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Tips for Creating a Great Theme Design
The realm of graphic design is a very subjective one. So much relies on personal preference and individual tastes that it’s often difficult to find a middle ground between two people.
You may be working with a designer or you may be working for a client – but you have to find a way to be on the same page, despite having different opinions of what looks best. The best way to avoid butting heads is to understand how to speak to each other.
For a graphic designer who generally knows more than an average client, here are some communication problems you may run into with the person you’re working for. Knowing is half the battle, so this may help you address issues better in the future.
What’s Wrong With This Picture?
Photos and images are great ways to enhance a design – but you have to choose the right ones. I often have clients who have a great photo they’d like to use in their banners. Sure, it’s a beautiful image, but is it practical for the website design or blog theme?
If an image is too busy, it won’t be useable as a banner. Fonts aren’t going to look good over something that isn’t solid. Your title or tagline competes with what’s behind the letters. It renders the readability to nearly nil.
When considering an image for a banner, look at ones that have large areas of clear space to allow for type. If you have a detailed picture of a field or forest, is there enough sky to allow clear readability of your title?
If not, maybe you can work around the problem by reducing or cropping the image to achieve a solid-colored portion of background to make your title stand out.
Also, examine the dimensions of your picture and the area where it’s destined to fit. Is the image vertical or horizontal?
If you have a gorgeous horizontal landscape image for a narrow vertical column or a tall waterfall photo for a banner spanning the page width, chances are that nothing will fit well. You could scale the image down, but then it loses impact.
Colors
Another problem I’ve seen is many people don’t pay close attention to color schemes. Not every image’s red or blue shades match the reds or blues of the scheme.
Not all is lost, though. Each color has a wider range of shades and tones than you might think. Some reds have a touch of blue or yellow. Some blues are more green or gray.
These are called warm and cool colors. Try to work within the same “temperature” of color. If you have a warm red color scheme, avoid choosing an image with cooler reds that might clash. Keep a browser page with the site displayed open while you surf for images to compare colors.
Fonts
Some fonts are purely decorative while others more readable. Within the font choice for readability, some fonts work better on screen and others work better on a printed page.
Fancy script is nice, and so is an Old English style of font, but in all caps, they look like some foreign language. Fonts like Times New Roman and other serif fonts always read better in print. Sans serif fonts like Arial, Verdana, or Helvetica work much better for screen reading.
One school of thought claims that you should never mix fonts. Yes, you can mix fonts within the same text, but keep them in the same basic family – serifs with serifs and sans serifs with sans serifs.
Fonts brand your site as much as images do. If you want to look professional, stay away from funky fonts like Comic Sans Serif or other script and handwritten font types for your content. Unless the font is in itself a design element of your banner, stick to conservative fonts.
Some other considerations for design are:
- Keep your background a light, solid color. Black is good if you have a gallery of graphics to show, but when it comes to reading, a dark background is hard on the eyes. If you must use a textured background, make sure the texture is subtle and doesn’t distract the eyes from your content.
- Stick to black text. Unless you want to highlight a headline or something else, don’t make your text look like a rainbow. One blog I noticed had fantastic content, but the owner chose a black background and used a different color of text for nearly every paragraph to stress points. I wanted to read more, but it hurt my eyes and I quickly lost interest in the blog.
- Down with clutter. Photos and images are nice in a design to help add spice to your page. As any chef will tell you, too much spice ruins a perfectly good dish. No one likes distraction from photos competing for attention or flashy images blinking or annoying animation popping onto the screen.
If you’re a client working with a designer, listen to the person. You hired your professional designer for a reason. You may know a bit of Photoshop or Dreamweaver, but you didn’t know enough to create a stunning design.
That’s okay. That’s why people specialize in different areas – to help you save time and money. Present your ideas, give your designer as much detail as you can, and have an open mind.
Finally, let go and trust your design is in capable hands.
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Great post Harry. It sums up why I went with a professional team, and trusted that they knew what they were doing…
So far I couldn’t be happier with the results. Stay tuned, world!
Brett Legree’s last blog post..subterranean self worth.
LOL Brett,
I got a kick in the bum from James this morning. It’s coming boys I promise! Give me Sunday and it will be there.
Oh, I better dash, got work to do.
Monika Mundell’s last blog post..Use The Pareto Principle To Sack Annoying Clients
Monika, I was working with Harry late last night and just did a bit more this morning… will have to wait to finish it up probably until tonight
I can’t wait to see what they have done for your site, what they have done for me is quite frankly incredible!
(thanks guys, you are the best)
Brett Legree’s last blog post..subterranean self worth.
I know NOTHING about design, but I think this information can also come in handy when I have to give powerpoint presentations. I had to see one presentation where the presenter used somewhat busy photos as backgrounds and the type was some weird reddish monstrosity @.@ I couldn’t see anything to save my soul.
Oh and just so you all know – I’m going to be out of town for a week, so I won’t get a chance to read posts. I’ll catch up when I’m back, though!
RLD: Taekwondo Happiness’s last blog post..Update
@RLD – I feel your pain. I’ve had to watch power points like that. Saw one about Ecoli that used a slughtered cow as a background image (behind red text).
@Harry – I am not a designer, but when I do my own I know not to expect perfection. When I hire, I don’t nitpick either. I’ve had enough people stand over my shoulders with their rulers in hand to know it ’s just not cool.
Amy – Write From Home’s last blog post..Want to Be a Freelance Blogger?
Hey Harry, about:
What about the image clutter on your sidebar? You have the ads (you’ve escaped Firefox’s AdBlock – bravo!) and the book recommendation list. It’s good that you have great writing, so I tend to ignore the sidebar.
Rudy’s last blog post..Driving Delays and Distractions
@Rudy: That to me is not clutter. Every blog has sidebars and if it’s organized properly, it’s fine. I’m talking about the websites where you don’t know where to look first. The ones with the pop up animated speakers in the corners, the bold and often brightly colored headlines, images that smack you in the face, and so on.
Our ads and recommendations stay in the sidebar, you won’t find AdSense in the middle of a post or see more ads over the banner. That, to me, is clutter.
@Brett: You’re well on your way, just waiting on the DNS gods now…
@Monika: James’ bark is worse than his bite
@RLD: Powerpoint….ugh.
@Amy: The best way to go is to just let people do what they’re best at.
So honestly…how good/bad is my new layout (it’s a slightly modified template – although there are a couple things I’m still gonna change).
Chad’s last blog post..13 Reasons Why You Should NOT Be A Freelance Writer
Great points Harry. Personally, I like the Verdana font the best for text.
I spend a little time on a forum where people help each other and critique other’s websites. Some of the designs I see out there just baffle me. Too busy, confusing, too simple, etc.
There are two kinds of “web developers” when it comes to designing a website. There are designers and coders.
Being that I’m into real estate, I equate the two like this:
- The coder is the contractor. They know how to technically build the house (the website) but they don’t necessarily know how to build something that will “sell.”
- The designer is the investor. They know what needs to be done to sell the house. They tell the coder/contractor this is where I want this and put that there.
John Hoff’s last blog post..Tips For Maximizing Your Potential
@ Harry: I’m wondering if I need to send the DNS gods a gift of beer or something…
we’ll get there soon!!!
@ RLD: if you are making up overheads for presentations check out Guy Kawasaki’s recommendations, he’s pretty good with that stuff – or watch a Steve Jobs keynote speech. In my opinion these guys are pretty good.
Brett Legree’s last blog post..subterranean self worth.
Time for one of Jamie’s famous drive-by-shooting consults…
@ Chad – I love your tagline on your banner. I’d love your banner, too, except the right-hand attraction going on with bright white and red is distracting. In fact, I don’t see the title of your blog until I’ve been on the site a few minutes. I’d make that smaller, and I’d chop off the price, too. No need to tell people what they’ll have to spend before you tell them why they need it
Nice ads on the side, clean, unobtrusive but present. What isn’t present is your feed info, so if you want more readers, you’ll need to make that more noticeable.
Nice navigation. Clear and simple, nothing needed more than that. I’d put a contact form plugin into that theme – most people are too lazy to pull up email (trust me).
The problem is that while I love a big-ass catchy picture, I don’t see any text to make me want to read further. The title sits on top and tells me there may be something, potentially, but if it’s not right there on my plate in front of me, why should I get up off my chair to go looking? (Again, people are lazy.)
Personally, I’d put latest comments where the popular posts are to show that you have an active comment section. It draws more comments. I’d put popular posts beneath that – always good to highlight your best. Ditch recent posts – if you have popular posts, you don’t need recent posts. Or vice versa. One has to go.
Alternatively, put popular posts lower down so that while people are reading, they have something to look at on the right.
Your comment option for your home page should be at the bottom of a post – By the time a reader is done and wants to leave a quick comment, he/she has to scroll back up to the top. That’s right… people are lazy.
I like the grey and subtle green shades of the theme. Easy on the eyes, nice and quiet. Overall, good job!
@ Brett and Monika – Your themes are both so different, it’s incomparable
Both very beautiful, though.
@ RLD – We’ll miss you. Will you bring me back a souvenir?
@ Amy – I hear you. I have yet to see a good Powerpoint presentation. I do not want to see one with dead cows, though…
@ Rudy – Advertising is part of our passive income. Cut it out, people get less traffic and we work harder to compensate for its lack. That doesn’t help anyone.
That said, we don’t accept Flash advertising (DAVE! What are you doing with FLASH ADS on our site!!!) and we’ve also done our best to keep it in a straight line drawing the eye downwards versus ad splatter that so many blogs suffer.
Feel free to let us know your suggestions to improve that section of our blog; we’re open to ideas.
@ Harry – I don’t bite. I run. Like a bastard
@ John – The coder builds the frame and puts up the gyproc. The designer transforms an empty building into a warm home worth living in.
@ Brett – It takes some time. Patience, man! Do you think Canadians are FAST or something? Sheesh! (Except me. I’m fast. I run like a bastard.)
@ James: I’ve been chatting a bit with Monika (hi Monika, here’s a flat white for you
) and I can’t wait to see what you guys have done for her (not that her site is bad now, mind you…) – I am sure it will be something to behold, just like the work you did for me.
Canadians? Fast? I’m pretty fast in my car… or when the coffee’s finished brewing. I type fast. You can probably run faster than I do (I run barefoot, though, so I have to watch out for stuff).
But I hear you… good thing we’re generally a patient lot.
Brett Legree’s last blog post..subterranean self worth.
Awesome feedback James…it’ll give me a lot to play around with today
Thanks!
Chad’s last blog post..13 Reasons Why You Should NOT Be A Freelance Writer
@ Chad – your last blog post is very good and motivating at the conclusion, I liked it very much.
Brett Legree’s last blog post..subterranean self worth.
James/Harry –
I’m probably shooting myself in the foot here, but what do you think of my design?
/shields up
Dave Navarro – Freelance Smackdown!’s last blog post..Freelance Smackdown – Did It Blend?
…The car window slid down silently. He could see the target easily from the driver’s seat. The tip of a sniper rifle eased through the window. One shoulder bunched slightly, hazel eyes narrowed behind dark shades, and he took aim…
The design of your blog appeals to me on sight because of the black glass effect. Very slick. The orange navigation bar matches well, but too much orange down the sidebar blends all the ads into one and the eye loses interest. Change the navigation bar color or change the ad colors.
The tagline is a good one, however, where it is currently detracts from the top banner title (again, black glass, very nice). I’d take that tagline and put that in the orange square on the banner where your name is.
I’d change the name of the blog, personally, as it means nothing to me as a visitor. Relevance is important, and people need to feel a connection from the start. They should know what you’re about or what the blog is about… something. Million dollar leverage sounds cool, but how does that relate to me as a visitor? What does that mean? What am I leveraging?
Focus, lad, focus. In fact, you have two types of focus going on – you as a productivity coach (hire Dave because he knows his sh*t, seriously) and you as a web worker. It’s okay to have two focuses, but they need separation somewhere.
Guide your visitors. Do you want them to buy? Read? Click an ad? Hire you? For what? What’s that blog about again?
I’d put the free downloads in your navigation instead of the RSS – people search for those RSS buttons, and I don’t see one at first glance. Also in the navigation, “freelance smackdown” lacks relevance as well. Always be clear, never clever. I’d narrow the navigation a touch – it’s wide and a little too bold.
The content is right there and perfectly visible. It gets me reading right away. As I mentioned before, the sidebar is too similar and blending in color, so it doesn’t attract me anymore – and that’s your passive income. It should be distinct and attractive.
Orange isn’t the best color for your ads because of the subconscious mental association with the color orange – hunger, food, and fire.
Aaah, there’s your RSS… way down below the fold. Tsk tsk…
I enjoy the links you put up. They’re well written, attractive and catchy. Nothing below the adds is overwhelming or loud, and I find myself drawn to what’s there. Good on that, because catching attention below the fold isn’t easy.
I’m sure that Guitar Playin’ Web Writer Interview gets a lot of clicks, too. Looks interesting.
…Only one bystander injured. It was a good hit. He drew the rifle back in and flicked his ashes out the window before closing it slowly. The tinted glass hid his face – and the wink behind his shades. One more drive-by-shooting consult accomplished, Houston.
Dave…your design, although a lot “darker” than most – is very catchy, unique, and captivating. The first time I saw it all I thought to myself was “coooooool”.
Chad’s last blog post..13 Reasons Why You Should NOT Be A Freelance Writer
Yeah, Dave has slick down to a T. You got that right
James – great points. You should sell these services! Well…just not with mine – I’ll give you a testimonial though
Chad’s last blog post..13 Reasons Why You Should NOT Be A Freelance Writer
LOL… We do sell these services. We offer formal blog consultation. But I’m thinking drive-bys might be more up people’s alley… consult sounds so formal.
The dark-haired man riding shotgun watched with mild amusement. He took the rifle from James, checked the chamber to make sure it was empty, and put the safety on before setting the rifle on the floor.
No kills today. Just a warning shot fired across the bow, so to speak. Reaching for his pack of smokes inside the leather jacket, he smirked and settled further into the seat.
Good job, bro. I think you’ve got something there with the drive-bys
Drive-bys are definitely more American (and Canadian)…McDonalds, Car Washes, and Blog Consultations…maybe you could joint venture!
The Great Canadian Blog Consultation: Tools for Your Success in 10 Minutes or Less…and We’ll Throw in a Free Coffee and Newspaper.
Chad’s last blog post..13 Reasons Why You Should NOT Be A Freelance Writer
Um, my coffee can hold up a spoon and power a jet plane… but I do like the Montreal Gazette – and it comes in English!
@ James & Harry, I like your style of drive-by, surgical precision rather than the messiness of a sawed-off shotgun… (hey, I lived in Hamilton for 10 years)
And James, we must be long-lost brothers, your coffee sounds quite like mine
Brett Legree’s last blog post..subterranean self worth.
@James –
His slack body hit the sidewalk almost as hard as the round had hit his temple just an instant before. Passerby gawked speechlessly, stopped in their tracks. The conversations that seemed important just a moment before lost their relevance as one stranger after another witnessed their own mortality reflecting up at them out of mute, glassy eyes and newly crimson pavement.
A clean hit, a water-cooler story for a week at most for those who saw it … but not for one man, who shuffled away from the frozen pedestrians, eager to clear his head. Over the next few days, many people would recount hearing different things in the victim’s final, hoarse whisper … ultimately meaningless things like “Rosebud,” “Jesus wept,” or “Freedom!” Inscrutable, meaningless, forgettable things, each of them.
But the shaken onlooker knew better. He tried to burn the image out of his mind, but for the rest of his life all he would see when he closed his eyes were the dying man’s lips whispering his final, haunting coda: “menwithpens.ca ….”
Thanks James. I’ll chew on how to improvify it next week
Dave
Dave Navarro – Freelance Smackdown!’s last blog post..Freelance Smackdown – Did It Blend?
@Dave: And the scene fades to black. Black with just a touch of red and orange, that is
I should show this post to my roommate… she wants to get into web design so I think this will help her a lot.
@ RLD – Ugh… powerpoints. I had to do a presentation for a class last week, and sit through 19 others… I’ll bet you college powerpoints are worse than anything you see in the business world! Yuck.
@ Chad – If James disagrees with me then ignore what I’m going to say (he’s much more of a designer than I am!) but I think your blog would look better if you make the line spacing a little bigger. It looks very packed and kind of busy to me, and makes it a little difficult to read, especially when you write a long post.
@ James/Harry – May I also request a drive-by?
Allison’s last blog post..Feisty Tuna Roll
@ Allison: If you don’t like what you’ve seen so far, don’t work where I work (well, I know you won’t end up here, but if for some reason you did…) – generally the presenters just put up slide after slide of 10 to 12 point font words, and read them.
So that works out to about 40 words on a slide. And if the average person can read 200 to 250 words per minute, they read it in about 10 seconds. Yet the speaker drones on for a minute or two on each slide.
I learned to speed read a long time ago… so at 800 to 900 words per minute, you can see that 40 words doesn’t last long for me.
Let’s just say I get to draft a lot of my writing, and do a lot of other thinking, in these presentations!
PS – the new recipe & blog post are great
Brett Legree’s last blog post..subterranean self worth.
It was a busy night. Hit after hit… But a job’s a job, and he loved what he did.
“Gimme that rifle,” an impatient open hand waggled its fingers at Harry. “Why’d you put it on the floor? You know better than that… Hey. Hey,” he nudged his partner with an elbow. “There she is.”
The woman looked innocent, oh yes. Sushi, they’d told him. James snorted. Sushi was just a cover for much more. No one could be that naïve. She hadn’t ended up as a job because of sushi.
“I need to stretch my legs,” Jamie mused. A fast hit. Bullet to the brain. “Screw the rifle.” He reached over to the glove compartment for the Glock he kept hidden inside. “Watch my back,” was his parting shot before the car door snicked shut behind him and long strides carried him closer to the girl.
Love the banner. The red is a pleasing color, the contrast of white text is easy to read, and the choice of a sans serif font and simple design adds to the overall instant appeal.
But you have no tagline or clip or something to tell people instantly what this blog is about. Sushi Day? Nice name… what does it mean? What will I get at this site? Restaurant reviews? Recipes? Productivity tips for my day through the art of sushi?
The search bar has no place in your banner. Remove that, put it somewhere else or lower down in the banner so as not to be obtrusive. Also, replace the in-field text “Sushi” with “Search recipes.” Never be clever. Be clear.
Where’s your RSS button? Low right, below the fold – and yet your subscribe by email is featured in the top right corner. Stick those two elements together where people can see them and get on your sushi wagon. I’m not sure what the list of buttons below your RSS means… I’d ditch those. Extra clutter and it actually encourages people to click away to see what they are.
You have 931 readers – um, girl? What’s that doing way down there? Put that up in that top right corner too. That’s worth showing off (and tempts other readers to subscribe. Follow the crowd mentality and all that.)
I’m confused by the Featured Recipe in the navigation bar. Is the recipe featured on the page I’m reading not good enough? What’s wrong with it? Am I supposed to go see the other recipe? If it’s featured, why isn’t it on display? Personally, I’d remove that link and put it somewhere else, perhaps on the right-hand side. Call it “This week’s featured recipe” or “this month’s featured recipe” for clarity.
The navigation seems clear – and yet not clear. What is Maki and Nigri? Will that bring me to recipes? An explanation? A history? First time comers to the site may not know what these terms mean (like me), so I’d add something onto those words. “Maki Recipes” or “All About Maki”.
Adding words also makes your navigation a little bit friendlier. It reads staccato because of the one-word selection. That may also be a preferential thing, but I’d rather see “Contact Us,” “Our Advice,” “About Sushi Day” and so on.
I think you should highlight your store in some way, especially if it makes money for you. A banner button on the right, maybe?
Hm. A last thought. If you put your navigation along the top, you gain space for other things. On the other hand, many people have navigation along the top, so being different is sometimes a good thing.
I’m nitpicking for your site, to be honest. It’s a nice site. It’s instantly appealing, easy to read and makes me want to look at fish food. And I don’t like sushi
She’d gone down hard. A struggle. And James didn’t like to hurt girls.
He shouted to Harry as he ran back to the car. “Drive! Drive, drive, drive!!” Harry scrambled over to take the wheel, and James threw himself in the passenger seat, hoping he hadn’t been spotted.
@ James: these drive-by site reviews are killing me… you could seriously do a weekly review like this, for a willing victim
(PS – site up, plug-ins seem to all be working – woo hoo!)
Brett Legree’s last blog post..subterranean self worth.
I’m up for that idea, Brett. Consider it official. Anyone who feels like jumping on the waiting list for a weekly drive-by-shooti-… uh, critique, feel free.
Awesome about the plugins. Unleash that baby to the world!
Cool! It could be a great way for all of us to learn something about theme design, as well as see some new blogs.
Will keep “plugging away” today…
should be ready soon
Brett Legree’s last blog post..subterranean self worth.
@ Brett – Oh my… that sounds just horrid! Of course, I probably wouldn’t end up there anyways (too cold for me!) but I’m sure we have our share of terrible presenters down here too! Your last post made me think! I have more to say, but I’ll say it over in your comments.
@ James – Thank you very much! Some of the changes have already happened, most should be done by the end of the week.
I agree with Brett – these are incredibly helpful – not just the one you did for my site, but also reading the ones for other people… many of the tips are universally applicable.
Allison’s last blog post..Feisty Tuna Roll
I’m in! I want a drive by! Go ahead, I can take it. You can even go after my content. I dare you!
In all seriousness, you guys will rock at this. I can’t wait, and definitely put me on the list. My new site (melissadonovan.com), s’il vous plait. Merci beacoup
Vous etes magnifique.
Melissa Donovan’s last blog post..Jeff Buckley: Grace
Damn, if I’d known people like fast and dirty that much, I would’ve started this sooner!
Melissa, you’re on. Now I just have to pick a day to make this a regular thing.
@ Allison – Many are, yes. We generally perceive websites in universal ways and the eyes scan in typical pathways or get distracted for typical reasons. I’m glad it helps and that it’s fun for everyone.
Cool, any day will do for me
Melissa Donovan’s last blog post..Jeff Buckley: Grace