Book Blogger Confessions is a meme posted twice monthly(1st & 3rd Monday) where book bloggers share, discuss & confess book & blog related topics.
Hosted by For What It’s Worth & Midnyte Reader.
“What is important in design for the blogs you follow? What features/elements do you appreciate? What are big turn off’s?”
Design itself is not the first thing I look for when I follow. Since we are focusing on design for this topic though it has to be neat. Neat as in uncluttered. I hate cluttered blog designs. I love sidebars, and different random things in the sidebars(and I always explore them!!) but I just had when everything is all over the place with no sense of organization which ultimately needs to clutter.
I also like to see a bit of effort for the standard blog template. A lot of people(including myself) are not design whiz’s, and that’s perfectly fine but you are putting something out there for the public eye so I think that an attempt should be made to make it appealing. There are loads of free background and graphic websites where you can use those elements to make your blog unique.
I must say though that there are designs that I am instantly attracted to. My favorites basically fit into two categories: The vector designs & the minimalistic, muted, geographic designs. I absolutely adore homemade vector designs with cartoon creations. Eventually I am going to get one of those made for myself. I think they are absolutely stunning, and I love the fact that these amazing designers can design a cartoon image of the blog owner. The cartoon social media icons that match the theme also appeal to me. On the complete opposite side of that I love the muted colors, grey, yellow, light blue. Ah, beauty. I also love dark designs… like creepy, dark purple, sad. I have a very broad mix of tastes it seems lol.
The things that turn me off are bright neon colors, fonts that I cannot see on the background, alignment that is WAY off, music, blinking text. Basically anything that is really blinding.
Honestly, even with all this said if I love the blog content I will usually still subscribe even if there design is not great. I just subscribe in my reader 😉
What do you guys think about design? Is it super important? What designs do you like best?
Happy Reading!
xo Lauren
I love this post! I totally have to agree with you, cluttered blogs drive me insane and when things jump everywhere I just have to put off subscribing because it annoys me so much!
I’m not really bothered by colours etc, I like all colours particularly the bright ones, but I generally like to see some design other than just writing which seems a bit boring and like lack of effort.
Totally agree Livvy! Even if the design is minimal, I like something other than the standard plain template!
This is a great post. I totally agree with everything you said really, particularly about the cluttered blogs. I find them really annoying and distracting and I just can’t follow them.
However colours and things really don’t bother me.
Although I prefer some kind of blog design with pictures other than writing since that just seems a little boring and like lack of effort.
I agree on alignment, now that you mention it. Sometimes it’s just wild. Granted, Blogspot is not always easy to deal with, but it only takes a little time and patience – or help from another blogger. I also agree with Livvy about pictures, though I haven’t gotten round to insert any myself *oops*. But I will one day :).
Design is not super important for me, but the blog or site has to be readable without me having to squint! I love both black and bright colours for my clothes, while I can’t say I’m a fan of light ones…but it’s different when it comes to a web page. The important things are readability and colours that go well together – bright or not. Also, it’s good to be able to find stuff easily – like for example, you have this really user-friendly menu.
Oh I totally agree about Blogspot! The alignment wonkiness that happens was actually the reason I switched to wordpress/self hosted… it was just too much to deal with eventually. And hey! You do have pictures on your blog! You made your own header – that’s exactly what I mean, you put the effort to make your blog unique to you!
I also agree about finding stuff easily. I hate when I have to hunt for review archives, or tags and such. (oh and thanks-about my menu 🙂 )
Thanks so much for dropping by Roberta!!
I tried WP myself before I decided on Blogspot…but I got frustrated with the customization limits in the free version. Thought I have to admit WP is much neater…
Yes, I did design my own banner – thanks for recognizing my effort 🙂 – or better, I partly designed it, partly worked with existing images. But aside from the banner, there aren’t any other images in my template. I do mean to make some change when I have time…
wow you put into words what I like too. I stay for the content but it needs to pleasing to the eyes too. I am not a wiz either with blog stuff, but i do try to have the important stuff there 🙂
Exactly Julie!! None of us have to be whiz’s… just something a bit easy on the eyes 😉
It’s kind of like a book.. I’m drawn in by the cover, but fall in love because of the contents 😛
Thanks so much for stopping in Julie!
Alignment…I just shuddered. I always try to center my badges/buttons. If something is too big or wonky I won’t post it. I like the vector designs too. I think they are adorable.
Haha… if my buttons don’t align I either eliminate or resize. I’ve mastered the art of resizing if nothing else, haha. I just hate when a button is so large it throws off the right column. It makes me shiver 😛
Thanks for stopping in 😀
Neat, easy to read blogs are the most important thing for me. I agree with you though. I will still follow even if there is something I don’t like if I enjoy their content.
P.S. I love the new banner you made for Book Blogger Confessions. It’s too cute!
Thanks Karen! I’m on a theme banner kick lately 😛