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.

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17 comments

  1. 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.

  2. i learn a lot from your blog.. i’m still learning on how to create an interesting blog to atract viewer. I’m planning to advertise my services.

    • Zack
    • May 15th, 2009 at 12:24 am
  3. Thanks for the suggestion,
    By
    WebZoneUS.com is a web design company present in Houston, TX, in Los Angeles, CA and New York, NY. We take pride in building some of the best web designs around.

  4. Can you design original blog headers with Elements or do you need something more powerful like Photoshop in order to make original graphics/

    • Meliss
    • July 31st, 2009 at 8:23 pm
  5. This is good information about header redesign with the visual effects

  6. Thanks for sharing valuable information about creating the good look
    designs

  7. yes the header plays a main role in blog designing , thanks for sharing and how the blog header should be designed so that it can get more visitors, thanks for sharing,

  8. guzel olmus elınıze salık

  9. The header with the splash behind he logo is what I find most attractive.
    It looks really unique and unseen.Good work there !

    • Bustor
    • October 13th, 2009 at 5:51 am
  10. Great Blog very useful to all webdesigners, I suggest all designer to share this blog

  11. Nice resources, Thanks

  12. yes the header plays a main role in blog designing , thanks for sharing and how the blog header should be designed so that it can get more visitors, thanks for sharing,

    • oyna
    • November 23rd, 2009 at 1:00 pm
  13. It looks really unique and unseen.Good work there !

  14. thanks for sharing such a nice information about header redesign..

  15. What you want to say…It looks really unique and unseen.Good work there !

  16. Good post, I want to learn more

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