So now you have  a blog with a great new theme, you even managed to change the header color to something you really like you are at a bit of a loss from there. Some graphic designers out there might try to kill me for writing this article but it has to be done. Not everyone has the budget for a professional graphic designer, not everyone even knows someone who is good with web design. But that doesn’t mean your content should suffer being ignored because of it.

Part 1 the Basics:

Color Choices:

When you start your blog or a redesign you might want to spend a couple of minutes considering what colors you would like to have included in the overall design of your site. Do you have a favorite color? how do you want your site perceived? Better men and women than I have spent years studying color and its affects on the human brain, but that doesn’t mean you need to. Bright active hues can make the site friendly, cool calm hues can make your site invoke a relaxed feel. With the CaffiNation I tried to pick colors that both relaxed, and gave a gentle reminder of coffee / tea with milk in it. Even though I prefer my beverages black the color of cup of coffee with cream in it is a subtle way of connecting to people via the design of the site. A cup of dark, rich black coffee is very hard to differentiate from black and is a bit too bold for how I wanted the site to appear. Read the rest of this entry »