Successful Blog

Here is a good place for a call to action.

Cat Wentworth, Designers who Blog & the Header

by

Cat Wentworth

Late on Friday, I got an email from the designer-publisher-superwoman, Cat Wentworth, who owns Designers who Blog. You may know her from the Successful Blog community. She’s commented here often with her insights. She pointed us to the Great Find article on C.R.A.P. design by Mike Rundle, and she stops by for Tuesday Open Mike Night whenever she has a chance.

Designers who Blog is a showcase for creative bloggers. Cat is great at making sure the world knows about talent in her own creative and wonderful way. In this particular email, Cat said she was going to feature Successful Blog in her showcase. How cool of a turnabout is that?

What happened next was too exciting. People who know how laid back I can be would have paid money to see how I reacted. I’m not kidding, really. My IT husband was laughing through the whole thing. [Read more…]

Great Find: Is Your Design C.R.A.P.?

by

This link comes from Cat Morley, of Designers who Blog. It was waiting when I got to my computer this morning. If you know Cat Morley and Mike Rundle, you’ll want to read this article as much as I did.

Great Find: How C.R.A.P. Is Your Design by MIke Rundle
Permalink: http://www.thinkvitamin.com/features/design/how-crap-is-your-site-design

Audience/Topic: Blog and Webiste Design Review
Content: I’ve had the pleasure of working with Mike Rundle. I worked with him when Succesful Blog was with 9rules. Mike designed the SOB badge. He’s considered one of the best designers in the blogworld. So when Mike writes about blog design. It’s worth checking, especially when the person who points out the article is Cat Morely, who is also highly recognized for her design skills.

Mike’s article explains a popular design approach and acronym, called C.R.A.P. coined by designer/author Robin Williams. C.R.A.P. stands for

Contrast + Repitition + Alignment + Proximity

In his article, Mike goes beyond explaining each concept. He provides screenshots and reviews the conceptual points in action — when they’re working and when they’re not. Think of this as a multi-page primer of design basics that you want beside you, when you start tweaking at your template. To read the article click on the title shot below.

How CRAP Is Your Design

Design can make reading your blog inviting, welcoming, and easy on the reader. It’s one more form of branding and blog promotion. Great design lets readers see that you have an interest in them and a stake in what you’re doing. The finest content means hardly anything, if no one can get past the design to read it.

Thanks Cat, for pointing us to this article, and thanks Mike, for taking the time to write it.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related articles
I’ll be adding this Great Find to the NEW BLOGGER PAGE.
Blog Design Checklist
5 Type Turn-Offs that Are Exit Only
Getting Customers to Stop by to See You
Blog Promotion: Checking Out Curb Appeal