All New Design!
93Here’s something we’ve been working on for a while now; an all new design! If you’re reading this in an RSS reader, please click through and check it out!
I’d love to hear your thoughts! Nicer than the old version?
Goals for the Redesign
We had some very clear goals in mind with this redesign:
- Greater emphasis on our design services.
- Better integration of PliablePress links.
- Improved “sectioning” (i.e. Services area vs. Blog area).
Our design services are the bread and butter of the site, but until now, they’ve always just been one page that gets a link on different corners of the blog. We wanted to show that the two are equal in importance, rather than the services being just a subset of the blog.
The new homepage is intended to be a big part of that, with a lot of real estate given to the Services and PliablePress, not just the blog. And it gave us the chance to give a proper overview of what the site does to first time visitors with our headline:
In terms of the actual design style; we obviously wanted to make the site look nicer, but that’s a little too general to be a real goal. So our goal was to do this in a way that brought more color into the site and gave a very unique and memorable look.
This choice of style is purely because we’re a design team, so our site needs to showcase what we can do in a creative way.
Typography
Improving some of our typography was one of the main reasons for the redesign (To be more specific, getting rid of the fonts I’d used on our post titles was the main reason I was dying to redesign). In the new site, I think we’ve done that well.
Our fonts are now powered by Typekit, so we had a great selection of stunning fonts at our disposal. We’re using the lovely FF Meta Web Pro for a number of titles around the site, and Sorts Mill Goudy for various buttons (And our post titles are in good old-faithful Arial).
Aside from font selection, another thing I’m happy to have improved is our bullet points. We use them a lot in articles, but they vary from only a few words per bullet, to a few lines. That made spacing the bullets out quite awkward.
- But now, at last
- we have a nicer design
- that can handle either.
Yay!
Advertising
The last thing to mention is the 125 by 125 ads in the blog sidebar. A little over a year ago I took all ads off this blog (Largely to make room for PliablePress banners), but now that we’ve built the PliablePress links more effectively into the design, it leaves plenty of room in the sidebar for some tasteful square ads again.
So with that in mind, if you’d like to advertise here, you can do on our BuySellAds page. The current cost is $99 for 30 days (The ads aren’t on the homepage, so it will work out around 120,000 pageviews from 80,000 uniques). And as a little bonus, I’ll tweet/Facebook the first 4 advertisers who join us (Around 10,000 combined followers).
How Did We Do?
Naturally, everything I’ve said above is just what I hoped the redesign will do. The real test is how it actually does. I’d love to hear your thoughts on it. Anything we did well? Or poorly? Better or worse than our previous?
And if you spot any bugs, please do let me know!
PS – We’re still putting on the last layer of polish, so you may notice some area not quite complete yet (e.g. the portfolio listing just one site right now! ;) )
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Sick Michael! The new design looks great. The watercolor headers look amazing, it has a Nick La feel to it, but with different fonts, header, footer to give distinction. Its come a long way since 2008
Thanks Robin! Really glad the first comment here was such a nice one! :D (I get pretty damn nervous before a redesign on my own sites! xD )
Nick La is an amazing designer, so any comparison to him is a pretty huge complement, thanks! :D
Yeah no kidding, I know how it feels with the anticipation of releasing a new design. How long did this take you to do? I too am in the process of a redesign, just client work comes first, and I rarely work on it.
Ha – I loled when you mentioned you styled it for IE6, that takes dedication.
Also wanted to say, I like how on the services page the free quote box follows you down the page. very cool!
I drew the first sketch last August, but there were big breaks between then (I think we started properly designing it around October and finished by the new year, but I didn’t start coding until March, and even then, there were big breaks in each of those sections :( )
Haha, IE6 is a torture, but I always have a feeling that some potential client will load the site up in it just to make sure it’s okay. xD
And thank you! I’m really glad you mentioned that, it’s one of my favorite parts, it’s nice to know the work hasn’t been wasted! :D
Looks colourful and refreshing buddy! (hope you are doing good…long time. :)
Thanks Abhijeet! It’s been a long time, definitely! I hope you’re doing well too! What are you up to these days? :D
I am good…doing blogging and all..same old stuff in different ways. :D
Ah that’s cool! I think we’ve both come a long way since we first met. The Guiding Tech network looks like it’s doing really well, congrats! :D
It’s different from the last design, but change can be good, I like it! :)
Thanks Mark! Big changes always hit some resistance, but like you said, it can be good. I’m hoping it will be well worth it in the long run :)
Well its now look more clean and simple design.
Like to add one cent of mine add a tabbed widget in sidebar which helps you to make most from sidebar (personal suggestion only)
Tabbed areas are great, definitely. For me though, there isn’t really much more that I want to add. We get too many comments for “Recent Comments” to be too useful, and I don’t publish often enough to need bother “Recent” and “Featured” posts (There would likely be too much overlap).
They’re fantastic for some sites (I’ve set them up with a lot of clients, and a previous version of PBD), but just not for this redesign I think.
Thanks for the suggestion, I know everyone has different tastes, this is just my opinion too! :)
Whoah, this is neat, Michael. It looks great :D
Thank you Fikri! Really appreciate it! :D
Love it Michael.
“We design beautiful websites” – you certainly do, you certainly do.
Notice the top and bottom nav – seeing a few sites with that recently.
I like it.
Hey Michael… why should you be nervous about the comments?
Surely you know where the delete comment button is. LOL
BTW – how does it look in IE 6 – only kidding.
Thank you Keith! We try at least! ;)
Haha, that’s true, all my comment fears sorted! Now I just need some sort of Twitter super injunction too… ;)
(And lol, it works in IE6 too! That was a fun few hours yesterday! xD . Though I think I have a bug with the related posts still to fix there, grr…. :( )
It looks colorful and creative. I love this theme :)
Thank you, great to hear that! :D
Sorry for second comment Michael but thought that I would mention that the comment info panel, name, email etc doesn’t remember my details when I return to the site.
Ah, thanks for the heads up on that Keith! Added that to the list of fixes needed now! Will get it sorted!
Sorted now, thanks again for the heads up Keith! (Will be a bugfix in the next PliablePress release, thanks! ;) )
The colors in this design are great!
Thank you, glad you like the brighter look!
Very well done and I love the use of texture
Thanks very much Michael! I was worried they’d pump up our loading times too much, but it all came together nicely in the end :)
Beautiful Michael!
Thanks Pippin! I’m mostly just glad to finally have it live! :D
It looks great!
It’s more open, and looks more polished overall. The other design wasn’t as…elegant.
I’ve been brainstorming some ideas for a redesign of Webmaster-Source lately, myself. I don’t have much yet, though.
I like the portfolio banner on the front page. I didn’t realize the items were clickable at first. Neat absolute positioning trick. :)
Thanks Matt! I agree, the other had quite a lot wrong with it and I’ve been looking forward to this change for a while now.
And cool, glad you like that! I wanted to make the homepage as interactive as possible, so having nice borders on image rollover etc. was a big part of that :)
Looking forward to seeing what you come up with for Webmaster Source!
I love seeing new designs.
And this is a good one.
The portfolio pages seem a little cramped right now, but that’s my only criticism.
Ah, you could well be right there. That area might need a good bit more work, but it’s something I can play with and adapt over time. :)
Sites looking great Michael,
Ill have to check it out in more detail now.
Thanks Kevin! Hope it stands up to the test :D
It’s great!
Look colorful..
Awesome :)
reagard
from indonesia
Thanks very much Fernando! :D
I really like this design attractive design with simplicity and good use of water color in header. If i need to explain with design in one word then it just Awesome
Hi,
Loving this theme, i think designers are always creating more and more abstract designs these days and this kind of design brings the web back down to earth, beautiful!
Tony.
Hi Michael
“Sorted now, thanks again for the heads up Keith! (Will be a bugfix in the next PliablePress release, thanks! ;) )”
Yup – all working this end.
Thanks Keith!
The new design is simple and nice. Good luck.
This new design is elegant, stunning, and great. But.. the old design was miles ahead IMHO.
Lou
Wow. I am unimpressed. I actually preferred the old site….
Ahh, Michael – what can I tell you? the individual pages look STUNNING, but the homepage is kinda disorganized. I discovered this blog only two weeks ago and mainly visit for your super useful tips on WordPress & design, and the current homepage feels…odd. Maybe I’ll get used to it.
But yep, the post and page templates are great!
All the best!
S.K.
Thanks SK! Really appreciate the constructive feedback there. The homepage had to do a hell of a lot, and I’ve no doubt that you’re right that there is room for improvement.
As time goes by, I plan on using our stats to see how effective it is, and perhaps try out some other variations too.
I really like the new design. I especially like how you managed to show the Facebook, RSS and Twitter amounts in the author bio section.
Thanks Dean. We have an article here somewhere about how you can get each of those counts easily (Exact same code I’ve used in this theme :) )
Hi, the new design looks great. I did not know the Typekit library, thanks!
No problem! It’s an awesome resource, and for what they give you, the pricing is extremely reasonable! I’m paying $50 for the year. That’s about one coffee a month for gorgeous typography! :D
What a beautiful new website design! It reminds me of being on holiday for some reason. Well done! Really easy to use and I think your logo looks a little chubbier and a little cuter?
PS If you could go any where in the world on holiday where would you go Michael? :)
Haha, I think it found its way into an M&Ms store with no parental supervision! Who can blame it then??
A holiday? Oh where in the world to go, somewhere sunny… :D
Honestly, I like the old design better. You stood out from the crowd for me. This new design is just… forgettable.
Thanks for the feedback Kathy. Was there anything in particular about the old design that you feel made it more memorable?
gentle and beautiful
Nice makeover! The website looks more good now!
Hey I loved your old design…this design is okay, but can’t beat the old one! Good work though…
Thanks for the message. It’s nice to hear the old design was liked! :)
Please put in your ThemeStore (PliablePress) the old design. It was awesome, one of the best on the net…
That’s an interesting idea. I’d definitely have nothing against that. Hadn’t thought of it before though!
Would you be interested in buying it then?
(I’d want to clean things up a little first, but definitely an interesting idea :) )
Michael,
Excellent work but nothing can beat the old design. The old design was just awesome.
I have to agree with everyone, the new design is just stunning! Keep up the good work!
The new design looks more creative and beautiful!
Wow this is an absolutely amazing redesign. It had been a few weeks since I had last visited your site, and I came back for a lovely surprise!
Your use of textures is great – subtle enough not to distract but enough to really enhance the overall presence and feel.
Congratulations!
Great logo, i loved the logo you using, but it is lil bit fancy not a pro one :(
nice.almost a month since i visit here.looks clean.
The new design, especially the water painting, looks very nice and unique. And I LOVE the footer with the subtle background.
For the newbies, wouldn’t it be nice to place an image or screenshot of the old design? So they can compare?
Very smooth.
I really like the color choice. Not too sharp but it feels colorful.
Excellent job!
Hi Michael
Just bought a new widescreen monitor and your site looks fantastic in widescreen.
Best looking blog I’ve seen on the new monitor.
wow… it’s excellent
i love this theme.
One of best themes. I really like the fresh clean look of your site.
Great work !
And beautiful use of CSS sprites.
Love the new design. The watercolour effect looks amazing.
Very nice design tips, they help me a lot to design my website. Thank you very much :)
The colors in this design are great!
Very good job. It became brighter and fresher!
I like it!
This is a great post and it has helped me a lot,
This is a great.
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Hi Michael..
VERY VERY good article… thanks for your share!
Very nice design micheal. i love it :)
Can anyone tell me how to amend this website footer ?
http://www.premier-number-plates.co.uk
many thanks
Slewing bearings need to be place on a flat ground, stored carefully and need to be lubricated.
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Hello
I am Iranian
Congratulations to you
Do you have an interesting website
Thank you
Goodbye
_________________________________________
سلام
من ایرانی هستم
به شما تبریک می گویم
وب جالبی دارید
ممنونم
خداحافظ
Love it! This design iis friendly and clear.
Congratulations
Very good post. Something which is very close to our heart.You always have a way of making it so easy to follow your thoughts and what you’re sharing with us.Thank you very much.
Nice design, congratulation
Well its now look more clean and simple design. This new design is elegant, stunning, and great.
I like the design very much :) nice post.
Well its now look more clean and simple design.
Like to add one cent of mine add a tabbed widget in sidebar which helps you to make most from sidebar (personal suggestion only)
Very well defined post i like the way you describe the post .Many thanks for sharing.
Very nice design tips, they help me a lot to design my website. Thank you very much :)