Over the past 12 hours, I redesigned the layout of my blog.
Taking note of Oliver Reichenstein’s tips for de-cluttering a busy website and Anita Campbell’s advice on maximizing RSS icons, I changed the blog layout from three columns to two, and either removed or replaced sidebar widgets.
What do you think? How intuitive are you to understand the iconic significance? Or, are you left-brained and these images are too abstract? (There are title tags that appear if you move your mouse over them.)
Add a comment below? Would you suggest any changes, keeping in mind my goal of forcing you to pause and click?
If you’re reading this in email or by RSS, may I ask you to kindly click here to AriWriter to add feedback in one place?
Thanks!
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Ari Herzog is an online media strategist and Newburyport City Councilor-Elect.
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Sorry Ari, but the honest feedback I have is that it looks like a Fischer-Price blog. You’ve taken a good idea (simplicity and large icons) too far in implementation, with the result being to make the blog look childish. On the bright side, you definitely won’t get complaints from anyone with visual disabilities.
Seriously man, make those right column icons like 1/2 the size they are.. they look kinda ridiculous.
You must have some sort of direct line to my deepest thoughts. It’s that or we share the same brain. Either way, I’ve been thinking of doing pretty much the same thing to my site for a while. I have three columns and I don’t like how the middle column looks squished, especially when I add photos. And I no longer care about some of the crap I thought was so important to have in the sidebar months ago. (Add this site to your Technorati favorites? Really? How many people who visit a site like mine have Technorati favorites?!)
Enough about me. I think the two columns here look great. Maybe the icons in the sidebar are a tad large? They do get attention, but they sort of remind me of elementary school, you know? I thought it might be nice to put some sort of text under them for the folks who don’t automatically know what they mean. But otherwise, I love the new look–and it seems to have been pretty simple for you to pull off. That gives me hope for myself!
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I agree with joevisitor: These huge icons do not do anything for me. I found them very irritating when I first saw them here yesterday and had no clue what they were, until I moved my mouse over and took a look at where they were leading me. Of course, if you think about it long enough, you’ll figure out what the BIG F is, or the ENVELOPE, but to sacrifice so much space for these images, instead of a couple of lines for a piece of text is simply absurd! But that thinking will take more than the 20 seconds that the visitor will stay on your website…
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I kinda dig the giant icons, it is certainly a new look. But honestly I first thought the RSS guy was sitting on the can!
I am a visual person so I like your icons, but perhaps make them a bit smaller. Particularly because you have to scroll all the way down to see your recent posts section, which might mean that folks are missing a chance to engage with your blog further.
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Looks like you’ve had some fun.
Have to agree w/ Michael…I did a double take on your RSS dude.
Also took me a minute to process the blog archives icon.
Though I’m no designer, I would agree with what seems the consensus here that making the icons a tad smaller would probably be a nice refinement.
As large as they are now, they draw my eyes away from the post that I clicked thru to read…and as a regular reader of your posts, they truly deserve the spotlight/priority over your icons. (In my humble opinion.)
Best,
Renee
Renee Lemley´s last blog post..Content Drain? Try Some Shower Power.
Hi Ari,
While I’m all for simplicity and iconic guides, I do agree with the majority of comments that mention the icons are too big. They kind of take your attention away from the blog/post itself, which wouldn’t have been your aim, I’m sure.
Nice clean look, though
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Definately like simplicity. It gives more focus to the actual content area. That being said, the icons on the right are bit big and distract a little.
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The people have spoken–and in force!
Thanks! I’ve saved a picture of the layout, and making tweaks…
I agree with some of the other comments. They are HUGE!!! Nice and simple, but a little too big. Plus I think you should have a few in a box in the upper right hand corner, accessible by view right when a user gets on the page. Making someone scroll down to view may hurt conversion rates because not everyone is going to scroll that far down.
The first time I viewed this it was on the screen of my G1 so I avoided the large icons and just read the post (per our conversation via Twitter) but now that I am here I’d say the icons look fantasic, but they are a bit overwhelming. Like you’re screaming FOLLOW MEEEEEEE. Which, don’t get me wrong, you’re a great person to follow, but very overwhelming and I did my best to stay away from that side of the screen on my mobile device.
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I agree, they are a little too big. My first thought was that they were something like the over sized icons you’d see on a child’s computer. Given the choice between them and two sidebars filled with 1000 buttons, badges, ads, associations, etc, I would take those any day.
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