Slowly define a new design for your blog

If you have visited WayneJohn.com recently, you might have noticed that I’ve made a few changes to my site; namely the header and footer area. It’s part of my own effort to give my site a look and feel that I think fits and will be useful.  I’m taking a slow approach to re-designing my site, since I really don’t want to pop some existing template in place and deal with the nuances that might come with that.  I’ve been there and done that too many times.  I feel a special connection to my own blog, as I should, so I want something different, unique and something that I have put together that I can be proud of.

I want something that will:

• Help to convey who I am and what I’m all about – Videos, overall theme design, better posts relating to what I do and how I do it
• Help me promote the services I offer to others – Front page exposure of my services and products
• Look nice and is easy on the eyes – Aesthetics will help make a good first impression
• Aesthetically appeal to a majority of people that frequent my site – Visitor retention and stickiness

While I can attempt to achieve all those points, what I’m truly after here is originality, and digging my teeth even deeper into Thesis.  I have a new toy, and it’s a fun toy.    I also want to explore my creative side more, something that I’ve neglected in favor of more logic-based pursuits.

So over the course of the next month, perhaps two (hell, it could be even longer than that!), I’m going to make changes to my theme, design and layout as I have time.  I’m also working with several clients right now, so of course everything else is taking a back seat while I work on things for others.  It’s also why the posts here are so erratic at times.  You can tell when I’m available for hire because the posts are coming each day.  It’s just how it is, and I’m just now beginning to realize the amount of pressure that I used to place on myself because I wasn’t posting every day. But, I digress…

So my approach to changing my blog theme is going to be different than most others.  Usually, you’ll pop on a site and find it to be completely different because the authors have been squirreling themselves away creating something that no one will see until they deploy the entire thing.  Normally, I’ll do that too…but not this time.

I’m taking a “show it as it goes” approach for a few reasons:

1. I can get instant feedback from a wider audience on the smaller parts of the site.  For instance, if I change the colors on the titles, I could ask people what they thought about that one particular element.  I can’t really get that granular when everything is suddenly new…not without asking for more time than I believe people would actually want to spend.
2. There are those of you that have asked me questions about web development that have led me to believe that if I show the slow progression of changing my site that they will learn from it.  I like that.
3. I don’t want to bake anything in the backroom for months.  I don’t have time, and this is something that if I shove it out there, I will force myself to find time to get it done.  Otherwise, it’s prone to falling into that lethargic area of non-committal where things don’t get done.

Of course the risk here is that I’ll get feedback that addresses something that I just haven’t got to yet.

So what’s done so far?

The header and footers have taken on a new look.  The header image, my logo, was designed by a really good friend of mine whom I will later disclose in a post to give him and his business proper kudos and thanks.  It’s the same type of graphic that appears on my business cards and letterhead.  It just makes more sense to roll with the existing branding I’ve had done for my business.

To me, it screams technical.  I like the way it looks, and I’ve always been fond of the color green and blue, so it fits my tastes.

The black with green text is nice, but I know it’s hard to read.  At least, it’s hard on the eyes, so I’ll probably modify that a bit to give the text better readability.

I think I’ve found a nice font combination as well.  The titles are Palantino (use firebug to check what they are today, lol), while the main body text is Georgia (again, check with firebug).  I think it makes things easy for readers to consume, which will leave my actual writing to focus on to improve the readability even more.

What’s next?

For the past few months, I’ve been venturing around to new blogs.  A lot of new blogs, some that I’ve even subscribed to.  What I’m doing though is looking at what they are doing, how the are presenting themselves and picking out the elements in their design that I like and could incorporate into my own design.  Inspiration is required, and there is an abundance of inspiration out there to take advantage of.

I have a ton of new ideas from doing that, and I’ll probably continue to do that as time rolls on. I want my sidebar to be more distinguished from the content, so expect to see something happen over there.

If you are looking to change any element of your site, and you don’t know what you want, go look at other sites.  There are plenty of creative people out there that you can gain inspiration from, or even directly take design elements from, assuming graphical elements are not involved.  No one has a monopoly on HTML and CSS. 

Oh, and I’m going to tighten up the logo a bit.  I see jagged edges there.

So, the next few posts might be more about the things I’m doing around here.

Please stand by while I get this stuff done…

If you would like to add your input, ideas and thoughts about my progress as you see it happen, please do let me know by leaving a comment below.  Your feedback is always appreciated, and delightfully received!

Wayne  (531 Posts)

Wayne John is a health coach for people that want to lose weight, gain weight, improve athletic performance, or simply maintain a healthy lifestyle. Wayne has lost over 55 pounds and improves his current health every day by using simple, straight-forward techniques that anyone can integrate into their lives to achieve the same. Contact Wayne today to realize your own health and fitness goals, or get started now by completing and submitting the free Wellness Profile. He also has been developing websites since 1995 and programming solutions for clients even longer. He'd rather be outside having fun in the sun though.