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Advice on graphic design and logos and such (for my blog)

Started by Mr. Analytical, January 09, 2007, 06:20:39 PM

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Mr. Analytical

As people on here may know, I keep a blog.  I've had it for ages but as a result of actually updating it and writing stuff directly for it rather than for other websites, I've recently undergone a 10-fold increase in my readership going from 10 hits a day a month ago to over a 100 in the last few weeks.  So, I've decided to take another look at the aesthetics.

When I chose the colour scheme and got a mate to do the logo for me, I intended it to be a much more in your face place than it has wound up being.  At the time, I was writing very scathing and rude critiques of different shows but over time, I've found my natural critical voice which is... well... clear, structured, educated and analytical rather than foul-mouthed and ranty.

So I'm currently wondering whether a re-design might not be in order seeing as I'm reaching a larger audience.

So I was wondering if arty people could give me some advice...

- Is the colour scheme okay?  I like to think of my writing style as being clear and refined and to me, that's associated with the colour white.

- I'm also thinking of changing the logo to remove the text explaining what my blog is and the no longer relevant "see also..." thing, but I have no obvious ideas as to what should replace it.

- Are the side-bars overly cluttered?  I've tried to make them balance (putting the search thing opposite the picture) and unclutter them by putting denser widgets next to more spaceous ones but I can't help but feel as though it's a bit busy.

 So in essence, if anyone feels like critiquing the aesthetics of my blog go ahead as I could do with some ideas :-)

sproggy

QuoteThe self-styled most evil man in all of Christendom.


You could just shorten that to 'cock'


I also recommend brighter colours and some animation maybe, this might ward off involuntary narcolepsy.


Glad to be of help.

Marv Orange

Just some thoughts.

Just put a tagline under sf diplomat no ideas what it should read though. (SF Diplomat = Film, Music Literature reviews.


I'd put the search on the left side and the pic on the right.

Your site also doesn't resize for larger resolutions (dont matter though).

Loose the calender.

Ran it through http://webxact.watchfire.com/ you should do so and check out the report should give you some more pointers on how to improve it.(remember to switch off link checking in advanced options).

You've got no metadata, which i think is what search engines use to pick sites

Oh Yeah blogs are gay, website style is better IMHO. Look at one of the sites you write for Strange Horizons, uncluttered, catergories on the side, not saying you should copy it but just take some pointers from it.

Best thing you could do is go to website and blogs you like and steal, steal, steal.

What does the SF standfor?

Mr. Analytical

Thanks Marv,

 The SF is Science Fiction as originally, I reviewed nothing but SF and was very ranty.  the diplomat thing comes from that saying "diplomacy is the art of saying 'nice doggy' until you can find a rock".  It's not exactly fitting now but I don't want to go through a rebranding thing.

 Thanks for the watchfire link, I shall assimilate and look into what I can fiddle with.

 What do you mean by website style?  Do you mean a 2 column arrangement rather than 3?

wherearethespoons

This is just a cleverly disguised advert isn't it? Well, it worked, I had a butchers.

I wouldn't change it. It's the words that matter, right? I think you have the balance about right. The shade of grey and black compliment each other well (I've recently finished designing a site with those colours). The fonts work well too. Not difficult to read or anything. If I were to change anything, it would be the yellow headings and links.

Mr. Analytical

Thanks :-)

 Yeah, they do stick out a bit.  What colour would you suggest?


Marv - Thanks for the ides of dropping the calendar, I think it looks quite a bit better :-)  Oh and what do you mean by metadata?  Do you mean like technorati tags?

wherearethespoons

Quote from: "Mr. Analytical"Yeah, they do stick out a bit.  What colour would you suggest?

Bet then I suppose they are supposed to stick out aren't they? A subtle grey might work (#cccccc is a good one) but then it's too close to the white. Probably best to ignore me.

Marv Orange

Quote from: "Mr. Analytical"Thanks :-)

 Yeah, they do stick out a bit.  What colour would you suggest?


Marv - Thanks for the ides of dropping the calendar, I think it looks quite a bit better :-)  Oh and what do you mean by metadata?  Do you mean like technorati tags?

Just grabbed the first thing that explained it nicely. Hence the oz gov stuff

QuoteMetadata

If your organisation provides live theatre and you have a website, the words 'theatre' or 'acting' may never appear on your Web screens.

It may be obvious to the viewer of your screen that you are a live theatre group and a leader in its class - but this may be conveyed through images, video or sound rather than relying on text.

Even your program of performances and the forms users can fill out to buy or book tickets online may not describe what you do in words.

But that's where metadata can be an important tool in ensuring your website's success.
Metadata is data about data

Metadata, which is data about data, allows you to describe your website - largely for the benefit of search engines, as some of them index websites according to your metadata.

If your website is for a theatre company, your metadata might include terms such as 'theatre', 'theater' (for Americans), 'actor', 'stage', 'performance', 'Australian', 'cultural organisation', 'drama' or any other terms that best describe a theatre.

To optimise your position on search engines' results screens you also need to ensure your title tag is descriptive and that you use your keywords in the body of your document as well as in your metadata.
Metadata does not appear on screen, only in the source code

Metadata has a specific meaning when it refers to the HTML language of a website. It refers to the keywords which are used to describe that website, and which are defined within a particular part of the HTML code for the site called the 'metadata tag'.

You can view the source code for a site by selecting the appropriate menu item (such as View, Source) using your Web browser.

There are internationally recognised standards for metadata tags, such as the GDublin Core(1) and GW3C(2) standard.

If you are an Australian government department or agency you also need to be aware of and implement the GAustralian Government Locator Service (AGLS) Metadata Standard(3).

The keyword part of the metadata tag is used by some types of search engines to index a site and to rank it against search queries used by users of the search engines.
Metadata is used to index your website

Metadata for a site is sought out and stored in a database by a particular type of Internet robot called a metacrawler. Once stored in a database, metadata can be searched for with a search engine. Careful selection of the keywords which constitute your metadata makes it easier for someone to find your site using a search engine.

For example, the National Gallery of Australia uses this metatag set:

   META NAME="DESCRIPTION" CONTENT="Aboriginal Art, Australian Art, Asian Art, Official site of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, National Collection of Australian and Indigenous Art">

   META NAME="KEYWORDS" CONTENT="australia, art, Australian, Art, gallery, australian, national, art gallery, museum, aust, collection, aboriginal, indigenous, Oz art, oceania, antique, modern art, painting, sculpture, drawing, textiles, prints, nude, art education, schools, tours">

The GAustralia Council website(4) uses this set of metatags on its front screen:

   <META>

   <META>

   <META>

Creating metadata? Think like a user

It is important that you put a lot of thought into the metadata for your website. While theoretically you can use as many words as you like, realistically you should aim for a core of words - perhaps 10 to 15 - which effectively describe the content of your website and your organisation. Put the most important words first in the metadata tag. These words will then be indexed by the search engine robots which operate this way - note that not all of them do.

One of the best ways to decide on your metadata terms is to put yourself in the position of a user. If you were looking for your website, what terms would you type into a search engine? Ask colleagues and friends what they would search for.

You could also look at related sites as we have above and discover what metadata they used by viewing their HTML code.

Marv Orange

Re: Blog style

Well your site isn't really a blog is it. Its trying to be a review site. This is  the reason why I said loose the calendar as no one will know what date you reviewed a film on, what's more important is what film you have reviewed.

Here is the way I'd layout your site

Categories on the left, I'd also rationalise the number of categories you have as well. If you want to have different genre links then group them together at least. Then updates below.

Archives also on right.

Books I'm reading on the right. I don't know if you are using a template or web forms to put the information in but if you can change the Things.. headings to something more appropriate.For instance instead of Things I write for... put read my reviews here or what ever is appropiate.

Put all those yahoo, news links at the bottom or loose them.

Basic rule of thumb is most important data on the top or left to the least at the bottom or right.

By the way feel free to ignore any of this as its your site and should reflect whatever prefrences you like.

Take a look at these sites

http://www.themovieblog.com/

http://www.filmreviewblog.com/

both of these have a nice layout,

Best you thing you can do is play around with the layout and see what feels most nautral when you read it.

Mr. Analytical

Quote from: "wherearethespoons"
Bet then I suppose they are supposed to stick out aren't they? A subtle grey might work (#cccccc is a good one) but then it's too close to the white. Probably best to ignore me.

 No, you're right.  I look at the page and all I see is the yellowy beige of the links... I might try a blue. Hmmmm.

Mr. Analytical

Thanks again Marv.

I've followed your advice regarding widget organisation.  The chicklets are a bit of an eyesore and I will try without them and see how they affect my figures.  I certainly don't get hits from sites associated with most of them.  I think people nowadays just use the RSS capabilities of their browser.

I shall also give the categories a bit of a shake-up