And the new look is underway!
If you’ve visited the blog over the past few days, you’ve obviously seen there is a new look. This is something I’ve been working on, and I’m excited to see it starting to take form.
Remember, this will be a work in progress as I move forward. As I work on it, I’ll find things that need to be tweaked and such, but this is something I’ve wanted to do for a while.
So, let’s take a look at the new feel.
For the overall look, I wanted to have something clean, crisp, and easy to read. Though I debated hiring out to get a fully customized look, I also realized that was a massive investment for a personal blog — especially one that hasn’t been as active as I would like (I am slowly working to change that aspect). So I went looking for something that fit my feel and style, and could be customized by me.
As you look at things, this was the result of hours of research and visiting demo sites etc. I love the feel and look of things and am happy I went with this one. From the menu across the top, to the look of the fonts and everything else, it was something I kept going back to, so I knew it was the one. This theme was made by Coded Creative and they had a couple others I liked, but this one really fit was I was seeking.
That being said, I couldn’t launch up a new look with the same old, boring logo I had at the top. I wanted to do a sort of a “branding” package for the blog. That came down to — did I want to do this myself, or find somebody to aid in it. I feel I am pretty good with Photoshop and some other Adobe products, but I really wanted a lot of things — so I opted to search Fiverr to see who is out there and who had a style I felt would work for me.
I opted to use Chryste, who did an incredible job designing logos, secondary logos, and utilizing color schemes I was hoping for (blues/turquoise etc.), as well as finding a good feel with a small icon and logo. After a few revisions, she really came through with something awesome.
Take a close look at the logo — there’s a camera, of course. The Geocaching emblem is part of the logo, as is a baseball. I felt she nailed this one for me and I couldn’t be happier with it.
Have a peek at the “brand” sheet:
I really love how she did this. The look is great. The colors are set. This is something I really wanted.
I also reached out to another person on Fiverr, and hired them to do a new logo for the Photo Blogging Challenge (you can see that one on the previous post) and I hope to have something else with that. Also, I plan on getting a new logo for the 20 Days of Chill Challenge, though I have a few months before I have to worry about that.
In the end, it’s my hope that this little shakeup of the look will get me to want to do more with the blog. I have tons of ideas I want to do, I just need to push myself to want to write more in my down time. And I probably should start doing more with my photos as I tend to take them and never process them etc.
There are a couple of small things I want to work on when it comes to my blog, so there will be some tweaks. There are also changes, as you might notice, as there are no header photos and such. Currently, the whole post is also on the main page and I’m not sure if I like that or not. I’m going to give it a few days to see if it grows on me, but I’m also trying to figure out how to have a “read more” link in case I want to go that way. Either way, I know I need to have fewer stories out on the main page as I don’t want that to scroll and scroll and scroll.
Overall, I’m pretty stoked with it, though.
What do you all think of the look and feel and the new look? Let me know in the comments below!
Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!