Instigator Blog - Latest Comments in A New Design for Instigator Blog

Re: A New Design for Instigator Blog

Malin — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 14:00:55 -0000

I'm a bit late here but it looks fab! :D

Re: A New Design for Instigator Blog

Leah Maclean — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 14:33:33 -0000

A nice change Ben - clean, professional and yet still warm (all the things you were looking for).

Can I make a suggestion??? H2 headings in the sidebar and the navigation in the top right really need a little bold action to help them be a little easier to identify when the eyes just scan over the page (they get lost amoug all the other style: normal fonts.

Re: A New Design for Instigator Blog

Goal Setting College — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 09:35:35 -0000

Ben, nice look. Clean, professional yet warm. Good job..

Cheers,
Ellesse

Re: A New Design for Instigator Blog

Candice — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 03:09:32 -0000

Hi, looks much better.

Re: A New Design for Instigator Blog

Justin Khoury — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 02:09:23 -0000

Very nice clean and easy to use design. Good work.

Re: A New Design for Instigator Blog

communicatrix — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 00:25:40 -0000

That "top categories" thing is ingenious (speaking as someone who spent three hours today with a UE expert trying to corral my own).

I actually liked your old design, but this is calmer and probably places more emphasis on the content than the party, which is probably a good idea.

Good luck with it! Please update us on how it's working for you.

Re: A New Design for Instigator Blog

@Stephen | Productivity in Con — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 16:56:59 -0000

Hi Ben, it looks good, but I agree with Terry, it could have stronger branding. I'm not sure about the boxing gloves...

Re: A New Design for Instigator Blog

Ben Yoskovitz — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 16:45:06 -0000

@Terry: Thanks for the feedback. From a branding perspective, it's tough because Instigator Blog is a brand, somewhat, but really it's about "me" more than the blog name. So I've tried to balance that by keeping the signature boxing gloves (which were there on the previous design) but not come up with a specific logo.

In the future though, that might be something I look at doing to evolve the Instigator Blog brand itself.

Re: A New Design for Instigator Blog

Terry Ng — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:20:41 -0000

Not too bad of a design, but I feel more work could've been put into the "branding" element. There's not much in terms of a logo besides a bold font face.

Re: A New Design for Instigator Blog

Rob — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 11:48:51 -0000

I really like the new design. Not to cluttered like some. Nice one!

Re: A New Design for Instigator Blog

David Finch — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 17:37:00 -0000

Looks great Ben! What a great way to start the new year off.

Re: A New Design for Instigator Blog

Patti-with-an-i — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 16:14:36 -0000

Hi Ben....great job....you are one of the few bloggers I have not deleted. Great info and I always enjoy your writing style.

I am going Cali bound this year, also, to avoid the harsh Colorado winters......Patti

BTW....I found you on a link from Twitter

Re: A New Design for Instigator Blog

Ben Yoskovitz — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 15:41:15 -0000

I want to thank everyone for their comments - the good, so-so and the bad.

I've fixed a few bugs/quirks that people mentioned: thank you for catching those!

The sidebars still need some work - as Mishka pointed out, they're quite bare right now. I won't overdo it, but I want to put some things in there, most probably, in part, related to Standout Jobs (like I had before).

Re: A New Design for Instigator Blog

Heri — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 12:24:12 -0000

hi ben,
it's great, i thnk it's much much better than the previous one
i think it has also more personality than the previous one.

Re: A New Design for Instigator Blog

Hamish Macpherson — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 11:59:27 -0000

Looks fantastic Ben! You guys have done a real good job. I love the earthy tones.

Re: A New Design for Instigator Blog

Alex — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 11:47:16 -0000

Looks great.
Congrats and Happy New Year.

Re: A New Design for Instigator Blog

Mat — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 10:26:17 -0000

in regards to MAC's point, where are the loruses for that matter?

Re: A New Design for Instigator Blog

Stanley Miller — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 09:57:13 -0000

This new theme has a "Home & Garden" appeal. For example, you could easily replace the gloves with fresh tomatoes and it wouldn't change the look and feel.

While you may have grown tired of the old theme, blues and blacks communicate business. I think it would have been better to rework the theme while maintaining a business color pallet.

Re: A New Design for Instigator Blog

macournoyer — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 09:35:28 -0000

nice design, I love it!

Like Char mentioned the top buttons w/ an angle are great

but where are the lolcats?

Re: A New Design for Instigator Blog

Mat — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 08:39:38 -0000

Quite simply, it's a great design.

Smooth on the eyes, easily navigable and facilitates information consumption. I love it.

However, I'm going to depart from the pack (surprise) and slam the footer. I think it's redundant and clutter-y. Recent Posts is already in the 2nd column, you should move Recent Archives and Categories to that column as well for better use of the whitespace you have there. More people will see that stuff in the 2nd column anyway, as few people ever read down to the bottom of a blog (if this is reading habit you're trying to change, then I suggest it's a misguided attempt.) You've already provided a short bio at the top, why do we need a 'medium' length bio at the bottom? It's too much, IMHO. Axe the footer and the blog will be better for it.

One small error in the header: Rolling over the RSS Icon and/or the Mail icon should link to those subscription links. Right now clicking on those icons brings the user back to the homepage.

Final note: I'd get rid of MyBlogLog, as it junkies up the page (but I know you'll ignore this one... so go ahead and ignore) ;)

Nice work Ben.

Re: A New Design for Instigator Blog

Thomas Clifford — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 08:10:03 -0000

Clean, elegant, sophisticated, hip.

Nicely done :-)

Re: A New Design for Instigator Blog

Peter — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 07:48:23 -0000

So much better, much less 2004 than the old style! Nice move!

Re: A New Design for Instigator Blog

James Chartrand - Web Content — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 07:25:53 -0000

I'm with what Harry said. Very nice. Simple, clean... don't like green much, but it works :)

Re: A New Design for Instigator Blog

Kate Carruthers — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 07:20:15 -0000

Like the new look, but it is the content that keeps me reading. All the best for the new year!

Re: A New Design for Instigator Blog

Char — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 07:12:07 -0000

Ben - it looks really nice! I love the fact that your photo and the RSS/email buttons are on an angle. The colors are very nice too.

Great work!