Series: Blog design

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MetaBlogging

How do you know when you’re ready for your own blog design?

This entry is part 1 of 5 in the series Blog design

How can you tell if you’re ready for a custom blog design? I mean, sure you’ve always wanted something special for your blog, but how can you tell whether you’re ready to pay for that little extra something?

First, let me say that a blog redesign isn’t a little extra something. It’s a BIG extra something. And it may be a big extra something that you’re not ready for. Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

Do you feel like you’ve “outgrown” your default/free template?
Be careful as you answer this one. Would you be happy just switching to another free or default template? Or how about making (or buying) a custom header? If rearranging your sidebar widgets just won’t hold you, start looking for a blog designer.

Do you feel like it doesn’t “fit” your blog and/or you anymore?
If your blog has grown and changed considerably—or your life, and therefore, your posts and your blog—it’s probably time to go look for another design.

Have you changed focus, topic or theme since choosing your last design?
If you used to blog about high tech devices and now you’re writing about spit up, I probably don’t have to tell you that your old blog design probably won’t quite work here.

Do you have ideas about your ideal site design?
Not only does this make your blog designer’s job easier, but if you know where you want to go in your design, you can better judge if your current design will do.

Have you explored many free options (all the Blogger Templates, themes.wordpress.net, etc.)?
You can customize the graphics and colors on many blog platforms, so even if you don’t like the color scheme or header image, you can ‘fix’ many templates as long as other important things are right for you, like blog layout.

Only you can know for sure if you’re ready to “make the leap.” Thankfully, in the mombloggyworld, it’s usually not a huge investment to get a new blog design, so your budget probably won’t figure in as much as it would for a professional business website.

Be sure to check in for more blogging tips next week and learn if you should try to redesign your blog yourself!

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Finding the right blog designer

This entry is part 2 of 5 in the series Blog design

You’re ready. Your blog’s ready. You want to really graduate to the big times. You want your very own, personal blog design.

Woohoo! Whether you decide to do it yourself or find a web designer, this is a very exciting time for your blog.

So, if you’re going the web designer route, how do you find one that will work for you?

See samples of their work
Look at your favorite blogs. Okay, blogs that you think are pretty. See if they have a designer credit (usually at the bottom of the page), or ask the bloggers who did their design.

If you already have a designer in mind, be sure to look through their portfolio (they should definitely have a collection of sample themes or clients’ blogs that you can look at).

What should you be looking for? You should be looking to see if you like some (or better still, all) of the designs that person has done. It can be helpful to point to elements their previous work and ask for something similar in your design.

You should also look to see if they work in the same “genre” (or at least style) as your blog. If they’ve done exclusively corporate blogs and you have a mom blog, they might not be a good match.

Check prices
You know how it goes: good stuff don’t come cheap. Generally, if you’re working with a designer that specializes in mom blogs, their prices will be far more affordable than “professional” blog designers’. Many blog designers charge flat rates and publish those rates on their websites. Others may give ballpark prices and/or estimates on the website, but the final price will be based on how extensive and custom your blog design is.

Make sure they work in your platform
If you’re on Blogger and they only do WordPress, that’s a problem. Blogger and WordPress are worlds apart; it would take a lot for a designer to learn an entire new platform just for one design.

Again, most blog designers will state directly on their blog what platforms they design for. If you’re using something other than WordPress, TypePad or Blogger, it may be a bit harder to find the affordable mom blog designer you’re looking for.

Make sure you understand exactly what you’re getting
Will your blog design include a just a new header? What about a favicon? Customized sidebars? For that matter, one or two sidebars—and will they cost extra? How many widgets will they include? Will the design for specific plugins? Will the designer “install” your new design for you and make sure it works on your blog?

Ask what kind of input they’d like
I believe most designers appreciate some direction when you’re working with them. I know that it’s really hard to make something a client likes when you have no idea what they’re looking for. I’ll have more on this topic next week, so stay tuned!

That’s right, next week we’ll have more on working with your chosen blog designer as well as another Group Writing Project!

Get more Works-for-me Wednesday!

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MetaBlogging

Working with a blog designer

This entry is part 3 of 5 in the series Blog design

Now that you’ve found the right designer for your new custom blog template, what’s next? I’ve dabbled in blog design, but for expert input I turned to Elizabeth of Gazelle Creative, Girly Blog Designz and Mommy Zabs.

Agree on payment
You probably set the price in the “opening negotiations” that we discussed last week, or your designer has a set price. Your designer probably also has a preferred method of being paid—PayPal, Google Checkout, check in the mail, your first born. Paying in advance (or at least on time) helps the process along, Elizabeth says.

Agree on a (working) deadline
Depending on how popular your designer is, this could be several months or a few weeks. Can you live with the deadline?

Naturally, you should be flexible with your designer: they’re doing you a service, and we all know how crazy life can get. Generally, etiquette asks that a designer let you know in advance if there will be any delays, but sometimes that’s not possible (hospitalization, for one example).

Have an idea in mind
Either from your favorite designed sites or (better yet) from the designer’s portfolio. Try to identify what it is you like about the sites: the colors, the layout of the columns, the clean lines, the way the header stands out or is integrated into the body.

Also helpful: Have at least one color chosen (I totally recommend ColourLovers.com for designing palettes; hat tip to Kasie).

Elizabeth agrees. She says that it’s easier to work with a client:

  • when they have a well articulated goal in mind. (ex. I would like 3 columns, girly blog, I like flowers, and have a passion for education. My main focus will be homeschooling.)
  • When they provide links to blogs (or sites) that have things they like about them. Anything that can give me an idea of what they like and what they don’t.

So, conversely, if there are some site designs that you don’t like, it can be helpful to point those out (especially if you can be more specific than ‘I hate this one.’) Another important point that Elizabeth makes is that it’s important to share with your designer what the themes for your blog are—and not just the colors. If you have any specific photos or clip art (which you own the rights to), obviously, share them with the designer.

Be specific and polite
Kind of reiterating what I just said, but by pointing out exactly what you want and don’t want, you’ll get there a lot faster than if you leave your designer to stab in the dark.

Be constructive and specific (again) about revisions
If you don’t like something in your new design, it’s up to you whether you want to try to live with it or ask the designer to fix it. Most of the time (especially if you’re polite about it), a designer wants to work with you to make you as happy as possible.

Bad examples of this might go:

Dear Designer,
You really screwed this up, didn’t you? Back to the drawing board.
Love,
Blogger

Dear Designer,
I don’t like it. Can you fix it?
Love,
Blogger

Better examples:

Dear Designer,
Thank you for my design! I like the design overall, but there are a few things that I don’t care for. Can we work on the way the comments display and the color of the headings (especially post titles and in the sidebar)?
Thanks again!
Blogger

Dear Designer,
Thank you for working on my design. I see how you incorporated a lot of what I wanted into it. However, I was hoping for a bigger header and a darker background color. Could you fix that?
Thanks,
Blogger

Sometimes your designer will automatically include a number of revisions (or batches thereof) in their price, though occasionally some will charge extra.

How do you know if now is the right time to buy a custom blog design? Come back next week to read more. Be sure to join in the Group Writing Project if you haven’t already!

More WFMW

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MetaBlogging

Should you do your own blog design?

This entry is part 4 of 5 in the series Blog design

You’ve decided that you’re ready for your own blog design and you want to get to work. But should you try to do it yourself? Here’s a little self-quiz that will help you decide if you should do your own blog design.

Do you have experience with a graphics program?
Virtually all layouts feature custom graphics, at least in the header. Do you know how to make one?

Do you have an idea on how to convey your blog’s theme graphically?
Does the color scheme, graphics and layout you’re thinking of make sense for your blog and its topic? Do you know how to make that statement graphically?

Do you know how to make a blog layout and color scheme user-friendly?
A few things to remember here: light text on dark backgrounds are very hard on your readers’ eyes. Having music, flashing text or graphics and/or scrolling text or graphics is also tough on readers’ (and their browsers).

Do you need to make substantial changes to the layout of your blog?
Do you want to go from two columns to three? Unless you have some coding experience, this can be a lot tougher than it looks.

Do you have experience with coding CSS and/or HTML?
CSS is the more important of the two; you can change the entire look and feel of your blog without touching the HTML.

Will your blog software let you make the changes that you want?
Be sure to check whether your blog software will let you use a custom, graphics CSS or layout.

If you have the technical skills to accomplish a new blog design, it can still be helpful to consult a professional to get an outside idea about how to best convey your blog’s theme visually.

If you decide to do it yourself, be sure to come back next week for tips on creating your own blog design!

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MetaBlogging

Going it alone: blog design

This entry is part 5 of 5 in the series Blog design

If you have the technical and design know how to create and implement your own blog design, then this may be the route for you when you redesign your blog. Here are some tips and things to remember when creating your new custom blog design.

When creating your new design, keep in mind the subject matter, goals and theme of your blog. Try to match your color scheme, graphics and layout to those. If you aren’t sure how to do this, talk to someone (like your readers or a professional blog designer). Outside input can be hugely important in creating a blog design that works for you and your blog.

As I mentioned last week, a key feature to your blog design is user-friendliness. This bears repeating: “light text on dark backgrounds are very hard on your readers’ eyes. Having music, flashing text or graphics and/or scrolling text or graphics is also tough on readers’ (and their browsers).”

When working on your blog design, it’s a good idea to set up a test blog. If you’re modifying your current design, you can import that into your test blog to start. If you’re creating a new design from scratch, create it there first. Not only will this make sure that all your changes work with your blog software and layout, but you won’t risk “breaking” your main blog.

When creating your new design, go slow. By that I mean change just one thing at a time on your test blog. This isn’t just for aesthetic reasons: if you “break” something, you’ll know what caused the error. If you change six things in one edit and suddenly your test blog doesn’t work, you won’t know which of the things caused the problem.

However, be sure to try different things. I recently did a blog design with a color palette the client had chosen from ColourLovers.com. The palette was beautiful—but the way I used the colors on the page wasn’t. I could have redone the entire color scheme (which wouldn’t take that long), or changed the way I used the colors on the page, but instead I went hunting for more colors (back on ColourLovers) that worked with the “good” colors.

Other than new colors, here are some other small tweaks that can really change your blog’s feel (and the appropriate caveats):

  • Font face: make sure it’s easy to read and works across many different computers (not everyone has the same fonts preinstalled on their computer as you do!)
  • New header: I recommend not making the header so large that visitors can’t see at least your first post when the page loads. Also, be careful how wide you make it: not everyone has a widescreen laptop.
  • Layout: If at all possible, use your blog software’s options to change the number or layout of columns

Now I think I’ll take my own advice: Readers, what do you think of this blog’s layout, colors and graphics? Are they easy to read and understand? Do they match what you perceive as the purpose, goals and theme of MamaBlogga? I’m ready for your feedback (*braces self*)!