If you’re reading this in an email or your RSS reader then click here to see the new Blogging Teacher website design.
I’ve been running the Thesis theme on this blog for quite a while but until now had made only minor customizations to it, and frankly I’m not the best graphic designer in the world so it was a bit rough.
I always knew I wanted to get a professional design but the cost was an obstacle. Fortunately that issue got resolved and this great design by Small Potato has been sitting in my inbox for a few months just waiting for me to get it coded up.
Well I finally sat down and over a few marathon nights managed to get it finished. It went live last night and so far the feedback has been great, with a few minor issues some of which I’d already noticed but others that I had not. After working on it so intensely it was hard to step back and see any remaining flaws so I really appreciate people pointing them out.
Here is a shot of the old and new designs to give you an idea of how different they are.
I highly recommend checking out the rest of Small Potato’s portfolio, he’s got some great designs in there.
If you’ve got any comments or questions please let me know, especially if you spot any bugs in the design. Using a great framework like Thesis usually minimises the bugs that can slip in to custom themes but there might still be a few I haven’t noticed.
Image Credit: Flickr
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Paul! I love the new design. It is fresh and unique and something that I think will be easy to brand.
The one thing I think you improve is the space that the header takes up. I think you have a lot of wasted space above and below the logo that if compressed would push everything else higher. Apart from that it is brilliant!
I’ll play with the spacing a bit this week, thanks for that.
I liked the old one better. This looks too much like a standard Blogger (as in Google Blogger) theme.
I’m still a faithful reader…..:-)
Interesting. I’ll have to look closer at Blogger’s themes to see for myself.
This looks great, Paul! While it does have some of the same shades as a blogger blog, it looks nothing like one and is way more awesome.
I like the blue in the background, very soothing and makes me feel like I’m lying in a hammock on a fine summer day.
Glad you like it Henri. Hey I guess if all it takes is a few color tweaks to shake off that Blogger comparison its not too bad anyway right!
Hi Paul,
I quite like the new design and think that it pops out more with all the various colours and design aspects. I did like the whitespace of the old blog, though.
I think you should stick with the old header and logo though – it was more distinctive than than the redesigned one, plus it brands better.
It’s all an evolution so I’m sure that this won’t be the final design, but good job (for now) :-)
Karen
Yeah the question of the old logo is still open in my book. Again I’ve given the designer the benefit of the doubt and trying out his recommendations, but the old logo did have its advantages.
We’ll see :-)
What’s up with everyone getting redesigns lately? Must be spring fever or something lol. I have one of my own coming as well. Anyways about yours….
It looks good, I like the color scheme. I have to say I agree with Karen though, I do like your older logo better, it stood out more than this one.
Otherwise I like and haven’t noticed any bugs so far.
Well its Autumn here so Spring fever is no excuse :-D
I try not to fiddle with my designs too much, and instead do one bigger change about once a year. This is definitely the biggest design change I’ve ever put one of my blogs through in one hit though.
Hi Paul,
Congrats for the new design..! I have to agree with Karen that I like the old logo.. I’m happy that you still keep it as your favicon. And.. I prefer your old white background :)
I liked the old design too. It’s always strange at first when a design is changed as you are so used to the previous one. However, I do like this one. I’m not too keen on the header, it seems a bit underwhelming to me. Though I really love the sidebar and main content area.
Okay pretty safe to say the old logo will be finding its way back in soon :-)
wow, a new revamp nice and sweet design.
i like it cause simple , catching and sparkling…However, i think the old one more neat.
the only may be play around with some little color at side bar area will do…
just my idea…
The new design not bad, may be expand the witdh of the template and i think the spacing gap need to be adjust abit…reduce the px abit will do.
just my taught…thanks for sharing your design… :-)
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