Design Process
Where it all began - first conception (2013)
I quickly understood that an eye-catching design was essential for a good first impression, one of the key aspects of keeping the reader long enough before they make a decision on whether to read my content or move on to the next blog.
I looked at what other blogs were doing to gain more insight on what was trendy at that moment - a pretty, colorful pattern in the background, a striking header that would make your blog stand out and through which your audience would remember you by…
And so I started networking with well-established bloggers and experimenting with the Adobe Creative Suite - I self-taught Photoshop and dipped my toes into HTML and CSS for the first time to design my blog!
My book rating system
I decided to design the look of my blog loosely around a specific theme that I resonated with, as this would contribute to building an identity for my blog. I was raised in a coastal area and I love to swim, and as a result, I thought of creating a maritime theme, which started with the title Sumergida entre mundos (“Submerged between worlds”, literary metaphors were very trendy back then), and was further supported by following a colour palette that would convey the same idea.
image I found online for my header
I started getting more interested in creating graphics and adding gadgets for my blog, whilst ensuring the readability remained to a high standard - I made sure it all looked presentable and as colourful, spacious, and clean as other designs. I customised it through HTML and CSS to make sure that the vision I had in mind would translate properly, helping my blog stand out by retaining an identity that set it apart from other blogs. This would range from designs on the landing page to the various entries themselves, depending on what section they belonged to.
interview on another site, building relationships and gaining word of mouth
The creation of graphics also meant playing around with the dimensions to ensure it was suitable as marketing collateral in other sites, such as banners used in literary directories, interviews on separate pages, or general cross-promotion by networking with other bloggers.
2. Present day - brand new look (2022-)
Understanding and engaging with your target audience also means keeping up to date with the latest trends and ways through which people consume content and how they are first attracted to it, which is connected to how a site is presented and a sign of how active or outdated it is, and ultimately how trustworthy, as it answers questions the target audience will have.
Audience questions ✨
-
Having an updated, modern, and trendy looking design will immediately show whether the blog is being used, as it's in touch with the rest of active sites that act as the standard.
-
In other words, will the audience care about your content at first glance?
Online audiences will be quick to judge a website, and the design is a powerful tool - it shows if it's relevant to them based on how you first present, and how familiar it is to other designs that they regularly engage with.
It's not the only tool to make them care about your content, but they will be less likely do so if there is a bad first impression once the website loads.
-
Making a design look professional and clean are all key aspects that transmit how trustworthy the site is. The cleaner and better-structured it is, speaks about the effort the administrator has put behind, and so how insightful and valuable their entries will be.
That means making it relevant to the latest trends whilst keeping it clean and organised, with enough space to breathe - familiar but unique!
-
Does it look familiar enough as other websites they trust and regularly visit?
Familiarity is also a key aspect to consider when making the design for a website - understanding what the demographic is used to seeing in their area of interest is essential to create an eye-catching design, as they will be more likely to pay more attention to it if it looks like other websites they regularly visit.
It's important to customise it to make it your own, whilst keeping a sense of familiarity!
In 2022 I redesigned it again with a fresher and more minimalist look, which had recently become trendy in the blogosphere, and customised it to change with the seasons and some festivities. On top of that, I made a mascot which can be seen throughout the blog, a snail, which again fits well with the sea theme and colour palette as a mollusk.
As such, I featured him on some gadgets used to navigate the site and the number of sections I regularly write about in my blog. This further improved the UX experience, through the consistent aesthetic found throughout my blog, and as a result, my branding.
All this effort put into the brand design and the UX experience contributed to more traffic in my latest entries and reaching an audience that immediately engaged positively with the new changes. It set the first impression, impacting how they interacted with the rest of my content.
