ask you can imagine, as a full-time blogger & wordpress designer i spend a lot of time surfing through different blogs. decor blogs, graphic design blogs, craft blogs, pretty blogs, not-so-pretty blogs… i’ve seen tons. some inspire me. some don’t. and some quickly show me the “don’ts” of blog design.
but lately, i’ve come across a bunch of lovely, minimalist (my favorite!) designs with small, lightly illustrated banners or logos. love this trend for several reasons:
- any emphasis on content over fancy layout is good.
- small banners load very quickly.
- it’s a great exercise in editing.
here are a few that have caught my eye!
adele at modernemotive has an eye for photography & eco-friendly paper goods. her minimalist layout & banner logo let her content take center stage.
i discovered the secret pocket this week during the blog it forward event. “se” comes after “sc” for scoutie girl! anyhow, she runs a fabulous blog and happens to live a couple hours northwest of me. love the simple, hand done graphic nature of her blog banner.
when i posted to twitter that i had noticed this tiny banner trend among bloggers, julie from up up creative let me know she had just redesigned to blog to simplify simplify simplify. and her banner was tiny too! i adore julie because she’s self-trained (woot!) and so so so good at what she does.
hey zee is a new one today i found in my comments at scoutie girl! so much personality in such a dainty little banner! and, as it happens, zee is a fabulous photographer!
here’s the last one! the sass blog banner is just perfect.
so – needless to say, i’m inspired! i set out to create this site using as much text as possible. but now i’m feeling like i want to create a beautiful little banner like these.
what do you think? the large text banner or a small image banner?
I’m Tara Gentile. I think big. I set lofty goals, execute ambitious projects, and get sizable returns. I'm not satisfied to stop at good-enough or moderately successful. I’m in the process of building a web empire. True tale. I can help you build yours too.
While I do love a simple little image header (mine is pretty simple, which I was conflicted about until I realized I just like it), I also think yours works well with your layout… tough call!
Mmmm! So much negative space. I love these examples. I am noticing a trend in the colour schemes…
In most cases, I’m attracted to graphics. But I find your over-sized text banner a refreshing change!
Mmmm hmmm – yes, less is more! They are all very nice! xoxo
white space… simple… I’m trying to follow ‘kiss’ this year… ‘keep it simple stupid’…
not sure if I’m succeeding…
yes, so sweet and simple. it’s always hard to focus, focus, focus with text and visuals
Your post reminded me of my new favorite website – gorgeous simple design and bright clean pics at whimsy and spice http://www.whimsyandspice.com/
LOVE. i made one for myself over the weekend. still working on beautify-ing my brand new baby blog, but i think it’s coming along! thanks for the great inspiration!
thanks tara! I just redid it, it was so ugly before, and I just digitally drew some doodles in my sketchbook, and made something real quick, and it stuck! I am loving the other ones too, simple with white space, it say so much about a person huh?
I love the minimalism and I think having an effective, minimalist design is a lot harder to execute than people think. What I also love about these are the handwritten or hand drawn inspiration behind the banners.
If you want to experiment with banners, go for it! I’m sure whatever you do will be quite lovely.
hi jen! yes, i should have said that too. each of these banners are such great simple doodles. my goal is to try my hand at this style this weekend… we’ll see what i come up with!
I waffle on my own blog and have changed my banner many times over the past 3+ years. I say try a new one for awhile! Just to mix it up. I love these minimalist banners. I am inspired myself.
yep! can’t go wrong with a new design or banner, jessica. i like to keep things fresh too
Hi Tara!
It’s so nice to see that you like my banner. I am still working on it. I thought to add a little butterfly on the right side but I shall see. I used to have a heavy and strong (colors and graphics) with my ex craft blog but today I prefer a minimalist layout and banner, because I am blogging photographs and I noticed that it goes well like that. I want to emphasize my photos so the layout for me is the least important, but it can look pretty as well. It was hard for me to go all white because I love colors! I am satisfied now, colors will be only on my images!
Oh let me tell you..I am enjoying your zine, I’ve dowloaded it and it’s well done. There are ideas that I really never thought about it!
Hi Tara,
I just stopped by this post via A Beautiful Ripple Effect.
Great choices, these are a breath of fresh air. When I browse, I usually gravitate toward simple designs with loads of whitespace (so these designs had me salivating), yet for some reason, when I designed my new blog I chose rich colours in jewel tones. The overall look is ‘bookish’ and some may say ‘elegant’, which suits my OpenBook theme, but doesn’t really suit me. I have been aching to change it from the minute I put it up.
Well, you know what they say about waiting for perfection…I decided to skip perfection and just launch already, otherwise I would have been in the planning phases for the next ten years. But, it’s time to reevaluate. I definitely like the smaller banners, although I’m not sure I can go that small myself.
Thanks for the inspiration to go back to the drawing board.
Tori @ OpenBook
Ps. Really enjoying your posts on blogging. I’ve added you to my bookmarks. Thanks!
hey tori!! thanks so much for your thoughtful comment.
i’m totally on board with your comment about perfection. there’s a web designer saying i’ve heard: launch early & launch often. waiting for perfection will only keep you waiting indefinitely! have an idea? a design? an inkling of something awesome? do it already!!
You bet I’m working on it now…it’s still on the drawing board. I’ll pop back in and leave a comment when it’s up.
Thanks for the encouragement