Like most designers, I’m never really finished with my own site, and I’ve been wanting to redesign this site for a while now. The old design served me well for 6 months or so, but it was time for a change. While I really appreciate busy sites that are chock full of visual goodness, I find sites that are simple and uncluttered to be the most appealing. Sites like these:
I tried several things on my test site, and just never hit on the right idea. Suddenly this afternoon, I had a burst of inspiration and voila, presto change-o! Being a person who gets tired of looking at the same colors all the time, I think I’ve hit on a setup that will allow me to change things regularly, while keeping the same basic look and feel. My intention is to regularly change the header and color scheme to give the site a fresh look. How regularly? I don’t know… whenever I get tired of it and find a new image that I like!
I decided to drop the bright blue and orange in my logo and go with a dark grey that will allow me to match the center piece with the color scheme as it changes. I know, I know… you’re not supposed to go changing your logo colors all the time because they are part of your brand, but I’m a firm believer that rules are made to be broken. Besides, I think my icon is a recognizable enough mark that it leaves some room to play with the colors.
What do you think about changing the colors in a logo? What would you change about this site if it were yours? How can I improve the design?
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I love it! It looks, well, refreshing. It makes me want to be thirsty.
The design is nice, clean and simple (best combination for a design IMHO)
Hi Randa, like the clean new look. I think its fine to change your logo colours. The only think that jars a little with me is the white piece with your logo on. I think I would attempt to incorporate the logo with the image, maybe knock the image back in that area so the logo can be placed on without the white?
Out of curiousity where did the inspiration for your logo come from, it reminds me a bit of folded paper/part of the net of a box?
nice Randa, but I have to agree with Tara, I would actually just fade that portion of the image, so that the logo still stands out but so that it’s not a white background – I think it loses flow a little.
Thanks for the input- what do you think of the header now? I didn’t really fade the picture, but rather just sized the logo up a bit and tried to pop it off the image. Do you think it pops off enough?
@Tara- my logo came from one of those times when I didn’t really have much “inspiration”, but was just playing around with different shapes and effects in Illustrator, and ended up with something that has the look of a web to it or possibly a target, both of which give a visual hint at what I do.
I would probably still fade the image off a bit more underneath the logo and blur off the water drops to the left of the logo, but its looking better.
I love it!! I have a few tweaks for you but I’ll email them over.
now the banner looks great Randa!!
My favorite thing about your new layout is the clean whitespace. When there isn’t as much clutter it makes me appreciate the splashes of color. Nice work!
Thanks for the input so far. I think the re-worked banner is definitely an improvement thanks to Tara and Shaz. I’ve changed the nav and heading fonts up a bit too.
I feel like a Gin n Tonic and I don’t even like them! Yeah I like the design, I’m sure it will evolve over time. Maybe more green at the bottom, with additional links. So once a user has finished reading or commenting on the post they are attracted to another post. I must make an effort to update my blog in the next week or so!
Jamie
Juicy work, Randa.
I particularly like the larger page navigation.
Don’t forget the favicon.
I like it too – has a fresh summer-y feel about it. And like a couple of the commentators it makes me feel like drinking something (alcoholic) and juicy. Did you change the font and font size for the headings and nav bar? They are very clear and easy to read. Nice job.
It’s ironic that the header of a non-drinker such as myself is inspiring several people to have a drink!
I did change the fonts- Char commented on them needing some improvement, and an un-bold large font does look much better than a smaller size bold font.
Wow! Your site looks great! It has this really “fresh” feeling about it. I love it.
This was my first stop by your site and I was really impressed with the look, especially the top banner. Very eye catching, I’d stick with that for sure. Nice mention of QuickSprout as well, always been a fan of that design (albeit a new site).
Today while waiting for the valet to park my trailer-hitch having car I was reading the internets and stumbled upon your blog via a link from solo-technology.com.
I have recently been simplifying my blog’s look as well (Not linked to here lest you suspect me of foul link play lol).
I went a little nuts after widgets reared their ugly head. I suddenly thought my blog should do everything there was by way of a widget. I’m with you though. I noticed many of my favorite looking blogs didn’t look anything like mine.
I didn’t want to copy their look, but did think that their simplicity was something I should emulate.
(edit) Love how your comments are able to be edited. This is the cat’s pajamas!
How did I manage to miss this?!? One of those weeks I guess…
I really like the new look Randa. It’s fresh, clean and uncluttered. The idea of colouring the centre block of your logo with the design is a good one!
Great work!
Nice changes Randa. It’s strange, I went from having open whitespace, to having a little more structure to my design. No doubt I’ll probably change back some time.
hey Randa, you know your top navigation – I wonder if it would look better as tabs, or tabs at the bottom of the banner?
I like your new look … clean, fresh and neat. The text isn’t boxed up on the sidebar which made the entire section very breezy. Really nice !
Back to basics is always good design. Effective and easy to read, especially for your blog. Even with the three column layout, there’s still plenty of space for good content. Well done.
However, there’s a horizontal scroll bar at 1024 width resolution.
Don’t feel bad Paul, I missed it too. Nice Randa, and I’m with you – I’m drawn to clean designs with lots of open space as well. I also like the idea of an interchangeable center color on the logo. IMO, you’re still carrying out a branding effect, but with some flare.
Very clean, you did an excellent job.
I agree that it is difficult to come up with a quality theme. Have you seen Courtney Tuttle’s post on being able to build a strong theme with good SEO qualities. He helped me out with my design to set it up right as far as different tags, how it appears on Google for Index, etc. It has helped a lot. I just thought I should mention it.