As I’ve complained about before, I have issues with artistic design. The more I think on it, the more I’m convinced that I must have been attacked by an art supply kit as a small child and been left mentally scarred toward anything artisitc. I remember taking an art class once in school. I remember singing country songs with another person in class… but I don’t recall actually doing any art. In spite of my lack of art classes, I can actually draw halfway decent pictures of people, eyes I’m particularly good at. Does this help me with web design art at all? Not in the least.
I’ve only very recently migrated this blog over here to this new location and am running it on WordPress. However… when it comes to thinking up what sort of design I want to do, I keep hitting mental blocks. The same happens with my personal site. Oddly enough, I don’t have this issue with other peoples sites. I can easily design for someone else, I even have marvelous little flashes of artistic flair that pop up when I do… but when it comes to my own sites I have a recurring problem with it. I’ve tried various techniques to change this, like trying to pretend that I’m designing for someone else. It doesn’t work, and I’m still not sure why.
Granted, for any really artsy and graphical sites, I’ve always sub-contracted an actual graphic artist to do the work. I guess I am just stubborn when it comes to my own website. Regardless, I am finding myself yet again trying to determine what sort of design I want to do. I have lots of things that I’m going to need to do to this new blog still, and coming up with alternate styles and more accessibility for the new blog is a priority. I’m still just not sure what I want.
I’m trying to come up with solutions and ideas for themes that would fit both Beyond Caffeine (this blog) and Website Style (my main website that feeds from my blog). A cross between something fun and lively (stylish?) and something elegant and cafe feeling. At the same time, I tend to prefer clean styles – though I am willing to try something different. Is there a way to blend the two smoothly… that is what I’m going to be figuring out. I plan to reboot them both with a new theme for the May Reboot, so I’ve got a while to hopefully come up with some ideas. Suggestions are definitely welcome.
Edit: Ironically, the morning after I posted this I came to a realization about the color scheme I wanted for this blog.
~Nicole
