This post is an adaptation from a guest post that was posted on Beautiful Blog Designs in January 2010
Welcome to the first post in my new DIY Blog Design series. Thank you so much to everybody who left me a comment with a design question. They have all gone in my DIY Blog Design folder and I hope I’ll be able to answer most if not all of them. Keep the questions coming!
In January 2010 I did a guest post on Beautiful Blog Designs (that since has moved to a new address) outlining five things you have to think about before you start (re)designing your blog. I think that post is a good place to start my new DIY Blog Design series, so I’ll repost it here.
I am DIY when it comes to blog design and I would love to share some of my insights and experiences with homemade blog designing.
We home and craft loving gals are a visual bunch, aren’t we? We want our homes and creative products to be as beautiful as possible. And since our blog is our home on the web, most of us really want our blog to be as eye pleasing as possible too.
Of course there are many talented and gifted women out there who have specialized in giving your blog a makeover and making it really beautiful. But rightfully so, these women like to get paid for their creative talent and their hard work. If you are like me, a hobby blogger whose blog doesn’t really generate an income (yet), paying someone to work on your blog may not really be in your budget. So you are left to you own devices to make your blog more beautiful. And trust me, it can be done!
But before we dive into the world of blog templates, HTML coding and navigational bars, lets do some groundwork first.
Just like when you are considering to give a thrift shop find a makeover: before you can get your paintbrush out and decide on the paint color you are going to use, you have to consider the way you are intending to use the piece, if it is needing repairs and how many layers of old chippy paint and dirt you have to remove first. The same principle applies to blog design. Before you start concentrating on the pictures you are going to use in your header and the color scheme of your blog there are five things you have to think about first:
I know you are all tempted to say ‘no I blog just for me, because I like it’. But lets face it girls if we really only blogged for ourselves we wouldn’t make our blog public, we would keep it a private (online) journal. We all want other people to read our blog and admire and enjoy our hard work. So whenever you are considering doing anything to your blog, ask yourself first if that will make the blogging experience for your readers more pleasant. Your blog design should include all the elements that make your blog really useful and usable to your readers.
I think if you asked most women in our home and garden blog niche why they love blogging they would answer two things: because of the inspiration it gives them and second because of the community it makes them feel a part of. You and your blog are part of that community. So your blog design should be aimed at showcasing your projects and ideas, so that they provide maximum inspiration (lot’s of BIG pictures is one element of this) and at the same time give your visitor’s a sense that they are truly welcome and that it is fun visiting with you. And then before you know it your readers become friends.
Ever wonder why those pictures in design magazines always look so beautiful, even when they do not resemble your style? It is because of the lack of clutter. You might see a carefully draped blanket somewhere, or a casually forgotten book on a chair (with a coordinating cover color of course!), but you will never see hundreds of knickknacks, leftover breakfast dishes or dirty socks in those pictures. If you consider the blog designs you like best, I bet that they are pretty clutter free too. There are so many gadgets, and widgets and funny buttons available to add to our blogs these days. It is really tempting to fill up your sidebars with all of them. But often they are just clutter. Clutter that is distracting your readers from your content and might even make your blog really slow to load. So when considering to add another cutesy button remember the first rule: your blog is for your readers, will adding it make you blog more useful or usable?.
When I gave my blog a major makeover, I started the way I start any project. I looked at the way others had done it. So I started to make a list of blogs, whose design I liked and then I started to break it down. What kind of layout did I like best, which banner drew me in the most, when did the size of the font or the pictures feel too small, which elements did I find very useful (or annoying). And then I started to try and incorporate those elements in my blog (or in some cases remove them from my existing design). When I thought I was nearly finished I asked a friend for her opinion and her reply made me almost start over completely. She said, “I like it, it looks very good, but it doesn’t look like you anymore”. And she was right, I was making a blog design like all the others. It wasn’t ‘me’ anymore. So I worked on it a lot longer, making it less like a beautiful online ‘house’ and more like my personal online ‘home’.
If you had unlimited time you could make your blog the most beautiful blog in the world. There is always another design element you could add, a functionality you could improve or an opportunity to add even more beauty to your design. But if you did that, you wouldn’t have any time to blog anymore. And no matter how beautiful the design of your blog is, people come to visit you for your content. Content comes first, design comes second. So do step into the world of HTML coding, it is not as difficult as you might think, but keep your expectations real. Fiddling with your blog design can be addictive (ask me how I know that) but if it starts to interfere with your actual blogging it is counterproductive.
Further Reading
- If DIY blog design is not your thing, you can find information about lots of blog designers you can hire to do a desing for you on Beautiful Blog Designs
- Written for WordPress bloggers but these five steps in beginner’s blog designwork for anybody
- The two principles of blog design: keep it simple and user friendly
So do you agree with my five principles of Blog Design? Got any to add? Have you considered these things when thinking about your own design?
All images in this post were found at the amazing photography site: Shorpy
An excellent post. I hate blogs that are so busy and organised that when you get there you have to pop each post out individually. It's as if they are huge corporations and I am some insignificant little person. I dislike advertising between posts too. It's like they are there for the money. If ads are considered necessary they should not be in-the-face but discreet. And I hate blogs with black backgrounds – so difficult to read that I almost never read those blogs. They would have to be super important to me to tempt me in. Likewise any dark background or pictures that sit behind transparent backgrounds where the words are. I think backgrounds should be non intrusive. I know they are heaps of fun, I've done all that and still do but some blogs seem more about the backgrounds than they do about the content. And all posts should have pictures, at least in the crafting community, and preferrably large enough to be seen without a magnifying glass. Do I like anything about blogs? Love to be taught or inspired. Love kindness and friendliness. Hate cattiness. Thanks for inspiring me to write today!! hehe. Cherrie
A lot of great points in this post. But number 3 is big for me. I will close out a blog if it takes too long to load or it is to hard to scroll through. You know, when you try to scroll but the page never seems to catch up, then all of a sudden it went to far. Also, faint lettering is hard to read. Pictures are important in this home and garden community and they too should be of descent size. I want a clear picture of what you are trying to show me.
I can't wait to read more in this series!
Oh and I love that photo for number 4! What great dresses and hats!
An excellent post. I agree with all of it, simple and user friendly. Can't wait for the next information. Love Love Love your pictures.
GREAT Post ~ Thank you for the informative info. I think simple is what everyone wants AND I agree, let it reflect the real you.
Love the pics
What a great post. I'm with you on keeping a blog layout clutter-free and on having large photos. It is a pet-peeve of mine that some blogs still have such tiny photos. Speaking of photos – I love the ones you included wiht your post.
After struggling, and I mean s-t-r-u-ggg-l-i-n-g to get the blog together it occurred to me to just do it…simply. And so it went along, with a lot less stress of over analyzing and something that was just not me. Thank you for this informative post and the simplicity with which you explained it all. I am a new reader to your blog and I love it already, especially that really neat headboard idea. Now THAT is cool! Happy 2011 to you.
Hi Marianne! This was a great post with good things to think about. I recently changed my blog and tried to clean it up. With Blogger giving us the pages we can have under our header, this helped me to take some of the things from my sidebar and make a page of them.
Your blog looks great by the way!
Be a sweetie,
Shelia
Ok, girlfriend, I'm including this in your Gitter Done! Exceptional information in this post. I am such a newbee. I don't have a huge amount of time to fiddle with my blog. Some friends have actually offered to help me – that's how I got to where my blog is today – design wise. I would be interested in a review by follow bloggers. Perhaps we could visit each other and give pointers/suggestions on their blog design or layout, etc. Of course only those interested in participating would be the blogs we would give comment to. Just an idea. I'm game. I love help whenever I can get it, especially from those who have blazed the trail and/or our super creative!
Thanks for this post! Fantastic!
xo
~Kolein
the pictures are amazing!
Yup I agree as well
I also do NOT like the "in your face" ads you see often, it really bothers me to the point of not even visiting those blogs anymore or at least not as often(I know me bad lol)
Another pet peeve of mine is spelling! I realise we all make the odd mistake, myself included. But please DO some checking before hitting the "post" button. Everytime I see a really obnoxious spelling mistake I cringe….might be the linguistic in me but it really gets to me sometimes. I often have the "urge" (to which I NOT give in lol) to email that person and tell her about the mistakes lol
For the rest….awesome post girl…keep up the good work and as always LOVE your blog
Hugs from Marian
@Kolein Great idea! I'll definitely hang on to that one. Maybe we could form a group over reviewers and reviewee's later in the series!!!
I agree! I must admit it does take time to get the "feel" of blogging. Your tips will make it an easier road for many. Thanks for sharing!
I've been working on a slightly cleaner look for my blog… Having fun playing around with the new blogger templates but they're a little more tricky to customize than the old templates! Slow going, but I hope the results will make it worth it!
I'm all ears..er, eyes. Love all the pointers. Still learning alot!
WHAT A GREAT POST!!!! I LOVE IT!!!! Great job!!!
Thanks so much for sharing all of those great tutorials! I linked to them in my post about re-designing your blog as they have helped me so much! Keep up the great work =) xo Anja
Ok, so, I am at the beginning of my blogging journey and know very little about it. I have a concept/brand/name for my blog but I am technically challenged lol. Somehow (and I cannot remember how now lol) I found you!!!! I have been on your page and listened to your words and they make instant sense but my problem is that you inspire me so much that I wonder off thinking about pictures and making notes about designing out my page and I am still reading and on this same page after about 3 hours pmsl. Your posts and information regarding blogging is what I have been looking for! Thank you for being on-line cause I will need you through my newbie journey!