Creative Briefing Redesigned
Written by Verne on February 11th, 2008Having just passed the 8 month mark of this blog, I thought it was time to give everyone a fresh face to look at (the site’s, not mine). Since starting in July 2007, Creative Briefing has matured a great deal in its content and value offering, as well as in its traffic and readership. I myself have made a few leaps and bounds as well since venturing into the blogosphere so it was time to reflect all the growth that’s happened.
The free Lorem Ipsum theme has served me well for these last 8 months. I had picked it originally for its simplicity and cleanliness, which is an aspect that hasn’t changed in the new design. In fact, I’ve made the new look even simpler and even cleaner in order to bring the focus back to what’s most important - the content.
I’ve also been working non-stop with WordPress in the past 2 month or so and my agency and I have already pumped out a handful of WP-powered sites. Naturally, the custom theme route was the only one to take for the new design. I’m already writing a “the making of…” post to help introduce you all to some of the new features here, but for now, I’ll let you just breathe it all in. I hope like it!
Creative Briefing v1
Creative Briefing v2
Please leave your comments and suggestions on the new design! I’ll be tying up a few loose ends here and there throughout the week so it’ll certainly help to have a few extra pairs of eyes.
The Season for Change
Apparently I’m not the only one who’s been feeling the need for change these days. Check out the fresh new looks of CSS-Tricks and Wake Up Later too!
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This entry was posted on Monday, February 11th, 2008 at 1:25 am and is filed under blogging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Satish
February 11th, 2008 at 1:34 amI think it’s LEGENDARY! Awesome work (as expected), Verne.
Can’t wait for next Christmas… err, your next post.
Jeff Mackey
February 11th, 2008 at 9:52 amI enjoy your posts–keep ‘em coming. The new design is great, and very inspirational. I love simple and clean design.
Verne
February 11th, 2008 at 10:12 amThanks for the kind words Satish & Jeff!
I’ve outdone myself - 9 hours after launch I realized I forgot to load my analytics and stats tracker codes into the new theme. :|
Chris Coyier
February 11th, 2008 at 10:30 amVery nice! I think you did an outstanding job with a simple and clean design. I know for a fact simple isn’t as easy to create as it looks =)
Verne
February 11th, 2008 at 10:44 amThanks for passing by Chris! You’re right - simple layouts, if anything, are even more difficult since everything is just that much more visible!
Samuel Ryan
February 11th, 2008 at 2:19 pmI agree with all the above. I think that sometimes, blog designs trick viewers into thinking “fancy graphics = good design,” but I disagree. This is easily in my top ten and I love the classic serif-ness of it all.
Verne
February 11th, 2008 at 3:06 pmThanks Samuel, I’m happy to see you here! I’m a big fan of your redesign as well - it feels good to wake up later and fresher! ;)
Glad you noticed the Georgia, I was dying to toy with some serif and this just seemed like the perfect place to play. Classic is the new new!
Dev Basu
February 11th, 2008 at 5:01 pmGreat job on the redesign Verne! I’m a big fan of the custom RSS, clean cut design, and larger fonts — Dev
Garry
February 11th, 2008 at 10:00 pmLoving the big fonts. Typically I find they cramp the page but the layout is just proportionate to the font size. Together they really help brings the focus to what’s written. Nice job!
Jon Strocel
February 12th, 2008 at 1:10 amWell done, I’m also a big fan of the big fonts. Clean, the eye follows from the header to the content to the subscribe info very nicely. Great job.
Hanna Lee
February 12th, 2008 at 2:31 amI absolutely love it! Don’t get me wrong I loved the old design too, but the new clean, crisp, and even more simplified design really rejuvenates the site! ps. also loving the new font ;)
Verne
February 12th, 2008 at 3:31 amThanks everyone for all the positive feedback and all the big font love! I had to make sure my grandma could read my site… from 8 meters away. :P
It’s also great to see some familiar and some not-so-familiar names in the comments! Happy to have everyone here, even if it takes a massive site overhaul to make it happen. ;D
Nevin
February 12th, 2008 at 11:03 pmNow that you have your new layout, I can safely say I didn’t like the old one. It had 3 columns and all the content was squished to 1 column on the left side. Not a fan of that. This is much better. Lots of space for content on one side, and links on a smaller right-side panel.
Verne
February 12th, 2008 at 11:45 pmHaha, thanks Nev for the brutally honest expression. What matters is that you like this design (or do you? I guess I won’t know until I make a new one)!
Lakshmi Mareddy
February 17th, 2008 at 12:12 amVerne, this theme rocks. I actually like your clean look! Just when I thought 3-column sites are the rage, here you go 2-column :)
Florent
February 23rd, 2008 at 3:47 pmHello,
In fact, you work really well:)
Personally, I prefer the earlier version, which I have not known. And I admit that I dream of reaching create a Tag cloud under the title, but my level is very bad :)