Designing a Page That Compliments Your Content Pt.2 (Artwork)

Blogs are blogs. They all pretty much look the same except for two major differences - artwork and title. What we would like to do is match the artwork with the title. Let's say our blog is titled "Bonehead". A header or 'masthead' of a dog running in a field would be complimentary. A sports car would not. But whether your title is relevant to your content, your artwork should be relevant to your title if possible. The image and title are part of your brand, the image you want your readers to remember you by so they'll come back for more. Both, title and image should send a single messege to the reader at first glance.

That means professional quality artwork, It doesn't have to be professionally created, but it must be of high quality. Create it yourself if your good enough. Cropped photo work can do a good job for this but you'll need to know how to 'layer' text on top and make it look spectactular or leave the image untouched and create a text image to place above or below the image.

A sample to see: Auto Blogs

Again, I cannot stress enough the importance of title and image being relevant to each other.

Next post will be: Designing a Page That Compliments Your Content Pt.3 (Fonts and Colors)

Happy blogging.

__________

Kenneth R Sword Jr
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hi kenneth anand all,

this is the hardest part, i think, of creating a blog. it takes just a little planning and depending on your skill, a little time to set it all up so it is a neat, clean, inviting blog. you want your readers to feel welcome, and want to come back. there are sites to get free graphics and it is easy to learn how to crop and size a picture. you can play and have some fun. i can't wait for the next post because fonts and color can do so much for a blog.

nan

Hi Kenneth, Thanks for the great advice,will have to keep in mind next time I'm playing with my sites. Leanne Busby http://www.aussie-money-tree.biz http://www.aussie-money-tree.info Great Jokes http://community.adlandpro.com/forumShow.aspx?ForumID=6418 HOW TO....Add your program,biz or resources. http://community.adlandpro.com/forums/16256/ShowForum.aspx Tips for Building Your Business http://community.adlandpro.com/forums/14857/ShowForum.aspx

Hi Kenneth, While I generally agree with this advice to the effect that the graphics should match the subject and title of the blog, I don't think graphics are that important. If I were a photographer, artist, graphic designer, or had a blog about visual things, I think you are right that part of a professional design should include good graphics that are targeted to the subject. But for many of us, graphics are irrelevant. Most of my blogs have no graphics at all. I want them to load quickly and provide information that I think is valuable. Most of the topics about which I write don't relate to physical objects, so finding a graphic that would be appropriate is more trouble than it's worth. I'm not disagreeing with what you said so much as saying it doesn't apply to all blogs. All the best, JD

Hi JD, You make a valid point as to importance or not for graphics. The only graphic that really is important is an image people can associate with saying that is your blog. This would be your header image. It doesn't have to be an actual photo or pic. It can be something created in MSPaint as a simple color and your name in a certain font with a logo. All choice here but because the eye does absorb more info than we focus on a sub-conscious level images are placed in the brain more easily making a site with a header image easier to remember than without one. Kenneth