A few people have asked questions about the new design of LeadingSmart.com. Why did you use black? Why is your blogroll not on the homepage? Who did your design? Why did you switch to WordPress? So I thought I would take a few minutes to explain my design philosophy and give some high-fives to three very deserving friends:
- I get bored easily. I had the same design for 999 posts and more than three years, so it was way past time to make a change.
- I like black. Ask my wife. Every time I get to vote on a color for just about anything, I pick black. Some of you LOVE the new colors, and some of you really don’t. Just be comforted by the fact it makes me smile.
- Many home pages are crammed with stuff. I moved everything I could off the front page on to the LINKS page. From there you will find BLOGS I read, CHURCHES I follow, BOOKS I recommend, PARTNERS I trust, ARCHIVES, and POPULAR POSTS.
- Rather than the normal “About Me” paragraph — I took some time to use pictures to tell the story of what is important to me.
- My SCHEDULE and BOOKS are only interesting to some people, so I also moved them off the home page. Those who are interested have one additional click.
- I switched from TypePad to WordPress for two primary reasons: 1) I no longer have a $149/annual fee, and 2) every designer I’ve talked to prefers WP over TP.
- I made room for site sponsors. For those of you who just groaned, I don’t blame you. Before you point a finger, though, check out my philosophy about sponsorships.
There were three primary players who made this happen…
- Dustin Maust took my thoughts and dreams and designed the home page.
- Daryl McMullen took the design and spent MANY hours making it work with a custom template in WordPress.
- Matt Metzger figured out all the hoops to jump to convert everything from Typepad to WordPress, including comments, links, RSS feeds, uploaded files and more.
I have no idea if these guys are taking on new work, but if you are interested in a new blog design–you should think about hiring them.
Design is subjective. So give me your subjective opinion–what do you like and what do you hate about the new LeadingSmart.com?
8 Comments
I actually love the entire design. I am a fan of black as well (hence my site colors). I love the simplified home page. And I think the move to WordPress was very smart! I love its versatility. Anyways, those guys did a great job!
i love it. figures dustin was the one who designed it. glad to see you back in the swing of it all, i appreciate the time you put into this stuff. have a good one.
I like your design. I haven't spent much time on your site, but have visited off and on. The black is not overpowering like some sites are. I like how it fades from dark gray to full black.
Moving links and other things off the front page is perfect! I hate when pages are so cluttered that you can't ifnd anything. That leaves the focus on the content – which is the point of having a blog in the first place!
Your web guys did a great job!
I love the new look. Big WP fan. Thanks for taking time to make this a great resource for so many people.
Love it! And I love black and yellow. Black is one of my favorite colors – hence my own blog design.
-Terrace Crawford
http://www.terracecrawford.com
http://www.twitter.com/terracecrawford
I love it! I'm in the process of moving to WordPress too… I just have a few things to perfect before I make the jump. I'm not sure I could have waited 3 years, but the old one worked for you. I knew when you sent out the header in a "twitpic," the new design was gonna be sweet.
Hey Tim,
Love the new look. My blog is on WordPress as well. I really do like it better than the other sites.
Look forward to continuing me trek to your blog on a regular basis.
Blessings,
Dave
Tim, this is great. My favorite reason you listed for any single change you made was, "I like black." Yeah baby. It's you're blog. You like black. How about a black blog? Good times.
Love you insights. Love you team. Love your church. Love your blog. I'd read it if it was red or yellow, black or white. I would read it with a fox. God bless brother!