What Makes a Design Good?
September 24th 2007
Image by Felipe SkroskiIf you're reading this, then I imagine you have an interest in blog design. Together, we invest huge amounts of time into tweaking our blogs, or huge amounts of money into paying others to do so. But how do we know our design is actually worth all that effort?
What is it that makes a good blog design?
The 4 Aspects of Good Design
There are many factors, but we can wrap the main ones under 4 umbrellas. These are what I would consider the main elements of a good blog design to be.
- Achieve Site Goals - What is your purpose for having the blog? What do you want visitors to do?
- Achieve User Goals - What is your user's purpose on the site? What do they want to do? Your blog's design should promote usability, and help make the user's experience as enjoyable as possible.
- Branding and Remembrance - What impression does the site leave? Will it be remembered at all? Design is not important solely when the visitor is on the site, but also when they have left it.
- Distinction and the First Impression - Does your design separate you from the rest of your niche? When a visitor first loads it, what does it say about your site? Does it make them want to read on?
These 4 points have been analyzed as part of a series (links above), with a more in-depth explanation, and suggestions as to how your design can accomplish each goal.
Apply Your Knowledge
The purpose of asking this question is simple; without knowing why your blog needs a good design, then what is the point in designing at all? If you know why you are spending so much time on a design, then you are better equipped to make decisions about that design. It is more than just looks.
Often you will need to make a decision which aids one particular goal, but harms another. As a basic example, adverts inside the post content will aid the site goal of making money, but it will harm the user goal of easy reading. Knowing that, you can then ask yourself if the adverts are worthwhile. Do the pros outweigh the cons?
In the odd case, it is possible to have a good design by simply making something that looks nice. It is however impossible to have a great design without first understanding the goals of the design.
With that in mind, I'd love to hear what you would say makes your design good. What made you choose the theme you did?
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Find other posts tagged with: Design, Memorability, Site Goals, Usability
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September 25th at 2:28 am GMT
Comment #1
Hey Mike,
Great topic for discussion, and a blog series.
I think there are several things that go into creating a site that achieves all of your four goals.
The site structure and layout is a big part of usability - navigation and contextual links need to be well separated from content and clearly visible.
Being efficient with all elements on the page is key to having a functional design. Everything needs to have a clear and beneficial purpose.
The color scheme and graphics will determine readability and, to a large degree, how beautiful your website is.
My personal favorite (and possible Skellie's too) is keeping things simple and to the point. I think this helps create a memorable design that has a lot of impact. The whitespace also makes for easy reading and a clear separation of useful elements.
I'm going to stop now; I probably should have written a post of my own and just sent a trackback. Too late now...
Great series, I'm looking forward to the rest of it!
- Mason Hipp
September 25th at 6:02 am GMT
Comment #2
People can start by stop spamming ads.
Unfortunately this is not the case. From what I see so far, the huge $$$$$$ making blogs are also the ones that fail web-design miserably in terms of user interface and all.
Well, they're getting big bucks.
Who am I to tell them to remove those ads.
September 25th at 1:01 pm GMT
Comment #3
I'm currently going through a blog redesign, this time with heightened sense of what works and what doesn't.
One thing I'm keeping in mind during this is ask myself a simple question for every design element I decide to include (or exclude from the old design for that matter):
Would I or someone from my target niche actually get this or find it usable?
Granted, this is a pretty simple question. Yet, it forces you to challenge the status quo of what you think goes into a blog design. For example, when most blogs have a simple list of recent comments, have you ever really asked yourself would anybody find such list useful, if it didn't (for example) include an excerpt of the comment.
September 25th at 9:37 pm GMT
Comment #4
Well, I must say that my goal for my own blog is mainly that people come back: Not just to the webglog but also to my portfolio. Granted, I have to post more in order to seduce people into coming back, but apart from this I think that the one of the best methods to get repeat visitors is by providing something that they will remember: The standard K2 wordpress theme will probably not achieve that.
I think it was mentioned in an earlier post here, but providing personal, visual elements is a big key to making people remember your blog.
Of course, like I said earlier: Content is king, and it should be...
Well, i think I still have to get used to that;-)
September 25th at 10:15 pm GMT
Comment #5
Mason - Thanks for sharing. It seems that you prioritize usability very highly, which is as it should be. It's a shame that when designing a site, so many people choose one design over another because it looks nicer. Seeing past those looks and into the actual usefulness of the the design is crucial.
goldfries - lol - I can imagine some of the sites that you have in mind.
AL - That's a great question to ask yourself. The questions never need to be complicated. Usability is common sense, more than anything else! If you can answer those questions truthfully, you'll make much more informed decisions about your design. (Tomorrow's post is on usability, and you'll see plenty more "simple" questions there! All worth asking.
)
Dominik - I agree. The way to get people to come back is to give them something to remember you by. The content is one thing, but I often find that even in writing, the style of the writing is as memorable than the content itself. When I think of that site, I will remember if the author uses a lot of lists, or has a certain type of humour etc.
Of course, I'll also remember their design as well. I don't need to click your link to think of paint spatters!
September 26th at 9:26 pm GMT
Comment #6
Hey Michael.
HA.
I just redesigned my personal blog. I know because it is personal my rules are a lot more flexible- which is nice. Its really about all that I want it to be about- the facets of me... and for some reason people come back- though not like the "big blogs" or even moderatly big blogs.
I have some glitches to work out, but I like it. I like the colos. I like the balance of color and negative space, I think it is readable. I based it on Simplicity 10. I'm not a code genius but I really like the structure of his.
bottom line i think the blog reflect me.... The font is actually the same my husband and I used for wrist tatoos
Only they don't say mommy zabs 
HA.
I'm launching another site and need to keep these things in mind very much.... i have learned a lot, but also have a ways to go.
September 28th at 4:31 am GMT
Comment #7
I haven't thought much about it. I guess it boils down to my first impression on the design and just fitting it to my blog. Ha! Ha!
Of course, your comments in the redesigning stage helped a lot
September 28th at 12:13 pm GMT
Comment #8
i love desinging a page, specially when season changes, like changing decoration of your house. I do like your blog, i've just discovered. I think a good design means a view everyone can like, it's shouldn't be too personal, but it should be original at the same time.
And Mike if you could look at my blog, i'd love to hear your thoughts on my new design which i made it myself.
September 28th at 5:52 pm GMT
Comment #9
MZ - Sorry I didn't reply here. I replied to your email, and forgot about this comment. Woops. xD
pablopabla - Hehe - You hit the nail on the head in one aspect there, though possibly without realising.
Getting feedback from users is invaluable. Any blog that doesn't open itself up for some opinions, like yours did, is just foolish!
bulut - Keeping your design fresh like that is a great thing.
Your design looks great. In particular, I love the post headings. They're very neatly done, like A List Apart. The one thing that jumped out at me as needing changing was the overall header. Does the "Life without music..." line really need to be sit on its own above the banner? Beyond that, looks great.
September 29th at 6:31 am GMT
Comment #10
You're gorgeous Mike, thanks a lot:) yeah you must be right about that text, i fixed it now.
September 29th at 7:48 pm GMT
Comment #11
Looks great. You could move the whole blog up now, and fill up that emptied space if you wanted (Or you could leave it as it is
)
September 30th at 3:24 pm GMT
Comment #12
Thanks for the advice!
You now have a new RSS subscriber!
September 30th at 3:54 pm GMT
Comment #13
Hurrah!
September 30th at 8:08 pm GMT
Comment #14
Yeah +1 i loved this blog very much!
September 30th at 8:50 pm GMT
Comment #15
lol - Glad to hear it bulut.
October 4th at 1:25 pm GMT
Comment #16
Ease of use and readability makes a good blog design... awesome reading and as a new blogger... a big hate of mine is blogs just stacked to the brim with adsense when you can't actually get to the content.
Your blog is cool as it is aesthetically pleasing and screams... we are warm friendly yet professional people and we are here to help... so makes the user want to stick around.
October 4th at 11:07 pm GMT
Comment #17
Jacob - lol - Well I do hope that it had that effect on you!
But yes, I agree. Clutter is never good, and advert clutter in particular always makes me question the quality of the site as a whole.
December 21st at 1:04 pm GMT
Comment #18
Hi Folks,
I'm having all sorts of design problems, this being my first ever blog site (Warhammer Fantasy Battle Reports and Gaming Tips).
I'm happy with my content and I love being able to post to my blog from my mobile phone while on the bus ! (which is why I have stuck with blogger so far)
I just cannot find a layout I'm happy with. It seems to be such a painful experience publishing to the internet if you want anything aside from the standard blog templates.
I do have a site I paid for through Google Page Creator but I'm not keen on the Page Creator software. I'd rather try to use Dreamweaver or ASP.NET.
Basically, at the moment I'm just confused and fuzzy headed about the whole thing, thank goodness the holiday is almost upon us
PS. I'd appreciate any layout tips anyone has and particualrly any kind of WYSIWYG html editors anyone can recommend.
All the best everyone,
Sigmar
December 21st at 2:10 pm GMT
Comment #19
Hi Sigmar - While you're new to everything, it's all going to seem a little confusing.
Your best bet is probably to find a free template somewhere, and then use sites like this one to modify it to make it unique to you.
Best of luck!
February 24th at 12:41 am GMT
Comment #20
This is a great blog! I'll be using it to help build on my template, which is currently in what I like to call 'Modified Scribe 1.0'.Thanks for creating such a great blog!
February 24th at 1:19 pm GMT
Comment #21
Mattheous,
Glad you're enjoying it. Good luck with the theme.
April 10th at 10:31 am GMT
Comment #22
Good ideas mike. I think it is best to plan ahead before you jump in feet first. I have made many mistakes in the past because i didn't make plans. My motto is Plan Plan and Plan some more.
April 11th at 2:02 pm GMT
Comment #23
Gavin,
Well, you won't go far wrong with a motto like that.