Design Review: Darjan Panic
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Darjan Panic is a freelance designer, with a very unique looking blog. There is nothing conventional in this blog’s design. It’s different, and it’s bold. What better candidate for a review?
What Has Been Done Well?
- Logo. The Darjan Panic logo is perfect. It is easily memorable, clearly shows the site’s initials, and looks great as part of the actual design. It is the very first thing you will notice upon arriving at the site, and for good reason. You’ll even find it being used effectively as a bullet point! In short, it meets all of David Airey’s criteria for a great logo.
- Unique design. It goes without saying that this isn’t your ordinary blog. For most blogs, following some level of convention is recommended, but Darjan is a designer, and his unique look helps him stand out from the thousands of other designers out there. Creativity is a virtue.
- Graphic effects. In an age of minimalism and simplicity, it can be refreshing to see a designed site every now and again. Whilst many content-heavy blogs would suffer from such a design, it works for the shorter posts that Darjan makes. The main navigation buttons, background effects and headings all make for a memorable design.
- Color. With the style of this site, the normal white background was never going to be good enough. Instead, Darjan has picked a heavy blue color which suits the rest of the design, and a white font which is clearly visible on top.
What Could be Changed?
- Purpose. What is the site about? There are few clues to let me know that this is a portfolio site. The main indicator is the “Work Availability” box towards the top right. At the very least, the About and Portfolio pages should be completed soon, but aside from that, why not add a welcoming paragraph? It could even be used to mention the extensive collection of free WordPress themes, which aren’t otherwise obvious.
- Structure. The design has clearly been influenced by Veerle Pieters’ legendary design. However, the one element missing is the structure. Veerle’s design is unique and modern but its true conceit is how it still adheres to a strict grid structure. The structure in Veerle’s blog maintains order and sense. In a similar way, a good structure could be used on Darjan Panic to help place the various elements more logically.
- Two StumbleUpon buttons. A minor flaw, but on each of the posts, there are two StumbleUpon buttons. It would help reduce clutter to remove at least one of them.
Overall, Darjan’s blog is best described as being different. The majority of blogs could not pull off a similar design, because it does not focus on the content. However, for a freelance graphics designer looking to leave an impression, it works. The great effects and modern style are sure to win him the attention of at least a few possible clients.
NB – If you want to put your blog forward as a possibility for a future review, let me know in a comment or email.
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About the Author
Michael Martin
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.
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What a small world the web is. I sent an email to Darjan just a few minutes ago. His design certainly is memorable.
I like Darjan’s design, it’s impressive, but as ALL graphic designer sites it’s focused more on the look than on content.
As a note to Veerle’s site: far to crowded.
David – It is indeed!
milo – I had a similar reaction when I first saw it, but over time, I really started to admire it. Have you looked at the individual post pages? The comments are laid out beautifully. :)
Of course, with a design so unique, there are always going to be people who love it, and people who don’t. It’s to be expected.
Yes, indeed, they are very nice, but I like the three footer sections the most: lots of info well structured.
I like those as well. The “Approved” category looks good, but it’s also a really nice feature. She picks out some fantastic links. :)
Looks like you were talking about Veerle, while I was talking about Darjan. +)
lol – Woops. Clearly I’ve been getting a little too into Veerle’s design. Maybe I shouldn’t have included that link? xD
Well, on darjan’s blog, I like the footer as well. The category and archive lists look great. :)
Well, I like those non-blog-styles (Darjan) much more than the average 08/15 layouts like Veerle. Grid design is cool, but there is no need to use the same structure over and over again.
Fair enough. Design is all taste. Your own blog uses a pretty unique layout and design, so I knew you’d prefer a design being individual. Good creativity is always a good thing. :)
With CSS and PS almost everything is possible, so why share the same layout like the other half on net?
True, but there are some advantages to following some common trends. I mean, the most popular trends are the most popular for a reason.
If a best practice really is a best practice, then it’s often worth emulating.
And if a user knows how to work a site, purely of popular web design standards, then that’s an added bonus for your usability.
It’s never good to just copy others blindly though. I always put my own slant on things, and every website is unique, so you have to design with that in mind as well. :)
Good points, but trends come an go, your own unique style stays. Pick the trendy stuff, that suits/helps and leave the rest aside.
Btw: thanks for the nice conversation.
That’s true. Never lose your individualism. :)
And you too. Always fun to have a chat!
How is it that every post your write invokes a response?
I think that’s really cool how he’s branded himself and gone with it on the site. He could reuse that logo in all kinds of different ways. I also like the colours he’s chosen, that blue is easy to look at.
I agree with your observation of the lack of grid-ness. Maybe that’s what he was going for, I’m not sure. There’s no prescription for everything to be ordered, but it can make it easier to find things.
I agree that there’s a reason some things are popular (re: milo’s comment) – because they work and people like them. Generally the single sidebar, and block of text thing works (as well as keeping lines, which Veerl’es done) because it’s easy to read and easy to maintain etc. There’s always exceptions for those that can design well (also an exception for those that can’t and then manage to mess up a default style). It’s like music – have you ever noticed how half the rock songs out there have the same rif? It’s because it’s good!
Oh and those free WordPress templates are cool! I especially love the Sweetbuzz ones.
Kristarella – That’s true. There is no rule that you have to follow the rules. And breaking the “rules” will certainly get you noticed. As you said, that could well be what he was going for. :)
I love the themes as well. I’d seen all of them in the WP theme directory before, and loved them. I was surprised to find them again here. He’s a great designer.
And lol – As for the responses, I think I’m just lucky to have such a great set of readers. ;)
hello, I am from Indonesia and I love the themes as well. Good Luck
that site ordinary great… because the owner was a designer about website. if we cant make great design, because we didnt understand much of the design web. So, we use the make premium theme or free theme. Conditional. but nice tips… I still reading in here…
I think your logo is really powerful — how long did it take you to design it? I am trying out a few different re-designs for my company’s logo and I will definitely be using yours for inspiration!
Nice post and nice tips thnx alot :)