7 Elements to Make Your Blog Look Great
In What Makes a Design Good?, I talked about the technical aspects of a good design, like site and user goals, branding, and distinction.
I did not however answer the question of what makes a design look good. What makes one blog visually attractive, but makes another one ugly?
There is no mathematical solution, but there is an artsy one. A good looking design is a combination of a number of factors. If your blog succeeds in each of these areas, then the overall effect will be an appealing design.
Image by Nir Tober.
Structure
I have a friend who won't go into a certain sports store because the layout is too confusing. Men's clothes next to the women's, kids next to adults, football tops out on their own etc. I'm sure there is an order to it somewhere, but I can't see it.
There is a lot of information on a web page. You can order your page in your own mind, but if the ordering is not blatantly obvious to a first-time visitor, they're going to be overloaded and leave.
Structure and grid-based design are the corner-stones of a well laid out blog.
Further Reading: Designing With Grid Based Approach
Balance
A good design is easy to take in. It allows your eye to glide around the page naturally, without being continually drawn to a certain area of the page.
Think of a see-saw. If you put too much weight on one-side, it will tilt in that direction. But if the weights are equal, it will balance.
In the same way, the weights of the different areas of your page should be equal. The weight of a specific element is affected by its size, but also by its color, its position, and even the detail within it.
Further Reading: Principles of Design: Balance
Color
Image by Vygotskij.
Color is a scary topic for many people, but it must be braved. The most sure-fire way to ruin a great design is to choose an awful color scheme.
If you don't trust your eye to pick a good color scheme, there are many tools out there to help you.
Further Reading: Basic Color Theory
Small Details
A person can appreciate complexity in a design. The small details make the overall effect.
You don't need great works of art in your header, or fancy features in your sidebar. The small details in your site will communicate the level of effort put into a design all by themselves.
It's working on those details that takes a design from good to great.
Further Reading: Design Is In The Details
Clarity And Emphasis
No reader cares to read all of the content on your page. Most want to read as little as possible. They only need the gist of your points, and then they move on.
Clarity in your design allows one element to differentiate itself from its neighbor, and emphasis on your most important elements, such as post headlines, indicates clearly where the reader should look.
Ample whitespace is a favorite tactic for achieving this. It lets your design breathe, preventing readers from being overloaded and confused.
Further Reading: Give My Web Space
Remarkability
Image by Orgutcayli.
This is Seth Godin's word. You normally hear about it in the context of products and services, but it applies to web design as well.
There are two routes that a design can take. Safe and not safe. You can choose a simple color scheme, a regular 2-column layout and a normal Arial font, and make a decent blog. It won't be anything spectacular, but it will do the job.
A great design does something more. It goes further than the regular web site and it makes itself unique. Great designs have a certain aspect that makes them better than other sites. Something about them that is worth remarking upon.
Further Reading: 25 Incredibly Artistic Websites
Functionality
Design on the web is not based solely on appearance anymore. Even on blogs, the functionality on your page plays a large role. What do you think when you see beautifully laid out threaded comments? Or well implemented Gravatars?
A good blog is much more than a diary with comments. It allows for you to interact with the content, and makes your experience much more enjoyable.
Further Reading: 35 New WordPress Plugins for an Effective Blogging Experience
When you see a web page with great functionality, obsessive attention to detail and no flaws to be found, it gives you high expectations for the site. It says a lot about the blogger.
There are far more than 7 elements to a great design. These are merely my favorites. What do you think makes a design great?
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About the Author - Michael Martin is the founder of Pro Blog Design. He works as a freelance web designer, loves WordPress, and has an unhealthy addiction to smilies. Written on 26th June 2008.
Other posts tagged with Art, Balance, Color, Design, Emphasis, Minimalism, Structure.
26th June, 5:06 pm GMT
For me, type is really important on a blog. That's more specific than the principles on your list, but it's worth mentioning because blogs are first and foremost about content, so reading that content must be easy. I specifically like the type design at A List Apart and Wired.com.
26th June, 6:57 pm GMT
Very good points!
To me, some blogs are a turn-off, no matter how good the writing is. I hate slow-loading websites, flashy pictures everywhere and worse, people who pile things up (awards etc) in the sidebar.
Web design takes a lot of effort and I'm not a specialist but I hope we can all follow your basic advice!
26th June, 6:58 pm GMT
Great article Michael! I too think the small details can make or break a site. I'm usually obsessive about very small details that the average person wouldn't even notice, but I think it makes a big difference.
As for the functionality, I agree there too. People are doing some amazing things with navigation bars, threaded comments and the gravatars you mention these days. Really adds that something extra to the site that you probably wouldn't even think about.
26th June, 10:54 pm GMT
Michael,
Thanks for the link. Personally, I find clarity and emphasis to be especially important. Blogs are all about content, so it needs to be readable and the right content needs to be emphasized.
26th June, 11:14 pm GMT
Quite Personally - Design Comes Second in a blog. (but a very close second)
If the content was useful to the reader, why should it matter what is around it?
Having said that, I have read a blog that was nothing but ads but their content caught the attention of my feed reader, so I can say that their design was flawed, but it was what the title was that attracted me.
I mean you look at these new "Minimalist" templates that are springing up in blogs, and they aren't bad to look at, just a little plain.
27th June, 11:45 am GMT
you can also add that providing the news source is also a good pratice.
2nd July, 9:42 pm GMT
So very, very true. And each point as important as the next I'd say. Its all about working these elements together, you can never rely on one single element.
8th July, 7:06 am GMT
Nice article.
Always nice to read some tips concerning the appearance of our blogs.
If you guys don't mind could you rate the readability and look of my blog? Because it's a dark theme and some people don't like to read white on dark.
8th July, 10:43 pm GMT
Hi.I've just made my very first website using weebly.com.I know that using a hosting site isn't ideal but as I said,it's my first and i'm just learning.If you could give me some feedback,be it praise,criticism,tips,links,it would be greatly appreciated.Thanks in advance!
20th July, 8:24 pm GMT
i like using simple themes with minimum graphics
7th October, 1:12 pm GMT
Hey i am looking for wordpress theme... now i will evaluate the themes using these tips... thanks for the tips...
2nd November, 5:28 pm GMT
I agree that if the design isn't right, people won't take the time to read your content. So you might have the best blog in the world, but if everyone is turned off by your color scheme, then nobody will take the time to read your great blog.
17th November, 8:33 am GMT
Agree, unless you're provding dowloadable contents then it doesn't matter how bad your site looks, information is still king here, althought not many would want to stay on your site for long.
Thanks for the tips I'm working on my own wordpress theme.
27th November, 7:26 am GMT
i agree with your opinon. thank you for this post. very intresting. i like it.
27th November, 3:07 pm GMT
Cheers!
xoxo
I made on photoshop animated myspace banners.
have a look at them:
http://tinyurl.com/5w2eqc
Thanks for your website
15th January, 10:12 am GMT
Handy guide for my ebook. Thanks
18th January, 1:21 am GMT
Great Ideas, I know if I see a black background I immediately leave no matter how great the content, it's just to hard for me to read..
Thanks
Maggie
20th January, 4:25 am GMT
Some very valid points made here and color, affiliate ads and comments that go on forever just tend to stress people out and distract from the purpose of the post. I'm attempting to redesign my template myself so getting tips from more experienced people is always a plus. Nice work, appreciate the advice. Cheers, Robert "Butch" Greenawalt MRHYPERPCS
20th January, 4:34 am GMT
Wow i just noticed something else which I wanted to comment on.... "The Tags" so you use the tags rather than the categories themselves? Do you find that a more structured method over say using a dropdown menu of categories or categories listed in the side bar for example?
I was just curious about your opinion. Thanks.
Not attempting to be critical here
10th February, 1:49 pm GMT
Yes for me layout is number 2 after site content. It's better to make it eye catching
21st February, 4:51 pm GMT
Thanks, nice article.
28th February, 2:38 pm GMT
I think the spacing of elements can greatly help the user understand the content hierarchy too.
20th March, 8:49 am GMT
Thanks for a good read! And you show it off by the way you layout the article with spacing and emphasizing copy - easy to read. Cheers! I'll be back for more...
23rd April, 9:17 am GMT
great post, i especially like the part of Functionality, lots of people forget this one
26th April, 9:29 pm GMT
Thanks for the great article, really useful for anyone starting a blog design.
28th April, 2:05 am GMT
I have many blogs which are all free,and they are all used the template,some is very good,I think when design a blog, the style is important,I like a generous blog.
30th April, 7:38 pm GMT
Functionality is very important for sure.
3rd May, 12:52 pm GMT
Too much color is not good for their eyes...
Adis’s Latest Post: My Wedding Photos
9th May, 12:15 pm GMT
very great ideas.
need to repost on my blog too.
don't worry, i'm using totally diff language..
baloot’s Latest Post: Joomla Tutorial Video: Creating Content (Part 3)
11th May, 4:47 am GMT
Thank you for the new ideas for my blogs. I'm relatively new at this and I've got two blogs that are taking off; yet the best-looking one hasn't got any followers at all. So, I was wondering what I was doing wrong - which ironically is nothing. However, I think I'll leave my other two blogs the way they are and just change the font and the size of the font on 'The Book Craze' because it is a little small.
Thank you again. You've written a great article.
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12th June, 10:04 am GMT
Brilliant article! I'm adding a link to it to show that not only what design is all about but even well written copy.
Great work. Give us some more