A publication of

INTRODUCTION

LIFESTYLE

30

Current Section Title BUSINESS

2 4 9 19

NONPROFIT

44 50
57
2

DESIGN

TECHNOLOGY

ENTERTAINMENT

CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION.
81% of U.S. online consumers trust information and advice from blogs. But how do you get people to be interested in your blog?
Weve mentioned before that your website homepage is like the front door to your business. The same goes for your blog. If youre not attracting people visually, how will you get them to trust what youre blogging? A common issue we see with blog design is finding a balance between visual design and effective content presentation. Blogs are chalk full of images, text and links that need to be shown off just right otherwise it just turns the reader away because they cant make heads or tails of whats going on.

Thats why weve put together a variety of well-designed blog homepages to get you on the right track to designing the perfect blog for your readers.

BUSINESS EXAMPLES.
SHARE COLLECTION

PANDODAILY.
An important aspect of a well-designed blog is a consistent color scheme and style. Pandodaily is using 3 different fonts that look great together when unified by the colors of the blog.

START UP QUOTE.
Start Up Quote does a great job at taking simple content and conveying it in an interesting and attractive manner. The black background makes the colorful, tiled quotes pop and draw visitors right to the meat and potatoes of the blog.

THE NEXT WEB.

The Next Web makes great use of a two column design. They use the left side bar to showcase both Popular and Latest articles while displaying their top stories on the right with a variety of thumbnails. The text heavy layout gives room to include more keywords for your search optimization.

VENTURE BEAT.
Never underestimate the power of image placement. When you first arrive on the VB website, you immediately notice the five main articles at the top of the page. The contrasting black, white, and red make the headlines stand out.

DESIGN EXAMPLES.
SHARE COLLECTION

ABDUZEEDO.
As a design blog, the use of thumbnails is key to keeping visitors satisfied and interested in the visual content. Youll also notice the sleek, unobtrusive, social icons in the top right corner. Everything about the blog screams sleek.

AWWWARDS.
Awwwards blog should be nothing less than amazing. And it is. You can see that the navigation, fonts, and links are all consistent in design and color. Evenly sized and spaced tiles makes it easy to scroll through large amount of content.

DESIGN MILK.
Aside from the creative logo, Design Milk uses a very simple layout to show off its blog posts. The sidebar to the right is perfect for showing off thumbnails that draw readers into new articles. The social icons in the top right are a pleasant addition to the overall look and feel of the site.

GOMEDIAZINE.
The blue and orange color scheme of Gomediazine work remarkably well with the light background and grey font. Other than the ad on the right, this website is very clean of clutter and still avoids looking bland.

HELLO BAR.
Everything from the background to the social media buttons spew character. Hello Bar did a fantastic job taking a simple layout and giving it a personality of its own.

LOOKS LIKE GOOD DESIGN.

For visual heavy content, a layout similar to this design blog provides readers with a convenient way to simply scroll through loads of posts. We have a dark background with bright links and light bordered tiles that make everything stand out.

MODERNERD.
You may not notice at first, but Modernerd has a subtle background design. This blog is an example of how less is more. We have text heavy posts, simple navigation buttons, and an even simpler logo. Minimalist blog designs are rare but greatly appreciated when done correctly.

WEBDESIGNER DEPOT.
The banner of Webdesigner Depot stands out with its bright colors and subtle details while working itself into the design of the entire blog. The color scheme, background and fonts are all consistent. This keeps the blog from looking like any basic WordPress or blogger template.

WE LOVE TYPOGRAPHY.
We love typography! The simple, yet visually striking layout of this typography focused blog gives readers the option of sorting posts based on color. You can also adjust the layout of the website by changing the arrangement of the grid.

ENTERTAINMENT EXAMPLES.
SHARE COLLECTION

19

500PX.
This is another two column blog that uses the sidebar as an effective way to showcase a variety of thumbnails. The stats, social links, and related article information on the right side of each post is perfect for keeping readers interested.

COOL HUNTING.
Cool Hunting has a slick navigation bar. These clean boxes with small font add to the overall look of the site. The top stories are also represented by three well sized thumbnails that draw the readers eyes.

GET ADDICTED TO.

Get Addicted To has a simple, yet creative logo that stands out among all the white space. The large slideshow and rows of small icons give the site a clean, clutter free layout.

GET THE FIVE.

This site has posts set up in groups of five. The individual slideshows use five dots in the top right corners to indicate slide positions and subtle arrows on the left and right to navigate through the 5 slides. The tags in the left sidebar give ample opportunity to include high ranking keywords.

I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER.

Were sure youve stumbled upon this website at one point or other. The design aspect that stands out is the simple set of social sharing icons at the top and to the right.

MASHABLE.
Mashable breaks its content into 3 noticeable sections on the homepage. The new posts are listed on the left in the smallest sized thumbnails, The Next Big Thing posts are displayed in the center column as medium-sized thumbnails, and the Whats Hot posts are shown to the right as large thumbnails.

PICTORY.
The black background showcases the featured articles in an aesthetically pleasing layout. Pictory uses white and yellow font to create much needed contrast and keeps the site from looking too dark.

THE BURNING HOUSE.

This blog feels a lot like an Instagram filter. The simple layout, small text, and rounded corners makes this site a pleasure to navigate.

THE OATMEAL.
Whether you enjoy the comics and jokes as much as we do doesn't matter. The design take away from this blog is the overall consistency of the website. Everything from the colors, fonts, navigation buttons, and thumbnails is in tune with the brand.

THE OPEN PHOTOBLOG.

It is very rare that a blog can pull off a dark theme. A design style that utilizes a color scheme on the dark side of the color spectrum has its problems. The issue with dark themes, is that font becomes harder to read against dark backgrounds and tends to strain the readers eyes. This, whoever, was done right.

LIFESTYLE EXAMPLES.
SHARE COLLECTION

30

ADVENTURE JOURNAL.
An attractive design feature of this blog are the articles displayed in the center column. Normally youd find the smaller thumbnails on either the right or left of a site, but hardly ever in the center. This makes it easier to spot and doesn't draw the reader too far from the main content.

APARTMENT THERAPY.
The left sidebar is designed to showcase a large number of categories and articles without over stretching the page vertically. No one likes to scroll to the bottom of a page just to see some related articles.

BRIT+CO.
First off, the color scheme is warm and welcoming. Second, the homepage is another great example of clean and clutter free. layout One thing that many blogs dont do enough of is including a profile image. For personal blogs, it bolds well to introduce yourself to your readers.

DELICIOUS DAYS.
Personally, I think it is difficult to avoid fonts like Helvetica, Tahoma, Calibri and the assortment of other new style fonts when the idea of Times New Roman brings you back to college term papers. Delicious Days finds a way to use a more formal style font by designing the layout to match.

DETECTIVE D DUBS.
The design of this particular blog plays more on the interactive side. The sidebar doubles as the navigation bar and has a simple and integrated Twitter feed. All of the articles are displayed on the homepage in evenly-sized tiles that flip to reveal titles and text when hovered over.

DOOCE.
Dooce makes great use of white space. The issue with many blogs is that the combination of images and text in close proximity to one another create a very cluttered and confusing experience for readers.

DWELL.
Dwell breaks its content into a few well-organized sections. The big space saver is the slideshow at the top of the page. Youll notice that there are eight articles compiled into that slideshow for readers to browse through.

ECOKI.
A textured background and angled header gives this blog a look and feel of its own. Although the particular layout doesnt differ from many others, the small details set it apart.

FOODILY.
Aside from the appetizing background image, Foodilys large search bar creates an amazingly convenient feature for readers.

JOHNNY CUPCAKES.
Weve talked about brand consistency before and Johnny Cupcakes knows a thing or two about that. The blogs simple color scheme and matching fonts creates a unified user experience from shop to blog.

SVBTLE.
In case you didnt notice, SVTBLE has a clean and sleek look. One great feature is the subtle navigation bar in the bottom left corner of the site. Its almost as if it were designed with subtlety in mind.

THE SATORIALIST.
The sidebar is simple and packed with well-organized content. Each section of the sidebar is evenly separated from one another while maintaining a consistent look throughout the site.

WE HEART.
Every inch of the site is filled with colorful and attractive content without appearing cluttered. We Heart uses a variety of tiles and even spacing to pull off this complete look. Even the social media links have been turned into tiles to fill in empty space!

NONPROFIT EXAMPLES.
SHARE COLLECTION

44

CHARITY: WATER.
The Charity: Water blog does a great job at presenting high quality images in a centered slideshow. The red tags give the blog flare while the subtle social icons keep it from being too distracting.

CURE.
Another great example of a textured background and textured design elements that give this blog a distinct personality.

GIRL SCOUTS.
The Girl Scouts take design elements from a three column layout and sprinkle it with a personal touch. The header graphics and wide range of colors make for a very pleasant reader experience.

SALVATION ARMY.
The clean navigation bar, large slideshow, and colorful social buttons draw the reader to the important elements of this blog. Posts are neatly positioned and easily accessible to visitors.

UNECO.
This simple and interactive blog layout offers users a friendly and visual experience. Readers can use the small arrows to the left and right to navigate through posts. The small navigation bar and clean sidebar dont distract from the main content.

TECHNOLOGY EXAMPLES.
SHARE COLLECTION

50

ENGADGET.
For the most part, Engadget has a very basic blog set up. The design aspect that sets it apart is its slightly more interactive top banner and the text heavy sidebar that makes headlines the main attraction and not the thumbnails. The layout design allows for longer headlines and links to improve SEO ranking.

GIZMODO.
Gizmodo, unlike many other tech blogs, is not much for scrolling. When you visit the site, youll notice that the homepage doesnt really scroll beyond the end of the sidebar. This is possible because the sidebar actually scrolls independently of the homepage which makes it easer for readers.

TECH CRUNCH.
You can always tell youre on Tech Crunch when you come across an article. This is because of their bright and sometimes obnoxious neon green text, icons, or logo. This isnt a horrible thing when done with restraint, and can set your site apart with a very simple design change.

THE VERGE.
The colors! The Verge utilizes transparent color overlays to spice up their thumbnails and make those headlines stand out like sore thumbs. The layout houses a large number of optimized links and headers to achieve better ranking in search engines.

TREE HUGGER.
Once again, bright and sometimes obnoxious colors can bold quite well for a blog if done right. Treehuggers neon green bars and white font sure pop on the page.

WIRED.
What most people forget to focus on when designing a blog or even a website, is the importance of their logo. This logo not only acts as your Were Open sign, but also seconds as a link to your homepage. People will always look for it when navigating back to the blog homepage. Just make sure its inviting!

CONCLUSION.
As you can see in these examples, every blog has its own character and personality. Remember to think about how your design will reflect that character and if your target readership is right for it. Ask yourself questions about your content such as: Is it text heavy or image heavy? Will these colors make it hard to read my articles? Can my readers see all the categories? Designing your blog is less about the graphics, colors, and text, and more about the layout of your content for the readers. Theres no point having a great looking blog if readers are having trouble getting to the actual content, the content they trust. With any design project, remember to do your research and have fun!
SHARE COLLECTION

LOOKING TO BOOST TRAFFIC TO YOUR BLOG?

Talk to a HubSpot expert about how

you can improve traffic to your blog.

Well walk you through a step-by-step assessment of your blog, and help

you optimize your strategy to drive

more traffic to it. REQUEST A FREE CONSULTATION