I was recently asked by Brian Clark over at Copyblogger to write something - if you read his post The Cosmo Headline Technique for Blogging Inspiration, you’ll understand why I’m writing this. Such a creative way to invite others to participate, and I am cordially accepting the invitation. Thanks Brian!
So, here are a few more tips that I have to offer - please note that the my intent was to make this a two part series, but now it will become three.
12. Brainstorm your design before you go to do it.
This one sounds pretty hokey, but believe it or not it works. I spend a lot of time “dreaming” up designs before I even sit down to start coding them. It’s really helpful if you have spend time envisioning what aspects of your design you want to focus on first.
13. Be flexible with yourself when creating a design.
I am certainly guilty of trying to hold myself to an original thought - there are times when I have a vision of what I want to do, but it doesn’t work out. Roll with the punches, and move on. I spend way too much time spinning my wheels trying to accomplish something I thought would look good but doesn’t.
14. Focus on a few complimentary fonts.
One major turnoff is going to a site that has an overload of fonts and font sizes. I’m definitely an advocate of variety, but you really shouldn’t have more than 2 or 3 fonts in my opinion, and varying sizes for headlines and body text is ok. Too many fonts can confuse readers, and simply doesn’t look good!
15. Use images in your theme.
I’m a big time fan of using images to compliment the way a theme looks. Whether it be background images, border or icons, having a little eye candy to dress up your site really helps make it stand out. It’s also great to use images in your posts, as it helps keep readers from thinking you have a boring blog. This is something that I am trying to do better at, because sometimes it takes time to find the right image, and it’s far easier to make a post and run!
16. Link to people in your posts.
This isn’t really a design tip, but more so one that might help you in the long run. People have a tendency to link back when they are linked to - it’s a reciprocation that could possibly help generate traffic to your site. Not to mention, I just find it interesting to see the sites/posts that people link to.
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12 is something I do a bit, but could definitely improve. 13 is essential.
Did you mean to say “shouldn’t”? I find more than 2 tends to confuse my eyes, unless it’s done extremely well.
Yes, I mean to say shouldn’t - thanks for noting that! This is why I need to focus 100% on my design/consulting business and blog, rather than juggle that and a dayjob!
I agree.
Freedom’s coming, Bri
I am not designer (yet, who knows
) but nevertheless I really enjoy your postings. I look at them as just ‘blogging tips in general’ rather than just designtips. I mean when you put the your pointers in a much larger perspective I find them usefull in more than one way.
So thanks!
Great tips.
Between Brian and Matt Brett I have learnt alot this year……still learning.
Merry Christmas All
Dan
Thanks for these posts. This is my first time here. Came here off Jugalbandi in search of magically converting my 2 column blog into a 3 column blog. Am still at it, trying till kingdom comes! Even blogger for dummies was for lesser dummies than me! I enjoyed reading your post.
Cheer. Have a great day.
Deeba
It’s amazing how many ideas one can come up just by following a headline sort of brainstorming. I just came back from Copyblogger a few hours ago where I stumbled upon that very article. In your case, you were even able to divide the articles into three separate posts! It’s better that way though because you have 22 tips to share and I find that reading a list that’s too long can get a little tiring. Congratulations on successfully meeting the challenge!