Blog Design: Adding Theme by Tieka, Selective Potential
One of my favorite things about a blog design is when bloggers incorporate their themes into their design. It's all apart of including you in your design. As you all know, blog design is the first thing we notice when we click on a blog. We are instantly connected to the blogger... all in the images, colors and fonts they use. For my blog, I had a difficult time thinking of incorporating my themes into a blog design. My themes are personal style, love and adventures... so what kind of design went with that? So instead I started looking to other aspects of my life that could influence my design. We live in a small quaint beach town, so I knew I wanted to incorporate a beachy color pallet. I also love bold, strong, clean logos, and Helvetica is such a big part of typography (my favorite subject in college!) so I went with that for my header. I also wanted to include a more down-to-earth, girl next door feeling, so I included a handwritten font. You have to put thought behind every element of your blog design. Every detail counts!
Think about your themes. Think about what makes you you. Here are some great examples of blog designs that incorporate the blogger's theme and personality.
1. Andrea of Blonde Bedhead
Andrea has a personal style blog that is very urban. She wears a lot of black and white, leather, studs and loves taking her outfit pictures in a city style setting. I designed Andrea's blog for her... and I took into consideration everything that makes her unique. She's also a great photographer, so we knew we wanted a powerful image for her header. With the urban font, the bold header and the black and white color scheme... we had Andrea herself reflected perfectly in her blog design.
2. Kristina of Pretty Shiny Sparkly
Kristina does a great job of incorporating her theme and blog into her layout. Her layout is clean, crisp, easy to navigate and entices you right away with a great header that reflects her. Her blog is all about things pretty, shiny and sparkly. So she incorporates a glittery image for her header, a pretty girly pink and purple color scheme and uses these elements in many aspects of her blog design.
3. Grace of Money Smart Fashion
When I worked with Grace on her blog design, I made sure to get every detail on what her blog was about before we started. Since her blog is about personal style, being smart with finances and accomplishing financial goals... we wanted to directly reflect that in her design. We went with a "money" green color scheme to start. Since her blog is about finances, but it's still about fashion, we used a girly header font so the design didn't seem too strict or "responsible". We also wanted to find a way to reflect accomplishing financial goals, so we took the header idea of saving money to reap stylish rewards. We also used her "tagline" right in her header. Everything her blog is about is directly accomplished in just one quick look at her blog design.
I hope this session helps you define what your blog design should be like! Now that you have a better understanding of your content and your themes... it should be easier to think of a blog design. If your themes are generic (like growing up, going to college, personal style) you'll have to get creative. Think of your college... maybe you could take color inspiration, font inspiration. Think about where you live and your surroundings. Use your favorite colors. Think of a favorite food and use it as an element in your design (cupcakes, cookies). Think of everything you love. Something could trigger a great design that totally reflects you!
