Great design achieves one of two things:
You love it.
Or you don’t notice it at all.
Anything in between takes a lot of great content, reputation or recommendations for us to stay more than seven seconds.
Do you have all that?
Neutral empty design is always a safer bet than trying to make it big without knowing how.
With less visual distractions, you can still sell us your content.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I am a firm believer that the aesthetic design of a blog can and does add to the overall reader experience. But I am also a believer in keeping it very simple, easy to navigate, and above all, user friendly. When working on design, don’t design based solely on what YOU like, instead – think about what makes sense for your readers and how to highlight the most important part, the content.
There was an interesting speech today at TED global by the IDEO chief Tim Brown. You may want to look it up.
Good observation Carlos: when we don’t notice ‘design’, is it because it is ‘natural’ and therefore outstanding?
This is an interesting topic to bring up since I’m in the process of visually tweaking my blog. I agree with Matt’s opinion that as long as the user’s/reader’s experience is simple and not flooded with the digital equivalent of a confetti storm, the content can get through. Which, after all, is the point of having them come to your site in the first place.
Design on a blog is like the cover of a book. You shouldn’t judge it by the cover but often people do. I think if you keep it simple and clean readers will feel comfortable coming back to read the latest article.