As of today (8.11.10), this blog is only about 48 hours old, but already it's gotten a total redesign from its original incarnation! So, I think I'll get a little meta and show the process of designing my design blog.
To start with, I just wanted to get something up— so I worked with templates and images that Blogger provided. Their provisions are quite lovely— having been designed by professionals, and all. For a few hours, the blog looked like this:
It's clean; it's pretty; it's simple— I like it. But it does little to convey my personality. It's too serene. Also, since I knew this blog was going to be filled with pictures, it was quite evident that the page would look bottom-heavy without a good ol' header to hang from.
So, I went about making one. Having only Picassa and some old snapshots to work with, I began the painstaking cropping, layering, retouching, and color-adjusting process. My first draft came out like this:
Look at all the yellow and red! Individually, I liked the new template background I had chosen; and I liked the header. Together, they pack an staggering punch of color that is far too busy— who'd bother looking at the designs with all that going on in the background! Also, at this stage, I was still using the template's title text— not working so well with the header's layout. Back to the drawing board:
First, I knew I wanted to move the image of my face to the left side of the page. With my eyes looking right, if the image were too far right, I'd be directing viewers right off the page! I also toned down the saturation, so it would be less distracting.
I created the abstract imagery to the left of my face using Picassa's retouch tools— those lines curving into the frame are ghostly echoes of my glasses! Now, the right side of the header needed some work (obviously), and I had to add the text:
I decided not to make the expansive right half of the header too busy— it's a canvas for the title. I also cooled and desaturated the pallet. This header, along with some new color choices for the template, makes up the blog you see today!
I created the abstract imagery to the left of my face using Picassa's retouch tools— those lines curving into the frame are ghostly echoes of my glasses! Now, the right side of the header needed some work (obviously), and I had to add the text:
I decided not to make the expansive right half of the header too busy— it's a canvas for the title. I also cooled and desaturated the pallet. This header, along with some new color choices for the template, makes up the blog you see today!
