Thoughts on my blog design

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Hi,

I like it. Its simple, but I'm a minimalist. I think its well designed and well written. I suppose for a further critic, it may only take few changes to make it more mainstream if that is the direction you want to go, but (used to be) you don't have to do that to gain regular readership. Its full of personality. I mean that in a good way.
 
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Yep it is simple and i think its ok mate.
But one piece of constructive criticism (just my opinion) is when i went to it i felt closed in, having the 1st thing i saw was a Brown Cassette Player, with brown borders and to top it off brown writing to the right of the CassPlay. It is a good design but to have it brown as much as it is it was too much and Too heavy. I felt lazy and really didnt want to scroll further, but as your looking for opinions, I did.
Was happy with what is under neath it but that much brown as a welcome to the page .... Not for me sorry mate. :( Keep it up though and post back any changes ...

Cheers
 
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Thank you both for the kind words and critique.

I agree, there was too much brown. I've since changed it to a dark grey (after not liking black). Is it more appealing? Also, is the header (big cassette + blog title) too big?
 
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yea the cassette is a little over powering. If you could shrink the cassette down and maybe change the title to above the cassette, maybe. Dunno i just keep looking above the cassette to find a header or some sort of info :)

Cheers
 
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If you wouldn't mind taking a look now, I think it's a little clearer.
 

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I think it's a major improvement. Although it doesn't quite scream design quite just yet. It's still looks a bit bland because all you did was type the words out and stacked them. That's kind of type setting 101.

Try playing with different weights with the fonts, IE having something bold and something thin. Playing with the colors was a good start, and having them different sizes is going in the right direction. Pay attention to hierarchy and composition.

What do you want to be dominant and the first thing people see, read, experience. Do you want it to be image driven, or type driven?

After you answer some of these questions, you can design more objectively.
 
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I want it to be type-driven, for sure.
 

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I want it to be type-driven, for sure.

Well now that you answered that question, you can start designing it that way. ^-^"
 
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Yea its getting there mate ... Not a designer my self listen to what Crimson has to say .. Has given good advice and changed things for people with good outcomes ... But i do like it better than the 1st page you had up. In is not as obtrusive to the observer now ...

Keep it up
 
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new-header-demo-01.jpg


Thoughts?
 
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I never got to see what it looked like in the beginning phase, but as it stands right now, I like the minimal approach. It's clean, and that's important. The font you've chosen for the header is pretty good, and the design is classy thus far. You don't ever have to stop making refinements, but my only suggestion would be to take it slow.

Don't lose perspective on the material you're hosting, and don't try to make things too flashy because it can go from class to over done within the blink of an eye.. literally.

Make the changes you want, and test out the waters. But I think you're definitely on the right track. I'm not a designer btw, but will soon be putting together my own site (photography) using RapidWeaver. What I've learned so far is that these things are not nearly as easy as one might think !

Doug
 

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20100108-tqci1qyaf98yqqix82ksr54tug.jpg


I added notes directly on the image. Sorry I was kind of in a rush to do it. I have some other things I wanted to say but couldn't fit it on there.

I like how you are experimenting with the type, however the image is still dominant. Especially since it's so large. It doesn't help that they are right next to each other either.

I think for this composition it would be easier and more eye pleasing to the viewers if you kept things in a unit, or block. Much like your image, since it's basically a solid rectangle you should also try to mimic that shape with your type.

It's easier to read, plus everything is together and people can get information quickly.

Example:

20100108-qnptc21jgjpa82bu1et7m13u2d.jpg
 
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Crimson: Thanks for the notes. I guess I lowercased the ".com" because it wasn't as important as the blog's title (which is in all caps). As for the tagline ("A Pop Music Blog"), I wanted each word a different size -- from smallest to biggest -- to stress each word's importance. Are these legit concerns?

I do understand your idea about there being two competing shapes, which I wasn't aware of until now and I'm still not sure how to approach it. While I think your revision to match the boom box logo works, I'm just not sure if it's eye-catching enough.

Still interested to hear your thoughts and thanks for the help.

big-header-03.jpg
 

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Crimson: Thanks for the notes. I guess I lowercased the ".com" because it wasn't as important as the blog's title (which is in all caps). As for the tagline ("A Pop Music Blog"), I wanted each word a different size -- from smallest to biggest -- to stress each word's importance. Are these legit concerns?

I do understand your idea about there being two competing shapes, which I wasn't aware of until now and I'm still not sure how to approach it. While I think your revision to match the boom box logo works, I'm just not sure if it's eye-catching enough.

Still interested to hear your thoughts and thanks for the help.

Responding to the bold parts in the quote:

This is fine. I just wouldn't place it there. As I said in the "notes." I forgot to elaborate on why. It's not strong enough to support the type on the top, plus you have odd word spacing due to having a word on one line. Leaves empty gaps and doesn't fit in well at the bottom.

That's why I suggested if you were going with that design to move it on top. It's fine that the letter sizes are different. You are the designer you get to choose which words have more importance than others. However, you do need to be selective, and it has to make sense.

The thing that will make it eye catching is to use different weights, IE bold, light, book, medium, etc.

If I blew up the example that I did, it would be more eye catching. I made it tiny so people wouldn't steal it. >_<" Not that I care really.
 
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I completely agree. Here it is with the tag line on top:

big-header-03.jpg
 
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Maybe I should make the last m in ".com" line up with the t in "Out"...ahh!
 
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I think it looks great!
Can I ask who you're hosting it with? I'm new to this and I want to start with a blog.
 
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I think it looks great!
Can I ask who you're hosting it with? I'm new to this and I want to start with a blog.

Thanks. It's hosted by tumblr (tumblr.com), but honestly I think I'd recommend Blogspot instead. It's just faster, more convenient, and you can also customize it the way you want.
 

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