I like to blog about design. The tricky thing about that is that it is hard to blog about design when you don’t feel great about the design of your blog. My “blog design complex” has been a big hurdle for me over the past year. It inhibits my blogging.
Blogging is a critical piece of the web design industry, sharing knowledge helps elevate the quality of work within our industry. I have learned a lot about design both by blogging and by reading other people’s blogs. The web community is in a bit of a lull, lately. We share information more frequently over twitter and dribble. And while I think both of those methods are great, they don’t replace the sharing of more in-depth ideas that require the longer format of a blog post.
There is no law that says that as a designer you have to design your own blog or that the design has to be an accurate reflection of your personality or capabilities. But, for my blog… it should be. And while this design was an amazing achievement when I launched it, it is so far out of date now, I have a hard time relating to it. It is a giant time capsule of where I was as a designer back in February of 2009, and while I am very proud of it for that, it is not me now.
While it shouldn’t impede my blogging, it has. I have no shortage of blog post ideas, there is so much to share in our industry. And man, do I want to hear about what others are doing, too! My design almost prevented me from posting this article but because I had a lot of encouragement, I managed to finally go forth with it… and hopefully people overlook the design when reading it. I have been hard at work on an entirely separate site on the subject (check out http://styletil.es) because I really would rather not send folks to my blog.
For the second year Chris Shiflett is organizing ”Ideas of March”, an effort to encourage the resurgence of blogging in the web community. Not only am I taking the pledge to blog more regularly, but I am also pledging to redesign and launch a new version of this blog before the end of the year. Hopefully sooner. In the meantime I will get over my distaste for my own narrow columns, image heavy navigation, and unresponsive design… I will blog!
If you’d like to participate, here’s how:
- Write a post called Ideas of March.
- Write about why you like blogs.
- If you don’t already blog regularly, pledge to blog more the rest of the month.
- Share your thoughts on Twitter with the #ideasofmarch hashtag.
I urge you to also take the pledge to blog more often and share awesomeness about web design!
5 Comments
I’d just like to say that I love your blog design, and I’ve been visiting this site for a long time.
I can appreciate that you may do things differently now if you were to do it again, and we all tire of something we look at so frequently, but I suspect it’s only you that notices.
I’m sure that most other people visiting your blog won’t see what you see, so please don’t let it put you off doing all of your badass awesomeness ;)
— March 15, 2012
Samantha, I just came across your Style Tiles website via this post and I LOVE it! Not only is the site design awesome, your concept of style tiles is great and something I am excited about implementing when kicking off projects with freelance clients. Thank you! :)
— March 16, 2012
I know you’re not seeking validation, but I like this blog. Totally get it though if it’s no longer feeling like you. I started blogging regularly but don’t do it as often as I’d like because I’m a new web designer and my inner critic makes me feel like I haven’t yet earned the right to blog and share my ideas. I found this site through styletile.es and have been finding those ideas really helpful. It is somewhat what I’ve been doing naturally with current clients, and it feels like a more grounded and collaborative way to work. Thanks for sharing your ideas!
— March 17, 2012
Like the other commenters, the design is fine. If you have things to say and the design is holding you back I say just go with no design.
Use the default html5 boilerplate or something as the only styles. Black text on white background.
— March 18, 2012
This is going to be redundant, but I agree with the others above me. The design is very appealing. However, I can also fully relate to wanting change. As designers, we learn new techniques, are inspired by others, or simply strive for perfection.
My only feedback is this: the text in your blog posts appears slightly too light for my eyes - no, I don’t wear glasses. :) Keep up the good work!
— June 7, 2012