OFFICIAL BLOGHER '10 LIVEBLOG: Good Blog Design - The Role of Layout in an Online Medium

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ALEX VEGA: Hi, everyone. It’s 2:48. We’re three minutes late and we’d like to start. Hi, we might as well start with intros since we’ll each talk separately. My name is Alex. Thank you. I’m a graphic designer, I’m not a blogger like many of you are. Is anyone not a blogger? Where my non-bloggers at? Probably shouldn’t encourage it. I’m a graphic designer, the site I work on is called autostraddle.com. It’s like a queer online magazine, I guess like a mega-blog type of thing. And that’s it, I’m a graphic web designer.

GABRIELLE BLAIR: I’m Gabrielle Blair, I blog at Design Mom and I’m a founder of Kirtsy. I now do blogging and social media full time, four years now. And I just had baby number six. She’s out in the hallway. I have to say I always love anytime a crowd comes to see a design topic because everyone always looks so cool and fun.

GRACE BONNEY: Hey guys, I’m Grace from Design Sponge. I’m going to start with a slideshow, Gabrielle’s going to go into the next lower level and then Alex will have some nitty gritty tips. I’m going to dive right in since we’re tightly scheduled.
Alright, so. For those of you not familiar with Design Sponge, it’s basically about everything related to the home. For me design layout is almost as crucial as content. I think as blogging becomes more and more popular and accepted the layout of your site is going to become increasingly important. I think we’ll start seeing some of the influence of print come over to the web.
If you hear nothing else I say today, remember five key things. Originality is key when it comes to your blog. Invest in a custom design – it’s just as important as investing in content. It can be a little scary, but it’ll be the best money you ever spend. Third, you should never let form trump function. The two should be equal partners. This is something I struggled with for years. Fourth, always carry your theme with you in your various places your site lives online. Last, always build for the future. It’s something I wish someone had told me six years ago when I started my site. When you’re thinking about your blog layout, always think about what you want to do in the future. Even pie in the sky ideas are important to think about. Then you can grown into a site instead of totally redesigning.
Okay, first – original design. The reason it’s so important to look different is brand recognition. Those of you thinking about blogging full time have an idea about this. The blogs that stand out the most mean that the person who wrote it has translated their personality into their layout. That could mean color palette, grid, etc. Make sure they reflect the POV of your writing. No matter what that is. Try to distill it into four key elements of your site. Texture, font, color, frames, whatever those choices are think about them and how they reflect you.
Second, this is super crucial for every blogger – nothing feels as professional as a custom design. I had a blogger template for four years. I loved those polka dots, but they said, hi, I just started a free blogger blog. And that’s okay, but you want to be able to express who you are and say you’re taking it seriously. I think for a while there was a stigma with that, but not now. Put some time into a custom design. People will take it more seriously.
Last but not least, if you’re a style blogger, you must put your personal style into the blog. If you’re a food blogger, any kind of niche with a related style.
Now, this is the current lay out of my site that I’ve had since 2007. I’m in the process of totally dismantling it right now, but this is the layout that was the labor of love for me. I invested about $6,000 in this and it’s the most amount of money I’ve invested in my site. It was scary, my credit card company called me to make sure my card wasn’t stolen but I’ve never regretted it. The traffic boost I saw from the redesign alone was the biggest boost I’ve ever had. It instantly gave us a brand and a look we’ve seen repeated for years