Wandering Thoughts is where I let my mind stray, think and talk about non-routine things. This is an avenue for bookish personal stories, fun posts, musings and discussions.
Full disclosure: I stole this idea from Kiersten @ We Live and Breathe Books when I saw her post about the inspiration behind their new blog design linked up on Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight’s June recap. I think the post is so cute (because their blog has a sloth mascot) and cool (because Kiersten created the blog design herself), it made me wanna write about my own journey with my new-ish (it's actually been up a few weeks already) blog design. I also wanna share and provide links of the free apps and resources that I used, so basically this is also showing you how to blog revamp on a budget.
Full disclosure: I stole this idea from Kiersten @ We Live and Breathe Books when I saw her post about the inspiration behind their new blog design linked up on Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight’s June recap. I think the post is so cute (because their blog has a sloth mascot) and cool (because Kiersten created the blog design herself), it made me wanna write about my own journey with my new-ish (it's actually been up a few weeks already) blog design. I also wanna share and provide links of the free apps and resources that I used, so basically this is also showing you how to blog revamp on a budget.
BLOG HEADER:
If you've been here in the blog before, you probably know how I often lament on my faulty creative talents. So when I started re-designing my blog, the only vision that I have for its new look is the color. I had been using this shade of green since the very beginning so I decided to stick with it.
So here are my previous blog headers:
I liked this one but there were like 10 other blogs using the same Canva element on their headers. Plus there are no books on it. I've always wanted a blog header with books.
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Among all my blog headers, this is the cringiest. There's a graphic of an open book but it's easy to spot how disparate the elements are.
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Again with my attempt to have books on the blog header but the image is too light for my liking.
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I gave up and tried a "minimalist" look.
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To get to this, I searched first for the current trends in graphic design and settled on what I think I can do on my own with my meager art skills. The design I chose is called transparency, which is overlaying a transparent color on a grey-scale image. I tried it on different stock photos of a girl reading a book or a girl with books beside her but they did not work quite well as I imagined. I was being frustrated so I decided to just type "books" on Canva's search box and that's when I found this photo of a pile of books with a pair of eyeglasses on top. I tried to work on it and voila it became my new blog header. It was a happy accident, really. I finally settled on it even though it was not my original idea because I find the eyeglasses on top so striking. (Free photo and source used: Canva)
SOCIAL MEDIA ICONS:
Once I finished the header, my artistic mojo somehow flared up and I decided to tinker on some sidebar elements as well. First are my social media icons. They look pretty simple but it was actually very hard for me to do. I can't seem to find something that I can easily follow. After much scouring of the internet, I found this Youtube tutorial that finally helped me. (Free app and source used: Gimp, Freepik)
I have one of my favorite selfies as a sidebar profile photo before. I like this old photo (I took it maybe 4 years ago?) of myself because I have long braids and I am kinda doing a Girl with a Pearl Earring pose. But the background looks too noisy and cluttered so I thought of a way to cut myself out and found this Youtube tutorial on how to do a lowpoly portrait from the same source where I found how to do my social media icons. Here are the before and after images. (Free app used: Inkscape)
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BLOG FONTS:
I was trigger happy with different fonts before but I decided to limit on using three styles, moving forward. For my blog header and blog title images, I try to adhere with the basics of font pairing which is combining opposite fonts together: thick and thin, script and non-script. The thick font on my blog is called Oleo Script and the thin font is called Architect's Daughter. For my blog's body content, I used the font Lato. It all sounds easy changing the blog fonts but I actually have to google how to do these things and these things involve tinkering on HTML and gah, my eyes and brain start to hurt and feel tired just thinking about it. (Free source used: Google Fonts)
OTHERS:
I added a "support the blog" element on my sidebar because maybe there are people who like my content and feel the urge to support it and they can do so by using my Book Depository affiliate link or leaving me a tip on Ko-fi.
I also added a blog button because maybe big book blogs would like to endorse me to their readers. I didn't realize it was so easy to make. I just used this blog button builder from Code It Pretty. I'm working on putting up a roll of my bloggy idols next, so watch out for that!
THAT'S IT FOR NOW:
I still have a lot of things in my mind that I want to add or change as far as my blog design and looks are concerned but I have to stop my brain and bask on what I've done so far. I just went through lots of online searches and Youtube tutorials so now, I have to take a break. I put all the work and sweat and I just want to feel content and happy on how the overall look turned out. I don't have professional background to back up my opinion and I know it is completely biased to say, but I believe I did a decent job and MY BLOG IS PRETTY. I'm owning it! I feel mighty proud about how I did my own blog design! *sniffs then wipes proud snot and tears*
The Book Blogger Hop question for this week (July 20th - July 26th), which is submitted by Cathy @ What Cathy Read Next, is “What's your proudest blogging milestone or achievement?”
My answer: I am most proud with designing my own blog despite my cluelessness in artsy stuff.
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I'd love to hear from you!
Are you also the proud designer of your own blog? Tell me what's the thought process behind your design.
Were there other bloggy things that you did on your own OR started off by yourself, that you are really proud of? Tell me about them and let's all be proud of our blogs together!
