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When visiting a blog for the first time, you get an instant and strong impression from the design and layout. Cluttered and confusing blog layouts can be an instant turn-off, while sleek and elegant designs immediately captivate the audience.
The 35 blog designs featured in this showcase engage visitors with a memorable layout, elegant design and good usability. They have no need to shout; they attract attention through sheer elegance and beauty. Through careful planning and judicious placement of elements, each of these layouts brings something unique and truly special to the Web.
Designers can take inspiration from these featured designs to create their own brand of magic.
You might also enjoy this previous article:
- 50 Beautiful Blog Designs, which lists other exemplary blog designs.
Elegant And Original Blog Designs
Istok Pavlovic
An elegant watercolor design with close attention to details. Notice the navigation menu, RSS button and headings in the sidebar. The footer is incredible, too!
Chris Guillebeau
The attention to detail in this blog design is incredible.
Hicks Design
This blog design features a stationary menu interface with scrollable content. The muted colors are set off with bold tangerine accents that pull the whole design together.
Ma.tt
Beautiful graphic design is the highlight of this blog design. Dream-like images fill the screen, while the simple navigation bar waits to take the reader on a journey inside.
Newtoyork.com
An original blog layout with white space and an unusual design for the comments area.
Ayakaito
Muted colors, reminiscent of days gone by, give this design a comfortable vintage feel. The beautiful graphic in the header and simple navigation in the sidebar below set this blog design apart.
Alpha Aesthetica
An elegant grid-based design with incredible typography.
Hugs for Monsters
The author's own artwork was used to create this stunning design. The layout is simple and tidy, yet a work of art at the same time. As an added bonus, humor is used to entertain readers as they enjoy the view.
Outlaw Design Blog
The bold use of color and heavy reliance of graphics work well together in this stunning blog design. The warmth of the color scheme and background create an inviting atmosphere.
Le Bloe
Shades of blue and gray with a splash of color make this blog design a work of art. The content is neatly presented and visually stunning.
Typographica
A celebration of typography awaits. Intelligent organization and simple navigation allow readers to immerse themselves in the simplicity of beautiful text.
Agami Creative
Watercolor at its best: a beautiful design in which each color is carefully chosen and skillfully used.
retinart
Grungy design with beautiful typography and unique distorted design elements.
Belvoir George
A visually impressive blog with awesome typography. This design makes perfect use of an appealing and striking background image.
Stephen Caver
This layout is an example of excellence in simplicity. The main navigation is the focus, and there are absolutely no distractions.
Amour Chaleur
Beautiful, original illustrations, and the one-column layout is creativity at its best.
Neural Net Effect
Very subtle design with an interesting structure, excellent use of imagery and nice typography. Simple, clean and elegant are the reasons this one is in this showcase.
Bert Timmermans
Clean and compact, this blog's design organizes content like a book. The navigation is housed in the bookmark-shaped tabs, which smoothly glide into view as the mouse rolls over them.
Good Little Wee Blog
Simple shapes and cartoonish graphics make this blog design memorable. Content is organized simply and logically, making navigation extremely easy.
Forgetfoo
Simple, clean, minimalistic and beautiful.
Web Science Man
Color and graphics dominate, but don't overwhelm, this design. Elegant navigation sits at the top for ease of use, making this blog design both fun and highly functional.
Talking of Design
One look at this blog design is enough to see that the designer is also an artist. The judicious use of animation draws interest without adding clutter.
Kris Colvin
This well-organized blog design has a slightly grunge feel. Interesting graphics in the header attract attention, and the content begins right away, leaving no room for boredom.
Lyrical Media
The easy navigation in this bold and simple blog design offers a quick snapshot of the content. Although usually difficult to pull off using an image this large and dominant in an elegant design, this layout seems to do it with ease.
The Design Superhero
Bold color combined with simple blocks of content displayed in a straightforward way are the highlights of this blog design. The content is neatly organized, with no clutter to distract readers.
Visual Nightmare
A unique blog design with grunge elements and a simple yet distinctive blog structure.
Kimberly Coles
A three-color blog theme, with hand-drawn design elements and a watercolor background.
Chengis.me
Bold, bright and beautiful, this blog design focuses on complete simplicity. Menus smoothly appear when the mouse rolls over the images, giving the visitor plenty of tasty choices.
David Torondel
A blog with a "traditional" two-column layout, many illustrations and a really cute design.
Escaping the Word Cage
Chain-link fencing has never been more beautiful. The unusual blend of hard and soft make this design unusually beautiful.
Fubiz
Color contrast and exceptional organization in this blog design gives visitors not only a visual treat but also easy navigation. Content is neatly displayed in concise blocks, making it simple for users to find their way around.
Bert Timmermans
Bold color and contrast and exceptionally good use of typography allow this blog design to work beautifully without images. It comes as no surprise that the author states in his bio that he loves both color and typography.
Blogless
Minimal design meets great typography and a one-column layout. The result is simple and elegant.
Bonus
Pixelpretation.com
The footer in this one is really hard to forget.
Northern Classics
… and so is this one.
Further Resources
- 45 Excellent Blog Designs
- 30 More Excellent Blog Designs
- 45 More Excellent Blog Designs
- Now More Than Ever: 50 More Excellent Blog Designs
About the Author
Gerri Elder is a freelance writer, Web developer and social media enthusiast. She can frequently be found on Digg and Twitter.
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© Gerri Elder for Smashing Magazine, 2009. | Permalink | 36 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Digg this | Stumble on StumbleUpon! | Tweet it! | Submit to Reddit | Forum Smashing Magazine
Post tags: blog, Design Showcase, designs
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