I guess there are basically two sides to this blog redesign series … the artistic side, and the more tech related side. We’ll be kind of jumping back and forth week to week from one to another – this week it’s the artistic. You know, the fun stuff! 😉 I have six blog tips to share plus a worksheet to start making some design choices. So far in this series, we’ve talked about getting a vision for your branding so you can know what you’re aiming for, and then the next week we covered where to blog and how to … Read more

Hey everyone! First of all, thanks soooooooo much to all of you who commented on last week’s post about blog branding! It is hugely helpful to me as we move forward in this weekly series to know what is working and what people find useful, and how the process is going for you! (Plus, it’s just a lot of fun to hear from you. Comments = candy for a blogger.) Also, before we get into the meat of today’s post, I want to tap into the collective blogging minds that are reading this and ask you a question — do … Read more

Well, we’re preparing for the big move! And I don’t mean our move to Boston, although we are leaving for that TOMORROW! (WOOHOO!) But actually, in the context of blogging, I’m talking about how to move from Blogger to WordPress. This series is now in week 8 and we’ve been making great progress working on Lori’s blog redesign (and hopefully you’ve been making progress on your blog too!) as we’ve been going through this series. The goal was to use Lori’s blog, In My Kitchen, In My Life as a demonstration on how to create a new fully branded look, … Read more

A few posts back I mentioned the importance of white space (especially in your background), but that if you are worried about it making your design too boring, do not fear! There are other ways to add panache to your site – ways that enhance rather than distract from your content. The banner and the sidebar we have already discussed – and today we’ll be talking about something that I consider to be often overlooked design-wise: your menu of stand-alone pages. When I refer to “stand-alone” pages, I’m talking about pages you create that don’t shift down in order like … Read more

Hello friends! Well, despite a couple very half-hearted attempts to revive my blog, it has been sitting dormant for almost two years. In some ways I’m rather embarrassed about that, but in other ways, I’m not embarrassed at all. It’s been a difficult couple years, and honestly, there have been more important things that truly needed to take precedent. But as things are rolling into a little easier phase now, I feel I can again pick up blogging — and I’m looking forward to it! As for the last couple years, though, I’d like to share what has been going … Read more

So, last week I tried to post some clues to see if anyone could guess what the next weekly challenge would be … buuuuut apparently I’m pretty bad at clues, haha! But the hack-challenge ends this week and next week is the start of the new challenge … so instead we’ll just skip to the announcement. 🙂 It’s one that was suggested by one of you when I asked for challenge ideas a while back – and I’m very excited about it! It’s a DIY blog redesign series! Basically, as a graphic designer I will be demonstrating how to do … Read more

A few posts back I mentioned the importance of white space (especially in your background), but that if you are worried about it making your design too boring, do not fear! There are other ways to add panache to your site – ways that enhance rather than distract from your content. The banner and the sidebar we have already discussed – and today we’ll be talking about something that I consider to be often overlooked design-wise: your menu of stand-alone pages. When I refer to “stand-alone” pages, I’m talking about pages you create that don’t shift down in order like … Read more

Wow, I can’t believe we’re already more than half way done with the adventure challenge! There are only a few weeks left – it’s really been flying by quickly! But we’ve definitely been loving it. Soon it will be time to start dreaming up a new challenge … but that’s another post. Stay tuned! 🙂 Anyway, not to get ahead of myself, I still have four adventure posts, including this one! Actually, though, I had this week off for the adventure. Because this week was a Daddy-Daughter adventure! Little one absolutely loves her special times with Daddy, and was super … Read more