Your blog design has a lot to do with your personal branding. You want your design to immediately communicate who you are and make a statement. Think about actual brands and how they've done this. There are things like colors, fonts, design elements, photography and more to consider. Consider that you aren't necessarily branding a company, but it's more accurate that you're branding yourself. I kind of consider Delightfully Tacky and myself to be one and the same. I am Delightfully Tacky, essentially. Especially as a personal style blogger, your blog and your brand is mostly about yourself, so you want to be really intentional about how you go about presenting your "brand."
One important step to defining your branding is determining what kind of blogger you are and what sort of vibe you have. Some bloggers are more edgy and modern, others are more vintage inspired. What kind of image are you looking to present? Are you really high-fashion and edgy? Do you love bright colors and graphic, bold colors? Are you more into retro prints or scrapbook-inspired layouts? Really take some time to evaluate how to represent your brand. Once you do this, you can move forward with designing your layout and creating a branding that encompasses your web presence. This can even go as far as affecting how you edit your photographs!
A lot of my branding has centered around woodgrain and the background design of my blog. You can see how I've taken my blog design and translated it into business cards:
It includes both the wood grain and background image elements. I feel like it instantly communicates a lot about Delightfully Tacky, and anyone who knows my blog, can see that it ties back to the web site seamlessly. On the back I have all my contact info, and a photo of myself, which is pretty handy when you're handing your card out to a ton of people at conferences and meet-ups. It's hard to tie a face to the business card/blog, so this helps the recipient of the card remember who you were!
Here are some things to think about when you're branding yourself/your blog:
1. What are your favorite colors?
Create a palette of 3 to 4 colors that compliment eachother which you'd like to be your main colors. You're gonna want to choose a color palate that you both like and something that works well in a design.
I chose more vintage 70's colors, but if you look at Tieka's blog, you see that she uses more neutrals. Some people enjoy a more light, pastel color palate, while others like bold, bright primary or neon colors. Whether it be jewel tones, or monochrome, choose a color palate that works in your favor. It's a good idea to limit the number of colors to no more than 5, just so the color story doesn't get muddled or too busy. Kaelah has basically three colors in her branding: pink, light blue and white. You can see how visually striking her design is and how it immediately communicates her branding.
2. What kind of fonts do you like?
Are you more into sans serif, clean and modern fonts, or more handwritten fonts? I'm kind of a typography nerd, so I always love a good font and I believe that they are crucial for branding. There are so many free font sites out there for you to pick a nice font for your blog (one that I use regularly is dafont.com). There's no reason for anyone to be using Curlz MT, Papyrus, or Comic Sans. Pick a main font, and then have one or two accent fonts. Tieka has Helvetica as her main font in her header, and then she uses the cute handwritten font for her post titles and stuff like that.
3. Can you define your blog's visual theme? Are you more into minimalism, or do you like patterns and more eclectic designs?
Since I like tacky 70's-ish things, I instantly gravitate towards gaudy 70's patterns and faux wood, which is why I chose those two elements to represent my brand. I really love how things in the 70's were kind of a little over the top, a little gaudy, and really kitschy. That's pretty much my jumping off point. You have to think of yours. What kind of environment describes you best, how do you want to communicate that to your readers? Do you want lots of texture? Do you want something give off a scrapbook/DIY vibe? Vintage, and if so, what era? Look at how Mandi has made her theme very textural and natural. There are layers of paper and handwritten elements. Notice how her theme is very different from Kaelah's but they both are extremely effective in communicating their respective brands.
4. Do you have a blog name yet?
If so, does it accurately sum up you and your brand? Does it quickly give your readers an idea of who you are? If you don't have a blog name yet, make sure you really consider how you want to be known.
Your blog name is very much a representation of your brand. Think about how when you hear the word "Starbucks" so many images and thoughts pop into your head. When someone says your blog name, it should be the same (though on a micro-scale). I mean, so many people out there who read my blog know me as Delightfully Tacky, not as Elizabeth. So I would hope that my blog name communicates to them something about who I am, what my "brand" is all about, and what they should expect to see from my brand. Some great blog names are: A Beautiful Mess, The Clothes Horse, and The Coveted.
5. What sentence sums up your brand?
Think of a catchphrase or headline that would define your blog. As my high school english teacher would say, it should be short, sweet & to the point. Kyla's headline is "Daydreams from a handmade prairie life", Rachel's is "Vintage, Home Decor, and Big Messes", Julie's is "big hair, small wallet". As you can see, you get a pretty good idea what to expect from each person's blog based on that quick snippet. It's not totally necessary to have a sentence like that posted on your blog or in your headline, but it's a good idea to think of how you'd describe your blog in a quick, short sentence. It'll help you define the focus of your blog and be able to communicate that to others.
Remember that design elements should be used simply and in moderation. Don't try to mash together more than one theme, don't use a bajillion fonts or colors. You don't want your brand to be muddied with all these stories you're trying to tell. Figure out what you want to say, and then create a visual plan of action to simply, accurately, and effectively communicate that.
