ChrisBlogging Design
As you may or may not know, the design of this blog is not unique. In fact, I have come across several other bloggers who use a similar design, if not identical. While I did not have a problem with this at first, as the blog has grown so has my desire to see how far it can go. And the only way to take things to the next level is to get a custom design.
Of course, like always, I am going to have to do some heavy research before deciding on what the new blog should look like, as well as the designer I should hire. With that being said, I have some solid ideas on where to start.
I have a couple of goals that I am hoping the redesign can accomplish. First off, I want ChrisBlogging to look different than everything else that is out there. Not in a hard to navigate, complicated way, but in a unique way that readers will remember. In other words, I want the design to fit in with the future branding of this blog.
Additionally, I want to add more space for links, featured sites, and sponsors. But at the same time, I do not want to clutter the site and take away from the content.
Do any of you guys or gals have experience designing WordPress blogs? If so, please send me an email with your ideas for a redesign. Since I love to help out my readers, hiring one of you to do the work would be ideal!
October 5th, 2007 at 11:53 am
Hey Chris
I don’t have any experience designing a WordPress theme, but I think it is great that you want to take your blog to the next level. I bookmarked your blog recently, because of the content, not the design. However, I think a redesign would really set your blog off. Good luck with finding a designer and I can’t wait to see a new design in the future.
October 5th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
Chris,
Sounds fantastic that you’re going to be redesigning. Blogs aren’t my forte, but I thought I would point out some that the design really works for (in different topics, but they may leave you with some ideas):
http://www.dooce.com
http://www.lessig.org/blog/
http://www.vinography.com
And if you need any graphics or photography you know where to come.
Gigi
October 5th, 2007 at 1:12 pm
I also want to redesign my site with better graphics. I want to make it partial flash to make it look cooler =).
October 5th, 2007 at 11:35 pm
I’ll be glad to see you doing a custom design. There do seem to be a fair number of blogs using the same theme as yours. I’ll click a link to a site, see the look and think that I’ve wound up back on your blog–until I see the name.
For my eCommerce site, I’m doing a complete redesign and it’s (I think!) a work of art unto itself. Can’t wait to finish it!
For my blog, I kept it simple. I found a theme I liked and was able to easily modify. Then, rinse and repeat, since I “recycle” the same theme for other blogs, just changing things as necessary.
Be sure to choose a design that reflects you. A fancy design will age in a relatively short span of time. But, if the design reflects you, while that may too change over time, odds are you can evolve it as you grow, keeping the core branding and just changing things as needed.
October 6th, 2007 at 6:09 am
Chris,I think u can get a very good designer for around 150$ just check out sites like johnchow and jhoncow and see how they have changed their blog design to match the new web2.0 theme and they have spaces for links and advertisements….just browse around and you will surely find a good one… Good luck
October 6th, 2007 at 7:52 am
http://www.uniqueblogdesigns.com/
This is the company that johnchow and shoemoney used for the blog makeover. And they did a great job.
I like your current theme. It’s really nice, so it will be hard to make it look more professional than this. But hey you must give them a shot.
October 12th, 2007 at 10:20 pm
Maybe you could just try a theme which no one else is using…yet.
Like Linear