Question: Why doesn’t anyone’s blog look like their websites/assignments? I keep thinking ahead to our final project and I want to build a website that is closely tied to a blog to get some “web 2.0-ish” interaction going with my web content–a quick link to a discussion may be the vehicle to get there.
This vision suggests a similar design; maybe some shared .css code between a web page and a blog. If this is an appropriate vision, what are the implications?
James was thinking about design in his blog post, and I commented that we may set the bar unrealistically high for ourselves if we’re going to hand-craft original design for every new bit of information we post This will have an impact on volume!
I was thinking of two ways to go: 1) simple/common design (mostly black and white) and shared code between the website and blog, but nice colored paintings as headers to vary the view for the reader, or:
2) more elaborate colors/design with black/white photos as headers–there are a lot of great ones in American Memory!
I’m leaning towards #1, because the ideas behind my website and blog are going to be topical and cross many centuries. How can I tailor my design of each page for such a range??
I’ve started a test blog to test out design. I’ve been doing serious blog posts there, and would love to get some feedback on the look and feel….please let me know what you think!
Check out www.oncombat.net The top line menu takes you to the blog that’s paired with my website. I’m working to get each of the top line menu items and previous posts to have different header images. Karin: the naval art collection was great help!!
Bill
March 27, 2007 at 2:44 pm
I think simple is definitely the way to go. But then I work in a whiggish creative-less environment. Anything too extreme will get the shaft. Plus I don’t seem to have as much time to pour into all of this as others in the class. Hopefully simple and sweet can get the job done! I envision putting more attention into the images for my final project as I’m hoping it will be an online exhibit for the 100th anniversary of the Army’s intervention of Panama Canal construction. But I also forsee spending more total time on the XHTML and CSS because it’s still definitely new to me. I plan to definitely setup some kind of common code for our office to use in order to save time in the future. In that case, we’d most likely only have to add images, text, and then link the CSS.
April 2, 2007 at 11:10 am
Wow, Bill–I think this design is fascinating. I love the gradient-like use of color in your headline banner. And the simplicity really makes it usable. I do think you need a splash of color here and there–I think too much black and white feels like a newspaper and feels two-dimensional. I just read Robin Williams and John Tollett’s chapters on design, and it seems like you make good use of alignment and proximity. Interesting.
April 2, 2007 at 11:37 am
[...] contrast in several different ways, and I think subtle color is extremely helpful. My comments are here. I also think it’s an understanding of the time period from which we are working–really [...]