If you have a second, take a look at the new design and let me know what you think. I wanted to cut down on the fluff and wasted space while simplifying the look a bit. If you have any suggestions/criticisms, would love to hear them – I can take it!
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30 Comments
The new site looks really good. I would make the post content’s font a bit bigger.
It still looks crowded to me. The post content is almost hidden in the noise. Could you possible eliminate some of the items you have displayed, or switch to drop down menus? I also think you use too many different font sizes.
Ending on a positive note: I love the content of your posts, and usually find helpful advice.
I agree with km. Generally it looks good and pleasing to the eye, but still it is similar to a common, crowded blog. It doesn’t seem to be minimalistic to me. I think you could remove:
1. Share and Enjoy icons – I think they are not necessary; if someone uses those services, they will have their own button/bookmarklet for it in the browser.
2. Most popular – the % values are not necessary.
3. Recent comments – totally not useful
4. Subscribe – could be make simpler, in one line.
On the other hand, I am missing the date of the post. I think that shouldn’t be omitted.
Thanks everyone – I am guessing none of you saw how cluttered it was before! lol Will give your input some thought and see what I can do, thanks for taking time to let me know your thoughts!
Overall it looks great! I would agree with the above comments that post font size needs to be a bit larger, the starkness of black text on white background makes it even harder to read that small a font.
@David: yes you are right I have your blog in rss reader. But overall I like your design and you are certainly on the right track.
btw, one more thing: I also believe you could also remove the subtitle “Helping You Live Simply & Get Organized.” To me, that subtitle says the same thing that the title. Maybe you can try to leave only the title to see how it will look like. 😉
A Logo~ – simple, one color, symbol-styled something, (red?) – next to the title
Jesse – I just bumped it up one – still too small for you? Let me know.
peto – I was thinking of doing that. In fact, when I put this new look together, I went back and forth. Maybe I will try it out. Thanks!
Sheri – If I can come up with something simple and small, will give it a shot!
It’s simple. It’s organized. So you’ve got that going for you. 😉 I think that it’s a little too minimalist and not enough life. Folks want a little jazz. Not too much; but a little. Having everything all the same down the page makes finding what you’re looking for a little cumbersome.
Much better, thanks!
LOVE IT!!
You might consider going with a nice blue or green for the title. Red is a bit…aggressive.
Also, related websites is bold, but related posts is not. The format should probably match. If it were me, I would shrink the font by a point or two for those two sections, and maybe italicize to differentiate from your post, so it’s easier to transition between sections as the reader moves down the page.
and here i was going to say the font was a bit big. i assume you’ve adjusted it already from the other comments.
i like how clean it looks.
Its nice but it seems like everyone is wiping their blogs to nothing but a white screen.. it gives me a headache. I liked the soft tan that you had in it before. Its nice that it’s not too busy looking but I think that can be obtained without wiping all color. Anyway, either way it looks nice, it just kind of reminds me of the new generic labels stores are starting to do, nothing but white and the name.
CJ – I have more than enough going on for all my other sites. It’s nice to not have to deal with clutter on at least one of them! 🙂
Fontaine – Thanks for the tips. Fixed the bold/not bold issue, and will take a look at the font size. Although in terms of the red, I dig it!
Emily – It was a little small on a laptop, so I can see where the complaint was. But I made it 1px bigger and it seems fine now. Glad you like!
Chandra – thanks for the input. The site was actually white before too, but it had tan links and accents. Because my other sites are so busy and loud, I wanted to make this one match the content 🙂
Beautiful, and truly minimal.
This now looks like a true minimal site, and content is easier to see.
Great job.
Was your inspiration Helvitireader or Helvitimail ?
Hi, I’ve been visiting your site very often these days. Though I love all your posts, I used to wonder why you had a site with a primitive and cluttered outlook. Now, all my questions are answered. Love the new design. Fits your site’s theme very well. Congrats!
Thank you Caleb!
Johnny – both, since they look the same. I still keep my Gmail themed with it too.
I like it.
I think the only thing I’d suggest is using blue for the links (or maybe just the hovers) instead of red. People see blue underline and think link. I also suspect you’ll get better CTRs on your ads if the link treatment is similar to your other links.
I think I’d also alter the visual dominance of the related posts so that the label/subheadline is darker/bolder than the links themselves. This visual hierarchy would better match the actual content hierarchy too.
Thanks for the tips, Michael! I went ahead and changed the size of “Related Posts” and changed at the URL in the single ad block to the same red. Will contemplate link color next! 🙂
Really impressive redesign. The nav links at the bottom instead of the top are pretty daring – but I think it’s quite brilliant.
Did you do the design yourself or is there a brilliant designer out there you’d like to share with the rest of us?
It’s a theme that I just stripped some stuff out of. Glad you like it. 🙂
I assume you’ve implemented all the previous suggestions, because I can’t tell what they were talking about. 🙂 I think it looks great – very minimal, very simple. I’d even go so far as to say very organized. 🙂 Good stuff!
Thank you Nicki, I am pretty happy with it too!
Wow! I usually use Google reader to read your blog, so I don’t actually come to the site on a regular basis. This looks a LOT better than it did previously. (I’m jealous.)
Glad you like, km!
Looking good! Reminds me a bit of my family webiste!
I love your site. I’m working on reading all your posts… eventually.
Anyways, about the design of the site, how about making the posts justified so it looks more organized. Besides that, it’s perfect!
I think the pages’ view is still a bit cluttered by the stuff on the right. Can you make a better separation between the blog text and this ‘stuff”so that the eye doesn’t get mixed messages? Can you make the ‘stuff’ on the right smaller so the body of your blog gets more space and attention?
I’d also move the tweet button away from the header.