About

Northstar.nu is my primary domain collective that houses all my online projects. I'm Ainna, and designing fan tributes and personal sites has been my favorite form of escape since 1999. This is my third domain, replacing the ones I've owned in 2008 and 2017.

Launched: January 2019 | Host: Leprd Space

I chose a name that is based on my love of the night sky and its romantic associations. The north star, perhaps better known as "polaris," has come to mean the star to which the earth always faces. I have heard it used idiomatically to refer to that one person to whom your heart is anchored. I feel that this metaphor is a very apt image for the kind of love that appeals to me the most—one with whom no one else will do.

I love couples and find ships in pretty much anything I get into, so I wanted a domain that would reflect my affinity for romance; thankfully, Northstar.nu was available. I like the alliterative look of the URL, and I also like the paradoxical feel afforded by the ".nu" extension—because it can be read like "new", the constancy of the north star is combined with novelty, as if to mirror my tendency to fall in love with things, old and new, while not losing sight of the core things that matter. ♥


Network

I am mainly a fandom content consumer, but I need a more personal and creative alternative to the fan spaces social media sites provide. These are what the sites below are for. :)


SITEWIDE:  /log  ☆  /joined  ☆  /fineprint  ☆  /contact

Design

Webdesign as a hobby provides me a much-needed creative escape outlet. I typically design new layouts when my current fandom interest shifts—it's usually when I feel like the site has been wearing the same "clothes" for a while and therefore need to change.

It will be ironic however to admit that, in today's world of responsive webdesign, I am not a fan of rendering layouts in multiple resolutions. This is mainly because I see my sites as static pieces of self-expression, viewable only from one perspective. While this mindset sounds rather archaic, I suppose I choose to happily remain anchored to a time when personal sites were made to appeal to visitors who could only access the internet through their computers. Hence, I design only for the most common resolution, 1366x768, which is best viewed on desktop, not mobile.

Full credits & disclaimers » Fine Print

You're looking at the sixth version of this site, released October 29, 2019. The last layout only lasted ten days because I've been having problems with its viewability, so I decided to replace it with a picture of Ichigo I've been ogling for a while and initially wanted to use for the shounen fanlisting, but decided it was too sexy (//ω//) so I used it here for the collective instead. This fantastic fanart is done by Sideburn004, used with permission. ♥

Below are sucky tiny screencaps of all the layouts I made for this site. I only use fanart of celebrities or characters that I deeply care about, and for which I obtained permission. I claim no ownership of any of the characters featured here, who belong to their respective creators. I am just a fan showing appreciation.



  • v1. Shiro+Keith
    (January 2019)

  • v2. Natalie Portman
    (March 2019)

  • v3. Tony Stark
    (May 2019)

  • v4. Haruka+Michiru
    (July 2019)

  • v5. InuYasha gang
    (October 2019)

  • v6. Kurosaki Ichigo
    (October 2019)
Updates ☆ Joined ☆ Fine Print :: scented // pumpkin latte