As part of The Art of Escapism’s The 3 Days of New Year, I’m here to help your blog with my simple design tips. I was supposed to tell you my boring history with Web Design and then I realized I wanted something that can be helpful to others so here I am. 😀

I know saying this is counterproductive to my sideline but hiring a designer is pretty expensive. You can create your own blog design if you know how but in my experience it takes a while to learn. When I started blogging I just downloaded free themes out there and just customized it. But since I’ve been designing website for years and eager to have a layout that is truly mine, I decided to gamble and learn the ins and outs of WP (at least for web design purposes only. I didn’t even dream of becoming a programmer. It’s a tough one!)

I digress, so yeah it’s a pricey road but there are still things that you can work with it without spending a lot of cash. Here are my tips.

Like voting, choose your WP/Blogger theme wisely.

There are tons of beautiful wordpress /blogger theme out there and the best news? It’s free. They are also highly customizable so you can edit it to suit your style. Add some personal touches like replacing the default header and background. Just tweaking that aspect of your theme will have a great impact on the overall design. See? And you didn’t even spend a single centavo cent.

Search high and low for your resources.

Want a simple background? Go to subtle patterns. They have hundreds of that on their arsenal and ready for you to use. Need a unique font? Go to dafont or fontsquirrel. In need of brushes? Make your way to brusheezy. And for graphics? You can never go wrong with openclipart (and they 100% free for personal and commercial use). And when you have all the material you need and just need inspiration? Check out CSSRemix for their mouthwatering websites design.

Those are just example of the sites that will significantly help you customize your blog. There are tons of that, & all you needed to do is spend a bit of time searching for the right material for your blog design. 🙂

Don’t be Gaga; please don’t over style.

I cringed whenever I see a very messy blog (no offense, over-the-top is not really my style). Like tons of colors that don’t mesh well with the others. Then there are blinking graphics. Using too many webfont kit and messy sidebar. And to top it all it even has tons of scripts in there. Oh golly! *SMH* Don’t add too many things at once. My rule of the thumb when it comes designing? The simpler the better. In web design trends, minimalism is always never out of fashion. It’s like the little black dress in our closet, ladies. It will never grow old.

Content baby, it’s the content!

In connection to #3, remember folks it’s a blog and therefore the spotlight should focus on your content. Don’t make it  hard for your readers to navigate and to read. Don’t use overly complicated font. I suggest not using a very busy background as well. If you need simple backgrounds, you can never go wrong with subtle patterns. It has tons of minimalistic backgrounds you can use for your site. This is just me but I don’t like white font to black background. It strains my eyes. In website, yeah. But blog? No I don’t like it.

And please for the love of cupcakes don’t use comic sans. Just please don’t and here’s why: comicsanscriminal.

But for me the best tip I could give you good folks is to make the blog to represent you. It doesn’t have to be fancy and overly complicated. It has to be easy for you and for your readers to navigate.

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And that’s about it. I hope I’ll able to help you even a bit on what to do with your blog. Everyone has unique design aesthetics so I didn’t give anything very specific. When I design I usually have similar style that I follow, so does everyone else. Just follow what you want while considering things that will make your blog looks efficient, and I think it will transcend on your design. :happy: