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30 More Excellent Blog Designs
It’s not hard to design a weblog, but it’s getting harder when you try to achieve a unique weblog design. It doesn’t matter what weblog-engine you are using — frequently used themes tend to become boring over time, and they also don’t necessarily reflect the unique identity of the blogger.
To create an original design you need fresh ideas and creative design solutions. However, you don’t need to go too far with your design experiments. Basically that’s a close attention to finest details which makes a weblog stand out and gives it a fresh flavour and soft touch visitors can recognize immediately.
We’ve selected some more of them — over 30 excellent weblog designs with unusual design approaches; these blogs don’t only have a unique voice, but they also pay close attention to the finest design details.
- You might find not all of the designs listed below beautiful; but that’s not what it’s about. They are beautiful in their own way as they are both well-structured and originally designed.
- you can find further blog designs in the post 45 Excellent Blog Designs we’ve published before;
- you can find even more designs in our Design Showcase section.
Simplicity and Whitespace
Andreas Pihlström
Theocacao
Elitist Snob
Fiveruns — so simple yet so beautiful.
Blabolnik
TNTPixel
Rob Goodlatte
Gerrit van Aaken
Jared Christensen
PSDtuts
Verbalized — sometimes less is more. Close attention to small details is impressive.
Sam Brown – a truly modest design.
Weblogs Which Don’t Look Like Weblogs
Dan Rubin
The Adventures of Cindy Li
George Huff
grantmx designs – this one melts clever portfolio and blog
Blogsolid
Carsonified
Jrvelasco — quite noisy, but the noise fits to the subject of the weblog.
Simon Reynolds
Jonathan Durán
Nice And Original Blog Designs
Tobias Baeck
Chris Murphy — don’t forget to check the design of the archive section and the footer.
Anthony Casey
split da diz — interesting design: unusual approach for site structure.
Adrian Pintilie — the top section of the site is pretty colorful.
Cult Foo
She Unlimited
Tickerville
Amy Hoy
moddular — the design might look a little bit noisy, but it definitely has its personal style.
Victoria van Roosmalen — OK, this cat looks cool.
The Co-Founder of Smashing Magazine. Former writer, web designer, freelancer and webworker. Author of several books. Runs the business.
(No votes yet)
Loading ...- 103 Comments
- 1
- 2November 22nd, 2007 9:17 pm
There is some serious inspiration here… I have been considering a redesign myself and really want to now! Thanks!
- 3November 22nd, 2007 9:19 pm
TNTPixel would look a lot better without the big header picture imo. I still love the design *g*
- 4November 22nd, 2007 9:24 pm
It’s just awesome, I love Blogsolid and Cult Foo ! Very nice design.
- 5November 22nd, 2007 9:52 pm
There are some creative people here on this list.
I wonder how the people in Smashing Magazine surf the web to frequently find such high quality web sites designs to showcase.
Excellent.
- 6November 22nd, 2007 10:03 pm
Thanks Smashing, I can always rely on you for inspiration at times when I am lacking it.
- 7November 22nd, 2007 10:14 pm
Now,that’s what i call blog designs….
- 8November 22nd, 2007 10:26 pm
Very nice, I love them.
- 9November 22nd, 2007 10:48 pm
Thanks for this list. It’s a very good inspiration… :o)
- 10November 22nd, 2007 10:50 pm
The Dilbert blog. Are you kidding me?!?
- 11November 22nd, 2007 11:16 pm
Oh :-) congrats to my very friend Polo for Split Da Diz which is being mentionned in this post !
- 12November 22nd, 2007 11:19 pm
Some great blog designs. Most of them I already knew. The Cult Foo has a superb design. Bravo !
- 13November 22nd, 2007 11:30 pm
Some of the designs up there are quite innovative and creative. Thanks for the linkage.
- 14November 23rd, 2007 12:48 am
very cool blogs….i like how uniquely different but nicely done they all are :D
- 15
- 16November 23rd, 2007 2:01 am
Great post like always. Really great designs.
split da diz and cult foo were new to me. :D
- 17November 23rd, 2007 5:54 am
Thanks for the inspiration!
- 18November 23rd, 2007 7:21 am
Where is Bittbox?
- 19November 23rd, 2007 9:07 am
While i don’t think that praegnanz.de is the best amazingly well designed blog on earth i like how Gerrit works with whitespaces.
- 20November 23rd, 2007 10:32 am
wow nice collection :o
def great inspiration… - 21November 23rd, 2007 10:45 am
I dont want to be vain, but check this one out, new theme, fresh and professional:
http://andufo.comGreets from a concurrent reader.
- 22November 23rd, 2007 10:45 am
I especially love “verbalized” that’s a very simple + powerful design style, I love designing, I eat, breath and burp it every day (well maybe not burp) – see below
- 23November 23rd, 2007 11:07 am
I used to be a homeless rodeo clown but now I am a world class magician !
- 24November 23rd, 2007 11:20 am
I’m in love with Elitist Snob. Verbalized is cute, too ;)
- 25November 23rd, 2007 11:51 am
Top notch list! I like Cult Foo’s. Great inspiration, thanks again, as always.
- 26
- 27November 23rd, 2007 12:21 pm
A very rich and healthy article from SM after a long time. Loved it.
- 28November 23rd, 2007 12:31 pm
Some good inspiration, thanks!!
- 29November 22nd, 2007 10:20 pm
Thanks for yet another great post. My blog design is underway and I am designing it myself. I have been referring to your earlier posts on WP design and they came very handy for my new theme design.
Cheers!!
> Raj - 30November 23rd, 2007 4:20 pm
praegnanz.de … plz ;] try to be serious guys :)
- 31November 23rd, 2007 6:55 pm
LOL, u see everybody here say: i found another great design! XD
the praegnanz.de blog should stay there anyways it may not be the most pretty design of this list. But if u like clean clear styles, thats a really good blog design
- 32November 23rd, 2007 7:08 pm
Oh no I just realised that my own blog is UGLY!!!
- 33November 23rd, 2007 8:12 pm
Mine too…oh well, that’s why I came – for inspiration.
TNTPixel looks very two point oh!
- 34November 23rd, 2007 8:14 pm
I’m wondering how TNTPixel was chosen to this list.
Open: http://www.tntpixel.com/
Then open: http://www.alistapart.com/
Designer when design TNT must be looked to alistapart… shame - 35November 23rd, 2007 8:44 pm
I’ve been holding off on submitting my site to the css sites for a while, waiting for it to be fully finished… but saw this and thought why not. Take a look, http://www.peterroper.co.uk
Its not got all the finishing touches, but I’m really pleased with the javascript and composition
- 36November 23rd, 2007 9:13 pm
Very creative and beautiful blog designs.
- 37November 23rd, 2007 9:55 pm
The best part is that there is enough of design treasure(graphics, layouts, tutorials etc) in most of the blogs. Thank you smashing magazine.
- 38November 23rd, 2007 10:13 pm
Why is everyone so down on praegnanz.de? Have you actually been to the site?
It may not be the most graphically impressive but it is designed very well and is clean and easy to read and navigate. Isn’t that a part of good design? - 39November 23rd, 2007 10:24 pm
Another great compilation!
- 40November 23rd, 2007 10:30 pm
So the definition or “excellent” in terms of blog design is “shit loads of wasted space”.
- 41November 23rd, 2007 11:31 pm
All of them are great designs in my oppinion, but I love the cat of evilgrin! It is just… So clean and so funny jaja
- 42November 24th, 2007 12:15 am
ahhhh. a fresh wave of new designs…which one will I choose…
- 43November 24th, 2007 12:28 am
Nice blog Blogsolid
- 44November 24th, 2007 1:19 am
What do you think about mine? http://www.cristiangalletti.com
Wordpress based and widgets for the external columns. - 45November 24th, 2007 2:52 am
I think my blog has a better layout than moddular, for example… You give some nice examples, but some of them are just “ok”.
- 46November 24th, 2007 3:09 am
Nice list, why stop at 30?
- 47November 24th, 2007 4:36 am
most of these sites are found through cssremix or cssvault… while cultfoo has a nice header, I’d say its let down by its content. As much as the header is great, I dont feel inclined to read through the blog itself.
- 48November 24th, 2007 6:20 am
Meh, I guess it’s my personal taste, but I only like few of them.
- 49November 24th, 2007 9:40 am
Nice designs, but many of them have too large headers.
- 50November 24th, 2007 12:27 pm
You guys are simply reposting the same websites that you show in all the other round-ups. For example, the “praegnanz.de” blog was featured in your “45 Excellent Blog Designs” article as well.
- 51November 24th, 2007 6:13 pm
With my blog i try to do something simple, colorful and original: http://www.mariejulien.com
- 52November 24th, 2007 6:38 pm
@Water Buffalo: praegnanz.de is reposted by mistake. Sorry for inconvenience.
- 53November 24th, 2007 7:54 pm
Nice collection. Blog solid gets my vote for best designed one.
- 54November 24th, 2007 9:23 pm
Awesome designs! I might use one of these for my blog :)
- 55November 24th, 2007 9:37 pm
Great post and inspirational.
Cheers
- 56November 25th, 2007 8:09 am
its a good collection of blogs and reference site.
- 57November 25th, 2007 9:48 am
Hi Mr. Lennartz, I’m a PR student at the University of South Florida and we are studying the growing popularity of blogging. If I wanted to get an influential blogger’s attention such as you, how would I go about getting my issue out to the masses?
- 58November 25th, 2007 9:51 am
Nice list, but IMHO some of them shouldn’t be on the list :)
- 59November 25th, 2007 11:24 am
awesome list — some of them (eg CultFoo) I want to dive right in!
xx
Anita - 60November 25th, 2007 12:42 pm
Nice themes! what should i do if i want use it on my blog?
- 61November 24th, 2007 11:20 pm
Wow, great job again. Blogs like Elitist Snob or Grantmx Designs stand as testament to how far web-design has come since flashy, glittery GIF’s and annoying MS-Frontpage made ticker messages (oh, wait, I forgot about Myspace).
I hope someday, I too can get a few bucks under my belly and buy me a unique domain to do some freelance designing. Until then, I’m still stuck with blogger :(
- 62November 25th, 2007 7:01 pm
Nice collection!!!! could be some more web 2.0 ones though
- 63November 26th, 2007 5:47 am
praegnanz.de is really good; it’s obviously designed to be read (check out the attention to leading and margins, and the measure). Most of these are graphically superb, but that doesn’t make them great design.
- 64November 27th, 2007 12:41 am
Hi Igor,
Save for the navigation, which looks kind of similar I guess, I fail to see any other similarities.
I based my design of various newspaper clippings I have laying around in my house. That’s the look I was going for. Kind of like old newspaper sections. I think ALA is going for a similar “old print” kind of look, and in that regard, that particular headline style is a very very used formula in print. Go ahead, get some newspapers, you’ll see.
Unoriginal? mmm, perhaps. Plagiarism? NEVER.
You should inform yourself better before pointing your finger, Igor. Plagiarism is a very nasty thing, I don’t condone it, and I don’t do it.
I looked at your site, and I could assume you copied it from a MYRIAD of other sites that look identical to yours. But I understand that it’s obvious that you will run into many many similarities through some sites (especially when you are trying to mimic a particular style, like print).Plagiarism is by far the worst thing you can call a designer, but I assume you don’t know that since you are clearly not one yourself… shame.
- 65November 27th, 2007 6:13 am
I have nothing to say they are really excellent themes. I hope one day i can design myself.
- 66November 27th, 2007 7:24 am
really cool! but my website looks better
- 67November 28th, 2007 7:58 am
good job design.. i love most of all that design! awesome!
- 68November 28th, 2007 4:36 pm
a lot of good stuff!
- 69November 28th, 2007 6:08 pm
After seeing Blogsolid I want to hide my blog somewhere deep ;
- 70November 29th, 2007 12:55 am
Let’s say there was a writer who had an appreciation for design and an artistic inclination, but sucked technically…how would said person go about making his or her blog as cool looking as some of these? Hypothetically speaking of course.
- 71November 29th, 2007 1:23 am
Hi, love your information here. I am a blog newbie, and I write in Chinese. Is it OK to translate this post in Chinese and link to your page?
Thanks,
cellocoffee - 72November 28th, 2007 9:19 pm
Wow there are some great blog designs there. I love Elitist Snob and Cult foo
- 73November 29th, 2007 10:29 pm
Hey Casey, I’m the person who did Tickerville above and I’m happy for my client that it was included here. My suggestion to you is to pick up a book list CSS Mastery and open up your mind to thinking in terms of CSS. CSS wasn’t my forte when I begin that site, but I found the book to be crucial in turning designs into an actual site.
- 74November 29th, 2007 10:33 pm
My advice is to pick up a copy of CSS Mastery by Andy Budd and make it your new Bible. I barely knew CSS when I did Tickerville but that book helped me execute the design pretty faithfully. The biggest thing is having patience. With a lot of patience and reading the right books, you’ll be stunned with what you can do in a few weeks.
- 75November 30th, 2007 12:34 am
Sorry for the double post above guys, my mistake.
- 76November 30th, 2007 12:10 pm
really cool! but my website looks better
- 77December 1st, 2007 12:56 pm
wow, great designs!
- 78December 2nd, 2007 5:48 am
Hmmn, Jrvelasco blog looks similar to Dept. of Spanish & Portuguese of UC Berkeley site. Too similar.
Take a look and compare: http://spanish-portuguese.berkeley.edu/ - 79
- 80
- 81December 6th, 2007 9:16 am
well as always smashing magazine have great post. i would like to pass this one that i love the design as the post. http://www.edgarmanuel.com, see this one.
- 82December 8th, 2007 1:52 pm
Very nice designs! I need to revamp my own.
- 83December 13th, 2007 6:22 pm
I LOVE Jared Christensens blog!
- 84January 16th, 2008 12:25 pm
Check this one out Ten Thousand Things Clean and dark, very hard to find this days.
- 85
- 86February 20th, 2008 6:27 pm
very nice and thank the collection.
- 87February 21st, 2008 5:19 am
I’m integrating a Wordpress blog at this moment, into my existing website. Maybe I get some inspiration out of those designs. I like the layouts, but I prefer more simplistic ones.
- 88February 21st, 2008 6:49 am
I wish I could find the Jared Christensen design but I wasn’t able to.
- 89February 28th, 2008 4:03 pm
Good! I’d like to make as them.
- 90February 28th, 2008 5:51 pm
great looking blogs!
- 91April 1st, 2008 4:52 am
Great Post! I love it!
- 92April 2nd, 2008 7:36 pm
First of all I d’like to say. This blogs have lots of imfomation and thay all imfomation is very important for me. http://www.breastenlargementx.com
- 93April 15th, 2008 10:20 pm
Great design, i hope one day, mine will be in Smashing Magazine ! :) [ http://www.chewythascratchynutz.com ]
- 94April 21st, 2008 12:49 am
love 80% of those designs, the other 20% is totally commonplace
- 95May 30th, 2008 8:04 pm
loving wonderful design
- 96July 28th, 2008 11:57 pm
your article really gaves good knowledge for how to create a differ and good blog.
- 97September 6th, 2008 12:22 pm
brilliant themes, i am using one of them on my secondary blog. nice effort keep up the nice work.
- 98September 15th, 2008 4:44 pm
I like the TNT design the best – makes your site seem like its da BOMB! @_@
-Jack @ Utah SEO - 99
- 100November 9th, 2008 3:42 pm
I want to remake that “She Unlimited” template. I want to create something similar for my blog. Has anyone seen that blog design or one that can be easily modified? =(
- 101December 26th, 2008 10:57 pm
I really like the collation of 30 excellent blog design, excellent effort and inspiration for many. I would also draw attention to DilKholKeBol.com for its simple and userfriendly design. I am entice to find first microblogging portal launched in India and for Indians around the world, allowing trans roman alphabets to speak anything and everything that your heart desires!
I have been blogging at dilkholkebol.com for its popular hit, immediacy and high portability. For me and many of my fellow indian bloggers we find it as a communication utility platform and blogging has become social habit among us. - 102July 16th, 2009 6:27 am
We’ve gotten reader complaints whenever we use white or light print against a black background. So I would recommend against using any design that uses that type of color scheme.
- 103October 2nd, 2009 12:11 am
Great sources of inspiration as allways! I just can’t stop browsing through the examples and come back hungry for more :)
Great job!
- 00
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- @HrvojeKC yes, that's an interesting idea. Maybe when the waiting is over, we'll write a detailed post about it.
- @benbeltran thanks, Ben, your support means a lot to us.
- @dandenney thanks for the nice words, Dan - really appreciate it.
- @TheKheiron well, it's not entirely our fault. But we will certainly learn a lot from this horrible experience.
You call praegnanz.de an excellent blog design? *ggg* You must be kidding.