live online.
By modern standards, of course, it is a world away from what we now expect from a website. But that is not really the point.
The point is that every business, every designer, every developer, every creative career starts somewhere.
That first website represents the earliest foundations of what would later become DESIGN DPI. Several years before the business was formally established, and long before the client work, the branding projects, the print design, the websites, the hosting, the strategy, and the decades of creative and technical experience that followed.
It was the starting point.
What Has Changed — and What Hasn’t, If You Dig Deeper
Looking back at it now, what strikes me most is not just how much has changed, though clearly a lot has, but how much has stayed the same.
The technology has evolved beyond recognition. Expectations are higher. Standards are higher. The web itself has transformed several times over.
But the core things still matter. Clear communication, thoughtful design, attention to detail, and creating something with purpose.
That was true in 1997, and it is still true in 2026.
Rediscovering that first site is also a reminder that experience is built layer by layer. Not overnight, and not from a single moment, but from years of learning, adapting, solving problems, and continuing to evolve with the industry.
For me, that journey started in 1997.
So while DESIGN DPI has been established since 2001, the roots go back further… to those first experiments, those early websites, and the curiosity that started it all.
I should also take this opportunity to thank Nigel Levinson, Managing Director of Clinical Data Technologies, whose foresight changed the course of my career. One lunchtime, glancing over my shoulder, he asked a simple question: “Are you working on a website?” That moment, and the encouragement that followed, helped set me on the path I am still on today.
And perhaps that is why this find feels more meaningful than just a bit of nostalgia.
It is a marker.
A reminder of where things started, how far things have come, and how much history sits behind the work I still do today.
Back when I wrote that first blog post in 2012, I ended it with the words: “Watch this space.”
It turns out that was the right ending after all.
Because sometimes the things worth finding just take a little longer.
If you enjoyed this look back, you might also find these interesting: the evolution of the DESIGN DPI website design, and the evolution of the DESIGN DPI logo design… both trace how things developed from those early roots.
If you’d like to speak to us about how our multi-award-winning web design can guide your company through its digital journey, get in touch today, call 01302 513 515, email [email protected] or complete the form on the contact page.