|
Post by Katrina on Nov 11, 2014 1:33:16 GMT
Hi all! I'm Katrina from empiricalmom.com. This is my newest blog home. I've really tweaked the design a lot, but I never feel like my blog designs look professional or inviting. How can I improve? I know I need a header and/or logo--I'm dragging my feet because I just don't have any graphic design skills even after countless hours playing with Canva and PicMonkey. I'd like to keep it simple but have it be beautiful. For logos/headers, I have an idea to use an Exclamation Point for the EmpiricalMom.com logo and a Question Mark for PhilosophicalMom.com. That's as far as I've gotten with that idea. Any suggestions or feedback welcome! Thanks!
|
|
|
Post by stephallthevs on Nov 11, 2014 16:16:59 GMT
I like it. Very easy to read and not cluttered. As for a header/logo - I like those simple. I don't think they need to be fancy or full of photos. A nice font and a graphic that relates to your content is plenty, IMO. You can look at mine to see what I mean. I made it with Canva. If you want some help designing yours, I'd be happy to help! I love doing that sort of thing
|
|
|
Post by Kimi Who on Nov 12, 2014 8:46:06 GMT
Hi Katrina!
I like that your blog has a very clean feel. White space is important - it attracts us to the content.
Here are some ideas!
I'd suggest making your About blurb image in your sidebar larger so that it takes up the width of your sidebar. It'll make it look a lot nicer. Try to find a way to fix your email subscription - your ticker boxes look a little strange with the way they aren't immediately next to their information. Show us who you are and what you like! Perhaps include a widget for your Twitter, Pinterest or Istagram accounts?
|
|
|
Post by Katrina on Nov 12, 2014 22:45:04 GMT
Thanks ladies, for your suggestions! I'll work on those ASAP!
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 14, 2014 3:03:19 GMT
It's very clean. Unless your logos are equally minimalist I wouldn't add them as they would be distracting from the minimal nature of your design.
I'd take some time and style your sidebar widgets, especially the form parts. They really stand out in contrast to how well the rest of your site is styled (in bad way). I'd also get rid of the tag cloud as it looks very cluttered. (Your subscribe form looks great on mobile though)
Your theme is very minimalist, if that's not the style you plan on keeping with your site design it might prove an issue for you. So I guess I'm saying if you don't think the theme suits you find a new one, however if you plan on keeping it make sure every single detail of your site 9right down to the images) match the minimalist style of your them or they will stand out like a sore thumb.
|
|
|
Post by Katrina on Nov 14, 2014 16:45:01 GMT
@thegreenmtngirl, thank you for your feedback! Could you explain what you mean by styling the sidebar widgets better? Most of them are text, so I'm not sure what you mean to improve.
I don't know what to do about the subscribe form--I don't like the look of it, but it's an easy plug-in for my Mad Mimi newsletter subscription. I'll have to look into finding a better looking option. Is the problem with the checkboxes and how it is spaced out? Or is just ugly in general? :-)
Part of how things look has to do with the mobile responsiveness of my theme. I've noticed differences in widgets and picture sizes and spacing depending on whether I'm on my laptop, desktop, or mobile. I don't know if it's a good thing or bad thing, but I guess it is what it is with this particular theme.
Also, what do you mean by keeping the images minimalist? Are they too big? Too distracting?
Thanks again for your help!
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2014 11:23:40 GMT
Yes, I was referring to the newsletter sign up. When I'm looking at it just now the check boxes (which looked ugly and un-styled before) are now pretty. So I don't know if you did something or what. But they are still centered over the things they are encouraging people to sign up for, so I would try to get the check boxes to be inline with the text. I'm also noticing now that your image at the top of your side bar is taking a long time to load. I think it's a really big image? I'd make it smaller (really no need for it to be over 800x600px - though ideally it would be as wide as your sidebar is in desktop view [probably around 250 - 300px and proportionally as tall] at the most) so that it will load faster.
Yes, things look different on different devices because your theme is responsive. This is a good thing. It means no matter what device visitors view your site on they will be able to enjoy it and easily navigate it. Google also likes sites that are mobile friendly, especially responsive ones.
As far as the images go, I mostly meant quality wise as well as style wise. The one image of the note in your shower seemed to have a different style. Like if your site was a perfectly styled Ikea room, the image was more a random thrift store find. It's like if your theme is pixel perfect, any imperfections elsewhere such as image quality or lighting will show more than if your site had a more relaxed style.
|
|
|
Post by Katrina on Nov 15, 2014 17:02:16 GMT
Thank you, @thegreenmtngirl, for getting back to me!
I took the advice above and tried to make my sidebar image full-width and then realized that the mobile-responsiveness of my theme made it look gigantic on mobile. So I'm tweaking that again right now.
I didn't do anything to the sign up box, so maybe there's a glitch that makes it look un-styled sometimes. Uggh. My weekend plans are finding a better plugin / signup form.
As for pictures, I understand what you mean now. I just have to get better at taking & editing. I have zero photography skills.
Thanks again for all your help!
|
|
|
Post by leo2400 on Oct 18, 2015 2:55:06 GMT
I'm saying if you don't think the theme suits you find a new one, however if you plan on keeping it make sure every single detail of your site right down to the images match the minimalist style of your them or they will stand out like a sore thumb.
|
|