Back when I first began blogging, I didn’t have the clearest vision of what I wanted for my blog design. I just knew that I really loved reading blogs and wanted to have my own space to share inspiring content. I gave no thought to my audience (because I didn’t have one), and I definitely did not have an aesthetic for my design. My blog was simply my personal archive of pretty things. Well! Eventually, I began learning CSS and found I could customize the heck out of my blog if I wanted to. And let’s just say, I went absolutely crazy with it.
During my first year of blogging, I went overboard in my attempts to design a blog that represented my style. Each week (no joke), I had a different idea for my blog design. Looking back, I’m glad I experimented so much with the look and feel of my blog because that’s how I learned to code! However, obsessing over my blog design took my attention far away from what it should have been on – my content. It was also probably really distracting for my readers too. Since then, I’ve learned that it is important to just create a blog you love and leave the design alone while you focus on creating content and engaging with readers.
So, what’s the best way to create a consistent blog design that you’re happy with? Here are 5 helpful tips to make your blog design clean and cohesive.
1. Get advice from others
You don’t have to be a professional designer to design a blog. With all the premade templates and tutorials out there, anyone can do it. However, deciding on colors, fonts, and an overall vibe can take forever. If you’re indecisive in these areas, ask your friends (or bloggers/designers you admire) for their opinions. If you’re hoping to grow your blog into a business, it might even be worth it to hire someone for brand identity services.
2. Limit your fonts, colors, and graphics
Technically, the sky’s the limit when it comes to designing your blog. But I personally recommend sticking to 2 main fonts (maybe three, including your logo) and 3-4 colors. Adding too many graphics to your website can really slow things down, so keep that in mind as well.
3. Make your photos the same width as your content
This is a very simple but significant piece of advice I give to everyone who is working on their blog design. Aligning the photos and text of your posts is visually pleasing for your audience and will make your whole design look much more polished. Try it out!
4. Style your social pages with a similar aesthetic to your blog
Styling your images and graphics similarly across multiple platforms is a great because people will start to recognize your aesthetic! Have you ever seen a random image on Pinterest and immediately could tell which website it came from? That’s brand consistency at its finest. On TBM, we take different photos for each post and try to mix things up as much as possible, but we always keep our signature style in mind.
5. When you’re finished customizing, leave your blog design alone
At least for a while! I’ll admit that a month or two after we finished our big redesign, I was already thinking of what to do with our design next. But I’m really glad we left our blog design alone for the whole year! It gave us so much time to develop content, strategize, interact with you guys, and just have fun with our blog in general.
Honestly, this list could just go on and on. What else do you recommend for creating a consistent blog design? Are there any rules you swear by?
Audrey | Brunch at Audrey's says
Yes yes yes to #2! Also #3 was a piece of advice I heard very early on into blogging; it’s SO easy to do, but it makes your blog look SO much more professional! -Audrey | Brunch at Audrey’s
Maria Gabriela says
Hello! this post put a nail into my heart! in a good way, I am a new blogger, not even a month, I started with a very simple theme and… I am going all over the place trying to customize my blog to my personality! I am so glad that I came across this blog. For now I think I am in the right direction. My theme is simple. I think. I am learning very slowly somethings, not quite understanding the “how they work” .
Very useful information and advice. Thank you!
Jess says
Very helpful post! I struggle with changing fonts because I use a free theme and can’t seem to work out how to add in new font-families. Any tips you have on this would be great – maybe a future post topic? :)
donnajean says
I am trying out several different themes right now to see what works best and gets the best responses. Do you have any ideas about that? Am I all wrong? Looking for all the input I can get. Thanks…