Identity and Blog Design

Aarlev

Member
Just finished up the branding and blog design/build for an Accessories Designer/Fashion Blogger. The brief specified that it had to be really clear, simple, classy, and minimalistic. Would love to hear your thoughts on it!

Girl Can't Talk

It's currently a bit empty in the header area maybe, so I was thinking about making a little black bird to sit on the thick black line to the right, with a speech bubble above it containing 3-4 of the latest tweets?
 
Hmm.. I can't quite figure out whether or not I like it.

PRO:
+ it looks nice
+ it's neutral, so it would bring out the pictures (since it's a fashion blog)

CONTRA:
- it's very generic (so unless the content is visually appealing it's bad)
- the logo itself doesn't really appeal to me, is it an official logo?
- I think a lot more can be done with the header, not just a twitter feed. I'm thinking of shapes
 
Hi Soren,

I like it, strong typography, clean and minimal, so fits the brief you mentioned, I think one thing that could possibly improve it, is to bring the about the author into the header, and style in a similar way to the logo. so you would have;

London based accessories designer, fashion blogger, and style addict with a clumsy approach to life.
On the right side of the header, at the same width as the sidebar column. I think that will help to balance the header and save any confusion for first time visitors.

HTH,
Greg

EDIT- Jumped in without reading all of your first post, but think my suggestion still stands, I'd put the Twitter feed in the sidebar personally, you don't want people clicking off on Twitter links before they know what the site is about, or have read any posts/updates :)
 
Greg said:
Hi Soren,

I like it, strong typography, clean and minimal, so fits the brief you mentioned, I think one thing that could possibly improve it, is to bring the about the author into the header, and style in a similar way to the logo. so you would have;

On the right side of the header, at the same width as the sidebar column. I think that will help to balance the header and save any confusion for first time visitors.

HTH,
Greg

EDIT- Jumped in without reading all of your first post, but think my suggestion still stands, I'd put the Twitter feed in the sidebar personally, you don't want people clicking off on Twitter links before they know what the site is about, or have read any posts/updates :)

Thanks for taking the time to look over it guys! I was thinking about this yesterday, and I think you're right as it might not be obvious to some people that this is a Fashion Blog and some people might want to know a bit more about the author before actually reading the blog. I'm going to try that and maybe have a some form of call to action to contact the author in that same area. Hopefully it'll balance out the header a bit as you also mentioned Greg.

@Onartis: This is the official logo yes. Regarding the header, I don't really want to add any more shapes or elements as I want to keep it as simple and minimalistic as possible. I'll try to implement an about the author section instead like Greg recommended. The site will eventually be expanded to contain a shop and some other pages so I'm trying to keep that in mind and make it as easy to expand it as possible.

Anyways, thanks for your assistance guys!
 
Took your advice Greg and put the about text in the header. Balances it out nicely I think. Thanks for your help!

girl-cant-talk.com

@ralphsaunders: I think black could work well also. My reasoning behind using white was to achieve that clear and minimalistic feel that the client was after. Another reason was that on a blog there's a large amount of text to read, so I felt that using a white background was the best decision in terms of readability.
 
It may be a matter of opinion but I have always thought that white on black looks more classy. In a way it focuses you on the design because there is no reason to look anywhere else. As for readability, I'm not sure, white on black is easier to take in quickly but for sustained reading it might get a little difficult.

This post boils it down to a matter of preference but its an interesting read anyway - clicky.
 
I think it's really strong.

The 'pinking shears' style zig zag at the top is genius; simple and iconic as a shape and not overdone.
I don't think it needs anything else; it's a fashion site, so photography is king, and this is a great platform for it.

Nice workings.
 
I would add an underline on the hover for the permalinks of posts.

I would also at a third colour, maybe on the links that are in the body of the posts, pink/red?
 
I like it, but the minimal nature of it makes it look a little themey.

Its obviously not, but apart from the header it is very minimal, I know thats what you were going for, but I would love to see just a little something, but I don't know what.

You have the pinking (blatantly the wrong spelling) sheers, I think I would like to see it somewhere else, or a more interesting divider.

But I am nit picking, as a minimal blog layout, it hits the mark!
 
mrp2049 said:
I like it, but the minimal nature of it makes it look a little themey.

Its obviously not, but apart from the header it is very minimal, I know thats what you were going for, but I would love to see just a little something, but I don't know what.

You have the pinking (blatantly the wrong spelling) sheers, I think I would like to see it somewhere else, or a more interesting divider.

But I am nit picking, as a minimal blog layout, it hits the mark!

Hmm..yeah. Not a bad idea Mike. You mean the little doodahs in the top used as a divider of some sort? :)

@Kasper Pyndt: Yeah I agree that I didn't exactly invent the wheel there :). But hey, the client is happy. :p Just wait and see when I implement Mike's idea. Then it'll be badass! :p
 
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