Wednesday, February 5, 2014

New blog design?

I've been toying for a little while with redesigning the blog. Right now, I like the physical layout for its functionality, but the "look" of it is an out-of-the-box Blogger template.

I've messed around with Photoshop a bit, but it's been years since I've really had the chops to do much in that department - and to be honest, I never had the eye.

I've also got a name change in mind to make it reflect more clearly what I'm trying to do, and I'd like to do a bit of graphic design with a not-quite logo that - well, it will become more clear as I implement all this.

Has anyone done a blog redesign? Do you have any advice? I have a very little bit of money (around $50) from my tax return that I can spend for a bit of custom design but I realize that doesn't get me very far...any advice on that end?

10 comments:

  1. I've redesigned my blog several times. I really wish I screencap'd them because the evolution has been pretty fun/cool.

    But I'm a designer by nature. So I enjoy doing the process myself.

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    1. Oh, fun, a little archive/history of your own blog? We archive different versions of our website at work but we are all trained to document & archive everything we do...

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  2. I do play in photoshop but use a combination of Blogger template with my own additions. I am by no means a professional but I do enjoy messing around with design. I guess I don't really have any advice but if you want any input or help let me know.

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    1. Thanks! I may put up a few potential headers for people to vote on. I think the most mind-numbing part will be getting all the colors coordinated - so not my thing!

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  3. I DIY my blog design, but rarely completely re-design it. I did a new header for 2014 though :)

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    1. I just went and looked, nice! I used to be able to code all the pieces out but I've fallen off and haven't the time to learn again. Probably I'll manage some combination of DIY and out of the box.

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  4. I took enough web design courses to decide I hate it. :) I do love Photoshop though and you can get pretty far by combining your own designs with Blogger's templates. You can turn their templates into pretty much anything you want: you can change the background for your own photo/design and the colors and fonts are completely customizable. My blog headers have always been designed in Photoshop or even just Picasa. You could add smaller designs/photos/anything you want as images on the side bars. Technically you could revamp your entire blog design for *free*!

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  5. I think you can go a long way for free - I use Typepad, but the combination of colors,templates and my own pictures and headers make it all look more like me and less like anyone else.

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  6. Its not as hard as you think. Take an evening and pay around in the blogger template. You can use PicMonkey to make a new header, explore other blog designs you like and go from there.

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  7. Late to the party, but there are a bunch of folks on Etsy.com who design Blogger templates. You can either buy a pre-made that they just apply to your blog, or you can pay more for a custom site. I went the custom route as I couldn't find anything ready made that appealed to me which was around $90, but you can definitely get pre-made templates for around $40.

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Thanks for commenting! It's great to hear from you.