A New Design for Instigator Blog

January 7, 2008

I thought I’d start 2008 with something new … so after many months and a few delays in-between, I’m very happy to launch the latest design for Instigator Blog!

If you’re reading this via RSS — come check it out…

This is a completely new design from my old one. And for this go around, I brought in some heavy hitters. I came up with much of the original design, but then worked with Francis Wu and Nicolas Pin to get it done.

I really feel this design does a great job of raising the bar. It adds a serious element of sophistication and professionalism, but continues to maintain an edge. It’s certainly a softer, more subtle design than before, but it’s still the Instigator Blog after all.

In redesigning the blog I examined every single element of it. This wasn’t just a facelift, it was reconstructive surgery. I examined every nook & cranny, and made a number of fairly significant design and information architecture decisions. Of course, there are still a few details to iron out, which I’ll be doing in the coming days. And, I’m writing a much more detailed post explaining the process I went through in redesigning the blog, and that should be coming soon.

But for now, please come check it out and let me know what you think. Thanks!

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Comments
  • Looks good Ben -- look forward to hearing the how/why of it!
  • Looks great! Nice job.
  • Hey Ben, looks really good. We're going through some reconstructive surgery ourselves and hope to have it done around the end of the month. I feel your pain, man, it's tough doing a complete overhaul.

    You did an excellent job of choosing colors and setting a professional tone. That's not an easy thing to do, especially if you don't want to look like every other blog out there. I like the images breaking the banner, and I know when James sees it he's going to be all over it too. The additional information at the bottom of the page works well and I see more and more blogs going with that. It's a great way to get people to look at the *whole* page and not just stop halfway down.

    Congrats and may your new look bring you many more readers in '08!
  • Jon
    Hey Ben, awesome, I really like the color scheme, the header looks really nice and it's making good use of the footer. Good job! :)
  • Wow!Great design. Wishing you all the best for 2008.
  • JHS
    I like the new look. It's well laid-out, easily navigable and, using Firefox, I can enlarge the text to the point that it is easy for me to read. (That's very important if, like me, you have visual challenges.)

    I also launched a new look at Colloquium for the New Year! I heavily modified the Blogging Explosion theme. Check it out when you have a chance!
  • JHS
    Oops . . . I'm tired. That should have read Blogging "Experiment" theme.

    And now I must say "good-night." :-)
  • Much cleaner Ben! I'm impressed.

    Here's one thing I'd do, although perhaps it's already on your to-do list:

    Add a 'categories' section to the sidebar, just below 'most popular posts'. You have 'top categories' in the footer, but I think internal browsing would improve with them also shown up top.

    Again, great job.
  • Hey Ben,

    It looks fantastic. I love the way you seperated each post, very unique. Placement of the items at the bottom of the page is a good idea too. What are you going to fill the rest of the white space on the right with?

    Mich
  • I like it. Nice simple design.
    Nenad
  • Ben - it looks really nice! I love the fact that your photo and the RSS/email buttons are on an angle. The colors are very nice too.

    Great work!
  • Like the new look, but it is the content that keeps me reading. All the best for the new year!
  • I'm with what Harry said. Very nice. Simple, clean... don't like green much, but it works :)
  • So much better, much less 2004 than the old style! Nice move!
  • Clean, elegant, sophisticated, hip.

    Nicely done :-)
  • Mat
    Quite simply, it's a great design.

    Smooth on the eyes, easily navigable and facilitates information consumption. I love it.

    However, I'm going to depart from the pack (surprise) and slam the footer. I think it's redundant and clutter-y. Recent Posts is already in the 2nd column, you should move Recent Archives and Categories to that column as well for better use of the whitespace you have there. More people will see that stuff in the 2nd column anyway, as few people ever read down to the bottom of a blog (if this is reading habit you're trying to change, then I suggest it's a misguided attempt.) You've already provided a short bio at the top, why do we need a 'medium' length bio at the bottom? It's too much, IMHO. Axe the footer and the blog will be better for it.

    One small error in the header: Rolling over the RSS Icon and/or the Mail icon should link to those subscription links. Right now clicking on those icons brings the user back to the homepage.

    Final note: I'd get rid of MyBlogLog, as it junkies up the page (but I know you'll ignore this one... so go ahead and ignore) ;)

    Nice work Ben.
  • nice design, I love it!

    Like Char mentioned the top buttons w/ an angle are great

    but where are the lolcats?
  • This new theme has a "Home & Garden" appeal. For example, you could easily replace the gloves with fresh tomatoes and it wouldn't change the look and feel.

    While you may have grown tired of the old theme, blues and blacks communicate business. I think it would have been better to rework the theme while maintaining a business color pallet.
  • Mat
    in regards to MAC's point, where are the loruses for that matter?
  • Looks great.
    Congrats and Happy New Year.
  • Looks fantastic Ben! You guys have done a real good job. I love the earthy tones.
  • hi ben,
    it's great, i thnk it's much much better than the previous one
    i think it has also more personality than the previous one.
  • I want to thank everyone for their comments - the good, so-so and the bad.

    I've fixed a few bugs/quirks that people mentioned: thank you for catching those!

    The sidebars still need some work - as Mishka pointed out, they're quite bare right now. I won't overdo it, but I want to put some things in there, most probably, in part, related to Standout Jobs (like I had before).
  • Hi Ben....great job....you are one of the few bloggers I have not deleted. Great info and I always enjoy your writing style.

    I am going Cali bound this year, also, to avoid the harsh Colorado winters......Patti

    BTW....I found you on a link from Twitter
  • Looks great Ben! What a great way to start the new year off.
  • Rob
    I really like the new design. Not to cluttered like some. Nice one!
  • Not too bad of a design, but I feel more work could've been put into the "branding" element. There's not much in terms of a logo besides a bold font face.
  • @Terry: Thanks for the feedback. From a branding perspective, it's tough because Instigator Blog is a brand, somewhat, but really it's about "me" more than the blog name. So I've tried to balance that by keeping the signature boxing gloves (which were there on the previous design) but not come up with a specific logo.

    In the future though, that might be something I look at doing to evolve the Instigator Blog brand itself.
  • Hi Ben, it looks good, but I agree with Terry, it could have stronger branding. I'm not sure about the boxing gloves...
  • That "top categories" thing is ingenious (speaking as someone who spent three hours today with a UE expert trying to corral my own).

    I actually liked your old design, but this is calmer and probably places more emphasis on the content than the party, which is probably a good idea.

    Good luck with it! Please update us on how it's working for you.
  • Very nice clean and easy to use design. Good work.
  • Hi, looks much better.
  • Ben, nice look. Clean, professional yet warm. Good job..

    Cheers,
    Ellesse
  • A nice change Ben - clean, professional and yet still warm (all the things you were looking for).

    Can I make a suggestion??? H2 headings in the sidebar and the navigation in the top right really need a little bold action to help them be a little easier to identify when the eyes just scan over the page (they get lost amoug all the other style: normal fonts.
  • I'm a bit late here but it looks fab! :D
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