Header redesigned with more visual interest
I spent last night working on the header design for this blog, because the one that was there before was from a theme I created and it lacked any sort of visual interest. It wasn’t uncommon for people to tell me it was boring so I decided to set some time out last night to redesign it before I roll out with the article on redesigning headers.
Planning and Designing stage
When I was working on the header, one of the tricky things to work on was the logo of the blog at the same time, because I initially didn’t have one. The blog was using my dreamworks redux wordpress theme so it didn’t really stand out and represented the brand or feeling I wanted the blog to evoke.
I used the traditional methods of creating a logo at first, which was writing down concepts that I wanted the logo to brand, then brainstorming what would represent those concepts, after that I drew sketches of the logo in different variations, and finally I worked in photoshop playing with different colors, sizes, textures, and variations. After about 4-6 hours of work, I just scratched it all and decided to start from the beginning again, because nothing was really working or speaking to me the way I wanted it to.
Redesigning stage
In the end, I decided to go with what you see on top now by trying to approach it at a different angle. One of the main goals I had for the header redesign was to make it more visually interesting. I solved that by adding more color and texture in the background. I also added a slight gradient on the background pattern to give it some more depth. One of my other goals I had was to utilize the conversation bubble above the navigation better. Through a few experimentation with different content, I decided to take interesting quotes from articles I wrote. It turned out to look great and would help pique people’s interest in the article I wrote.
The last piece was the logo, which I tried to experiment again with various variations in placement, size, images, and color. In the end, I decided to go with something very simple and light that I stumbled upon by experimenting with the fonts. I think it came out looking well.
Feel free to add any comments, questions, or insults.
I will be writing up an article on redesigning headers soon. Subscribe today and get updated when new articles are posted.
I did not have the chance to look at your blog’s old header but this simple and light header do give me the feel of learning some easy design tips here.
One improvement that you can make is to add in some glossy effects to give the logo a Web 2.0 appearance.
P/S: You have a good talent in graphic designing and a great domain for this niche. Good luck and I am sure that you will become a prominent blog in this niche.
Thanks for the suggestion, I tried making it slightly more interesting without being distracting. I will keep experimenting to find something that works though.