45 More Excellent Blog Designs
We, designers, are creative folks. And being creative, we permanently strive for inspiration — innovative approaches, crazy ideas, smashing concepts and, in general, unique designs which can help us to observe a given problem from a fresh perspective. This is why we always have some fancy design books laying around on our desk, and this is why we enjoy observing other people’s work — basically just because we can learn a hell of a lot from them.
There are things one can do a number of times without worrying about becoming boring. For instance, collecting and showcasing excellent blog designs. In this post we do it already the third time. Why? Web design lives in blogs; new developments appear there, that’s where the music plays. And that’s where you need to look for in order to keep up with current trends and developments.
This post presents 45 excellent blog designs with a perfect layout and unique personal note. We haven’t analyzed the content of the blogs; instead we focused on ideas, approaches, graphics and layouts.
If you miss some stunning blog designs in this showcase please let us know in the comments. However, it’s also possible that these designs have already been covered in one of our previous showcases:
Excellent Blog Designs
Pat Dryburgh
Pat Dryburgh has probably one of the largest RSS-buttons ever created.
Iso50
Magazine-style, very stylish, and pretty impressive.
Wilsonminer.com
A very thought-out design with attention to little details.
Design Sponge
Scrapbook-style.
Squawk
The “paper” theme in use.
Schneeballschlacht
Interesting not just because of two mascots, but because of a double-blog: two bloggers write together and against each other on both left and right sides of the navigation area. Interesting concept.
Papuasia
Black and white at its best. Notice how well icons communicate information, block formatting in use.
I Heart Luxe
A shopping magazine powered by WordPress.
Plavackuv Blabolnik
Whatever it means…
Bigsweater Design
Right. Big. Sweater. And the design. And this is how the result looks like.
Spreeblick
Magazine-style design based upon WordPress.
PushStandards
Soft colors, visually appealing layout and hand-written links at the top of the page.
Brian Jeremy
Loves colors…
Jamie Knight
Meet soft and cloudy design — that’s Jamie and his Teddy.
Clean, Simple Designs
theshaun.com
Seriously cool, elegant and simple.
Experimental Designs
TechGuyTales
Office notes, paper clips and wood background. Well, what do you expect? Sarcastic design fits to sarcastic blog entries.
Qwertcity
Vivid colors. Used together, they may be not that appealing, but they just can’t be not eye-catching.
Papel Continuo
Sometihng… completely different.
Kulturbanause
The background determines the layout. You defintely haven’t ever seen a blog layout like this.
Chris Contollini
An interesting integration of Google Maps into… well, a weblog!
Ovavaho
Focus on illustrations.
Peminoz
No fresh content, but interesting graphics.
Tim
February 20th, 2008 9:26 amAwesome list, thanks :-)
cemiotika
February 20th, 2008 9:38 amI love it!, great, really impressive work
Gerd Wippich
February 20th, 2008 9:39 amGreat list of weblogs – I wish my day had more than 24 hours to have a look at all of them…
Keith
February 20th, 2008 9:52 amEm am I the only one who sees that David Hellmann ripped off electric pulp???
http://electricpulp.com/
http://www.davidhellmann.com/
anthonybruno
February 20th, 2008 10:00 amYay for iso50 … Tycho is some good music
Jafar
February 20th, 2008 10:17 amVery Pretty Weblogs
Rolando Bouza
February 20th, 2008 10:17 amI liked erraticwisdom.com, but once you enter the site you discover that you cant read more than 4 lines with that fantastic font they use…
Crayon Guy
February 20th, 2008 10:22 amPlavackuv Blabolnik is in czech slang ;) and it means something like “Babbling of Plavacek” and Plavacek is name of author ;)
hackyilla
February 20th, 2008 10:26 amWhen I was searching for a plugin I’ve found a courious spanish blog that look’s great: Berriart
Those are so beautiful, thanks for a bit more inspration
Daniel Holter
February 20th, 2008 10:34 amI love Erratic Wisdom, and if you check out where he came from (in terms of his previous designs – in the archive) I think it’s pretty remarkable.
Looking forward to the day my site design is on par with these… I am, admittedly, an rank amateur (!!) and a big geeky fan of web design. Oh well, it’s fun… and super great to continually be inspired by the sites you guys feature. Thanks.
Shane
February 20th, 2008 10:37 am@Keith – yes, I see where you’re coming from.
Thanks SmashingMagazine – a great selection of inpiration!
agung
February 20th, 2008 10:38 amawesome……
pretty cool
Damian
February 20th, 2008 10:48 amSome really stella design work
Eren Emre
February 20th, 2008 10:52 amreally cool sites. thank you guys.
John
February 20th, 2008 11:10 amGreat list of blogs. I wish I could design my websites like that.
Joshua Read
February 20th, 2008 11:35 amThanks again guys, this is an amazing list.
Michael
February 20th, 2008 11:39 amI think this one Reinhold Weber would fit pretty well in the clean and simple category
Lukas Prudek
February 20th, 2008 11:54 amPlavacek is not author’s name but nickname. Author’s name is Miloslav Leseticky.
Joke Cricket
February 20th, 2008 11:57 amnice list
julien
February 20th, 2008 11:58 amvery nice selection as usual ..
thanks
Arne
February 20th, 2008 12:08 pmReally nice stuff! I think that one fits as well: Link.
Lipton
February 20th, 2008 12:22 pmI really like http://nitram-nunca.com/ and http://www.brianjeremy.com
Dark colored backgrounds have a nice comfortable feel to me
David
February 20th, 2008 12:47 pmI think you forgot to mention this site: http://timothysykes.com/
Raymond
February 20th, 2008 12:51 pmgreat examples. inspirational too.
Thame
February 20th, 2008 1:05 pmThanks for featuring my site (erraticwisdom)!
@Rolando Bouza:
Are you talking about the body font? It’s 12px Helvetica which is usually pretty easy to read. It renders oddly on PC’s, but I don’t think it comes with Windows by default.
@Daniel Holter:
Thanks again man!
The archives he’s talking about can be found here. Some of my earlier versions are pretty hideous, but I keep ‘em around so I can always remember how crappy of a designer I think I’ll be in a year.
johnny
February 20th, 2008 1:10 pmIn the name of the whole team, specially Franziska, our designer: Thanks very much!
Michael
February 20th, 2008 1:43 pmThanks for those wonderful examples. Amazing!
Pat
February 20th, 2008 1:47 pm“…Em am I the only one who sees that David Hellmann ripped off electric pulp???…”
That is exactly what I thought as soon as I saw it.
Darren
February 20th, 2008 2:11 pmExcellent list!
Mine didn’t make it? awww. jk!
Keep up the good work guys!
Chris
February 20th, 2008 2:25 pmcheck out this one. i think it has an interesting design, even if from my point of view they still have to do a little more work http://www.divercitycafe.ro
Jeriko
February 20th, 2008 3:07 pmThanks a lot for mentioning my site!
hunzonian
February 20th, 2008 3:08 pmawesome collection! Thank you indeed.
Sam Rayner
February 20th, 2008 3:15 pmI’m honoured to have my blog listed alongside such great sites, thanks very much. :)
Naveed
February 20th, 2008 3:20 pmnice collection…thanks for sharing :)
ruepel
February 20th, 2008 3:37 pmAm I the only one who is worried about the (color)noise of most of the pages? Some are so bad that i can hardly read them. And could someone please shoot down this electricpulp copiest? Man i hate it when people just copy!
nevertheless, although i can find flaws with nearly every design, i do like the list because there are some fine examples on it.
andrej
February 20th, 2008 3:58 pmVery very nice blog designs. My favourite is the Qwertcity.
JONxBLAZE
February 20th, 2008 4:19 pmI love these designs, the creativity behind them is just phenomenal! Kudos to the designers and thanks for posting this.
Joe
February 20th, 2008 5:01 pmYou left out one! http://www.FireBettman.com
Great site!
Tom Ross
February 20th, 2008 5:19 pmThanks so much for featuring my blog’s design (PushStandards.com), I’m honored! I’ll just go link back to you now :)
Shaun
February 20th, 2008 5:27 pmTotally awesome guys, thanks for posting my blog :)
And keep up with the AWESOME site you guys have!!!
Rafael Hernandez
February 20th, 2008 7:33 pmI think http://project47.viscountbox.com has an excellent design too!
Digital Revolutions
February 20th, 2008 8:35 pmBravo! A rather impressive list of some quite “smashing” designs. :D
Brandon Muth
February 20th, 2008 8:40 pmA kind “thank you” for your generous inclusion. Best regards, B
Entombor2
February 20th, 2008 8:58 pmhttp://www.kongregate.com/?referrer=entombor2
Hairie
February 20th, 2008 9:28 pmgreat selection as usual..
*inspiration….
Tobi
February 20th, 2008 11:44 pmHi there,
thanks for this compilation, but you forgot my layout. Its much prettier than some of the above mentioned, so please correct this :-)
Best Regards from Berlin
Tobi
antiheroe
February 21st, 2008 12:31 amNice post, like always :)
Aronil
February 21st, 2008 12:47 amFantastic list as always ^_^ any update for beautiful free blog designs?
Mike
February 21st, 2008 12:58 amand where is the rip?
they looks like electricpulp but at last, is see two different sides. and any have made a good job.
i think the mainproblem is, the colors are similar but brown and beige is a good combo…
i see no problem there, sorry
Neil
February 21st, 2008 1:32 amCheck this out
sirehdancengkeh.com change the rotating image function for random quotes, cool.
Jan
February 21st, 2008 1:36 amNice bloglist. However (not to sound too critical), how about a list of something other than portfolios/blogs/personal sites? I’d like to see some examples of more conservative, elegant corporate sites – small businesses, realtors, travel agents, hotels, that kinda thing. Blogs are a dime a dozen, its just so rare (and I guess harder) to make a good list of business sites, which after all, are the bread and butter of any web designer.
As much as I love grunge ink splashes and tattered frames, or glowing light tentacles, your Joe Schmo realtor rarely goes for the outrageous, and Id like to see what fresh ideas other designers come up with when they are somewhat limited in their creativity.
imaginepaolo
February 21st, 2008 2:23 amBig list,
where is my web Design blog?
AlainDelein
February 21st, 2008 3:09 amWhat is an excellent? OMG! These are shit.
karramarro
February 21st, 2008 3:38 amGreat list.
And thanks for linking Papel Continuo.
superxtian
February 21st, 2008 5:06 amGreat bloglist, thumbs up!
DarkGrave
February 21st, 2008 5:23 amPretty nice list!
Bali Web Designer
February 21st, 2008 6:38 aminteresting list, but you must include webdesignerwall and ndesign studio also bittbox, i think they are qualified to be listed here.
Creativepayne
February 21st, 2008 9:08 amThis is a nice list just for website design alone.
I’ve also been listening to the Rissington Pod cast for a while now and have been really enjoying it. I know it’s not visual, but the “best podcasts” relating to design and development would be a really cool list.
Pat Dryburgh
February 21st, 2008 1:16 pmWow… thank you so much! It’s an honour to be mentioned on here.
Just so everyone’s aware… I’m working diligently to get my site back online… I wasn’t expecting nearly this many people coming to my site in the last little while…
I’ll let you know when it’s back online.
Pat
Pat Dryburgh
February 21st, 2008 1:30 pmThe site is back up!
I love my web host :)
Pat
Pernan
February 21st, 2008 1:56 pmVery very nice all of them. Thanks for sucha good job. Papel continuo is the best for me! papelcontinuo.net
Brody
February 21st, 2008 8:42 pmGreat list of sites, guys. I read updates through my feed, but this is actually the first time I’ve commented here. Like others before have said, thanks for including us in your list and keep up the fantastic work.
Igor Jovic
February 22nd, 2008 1:08 amVery nice list!
Mista.k
February 22nd, 2008 1:39 amStrange list. Some are beautifulls, others like Sam Rayner, ttthings.com, Jamie Knight, Wesh or Kulturbanause are not interesting : just basic templates :(
I like this ones
http://www.monsieur-alex.com/club-club/
and
http://splitdadiz.com/
Sergio
February 22nd, 2008 6:33 amHope you like mine. Ciao!
AndyGM1
February 22nd, 2008 6:39 amGreat list, how about this one for simple?
http://www.darrenalawi.com
itsameyer
February 22nd, 2008 11:04 amRipped off? Inspired by perhaps, the colorscheme is similar and the blog is divided up in a similiar layout. But the overall creative concepts of theese sites are quite diferent.
Hamed
February 22nd, 2008 12:20 pmVery very nice ! thanks
Edwin
February 22nd, 2008 2:36 pmGreat collection!
Robert Marbun
February 22nd, 2008 11:47 pmvery interesting list.
Alika Tanaka Yarnell
February 23rd, 2008 4:46 pmNice work. I’m proud to be part of your collection. Thank you so much!
http://www.QwertCity.com
Mike Lopez
February 24th, 2008 6:01 amNice collection, nice designs! I wish I had their artistic skills. :)
Genc Haritaci
February 24th, 2008 12:04 pmcool list. thanks
kashif ahmed
February 25th, 2008 12:21 amvery fantastic,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,i m a regular vistor of ,the SMASHING.COM
THNKS TO ALL THE TEAM….AND PRAY FOR HAPPINESS .
OK
Leif Langsdorf
February 25th, 2008 2:42 amThanks a lot for featuring our site http://www.schneeballschl8.de
Keep the good work!
See’ya
Leif
ahnShev
February 25th, 2008 3:27 amwow, inspiring collection.
Bret bobby
February 25th, 2008 12:33 pmI can see your hard work in that great list.Keep it up.
Your lists are inspiring me
Jermayn Parker
February 25th, 2008 6:08 pmEnjoyed that list!
Thanks
Jon Aizlewood
February 26th, 2008 4:33 amThanks for the list Smashing! Great for inspiration.
…and here’s my requisite & shameless plug for my frehsly-hatched redesign: CarbonGraffiti.
Cheers!
David
February 26th, 2008 8:45 amthx for add my site…
thx for delete my site…
but really good pages!
Marlyse Comte
February 26th, 2008 11:05 pmgreat collection!
Sandeep Jangir
February 27th, 2008 3:19 amagain great article!
Himanshu Kapoor
February 27th, 2008 10:50 pmThere have been many sections on Blog design in the past and this is inspiring me to start my own. Thanks for these refereshing designs.
Nick
February 28th, 2008 1:35 amGreat selecting of very inspiring designs.
Ralph
February 29th, 2008 10:34 amNot all blog designs are my taste, but there are much ideas like always.
Thank you for your great summry about blog design from past until now….
From Germany
Ralph
la lene
March 6th, 2008 2:05 amNice layouts ! :D
chip
March 25th, 2008 12:42 pmThanks for showing us the variety of unique blogs. Very nice.
efelowe
March 27th, 2008 2:14 ami’d like to add a german blog to this awesome list
http://www.projekt-deutschlandreise.de
think it fits perfectly
kierkegor
April 2nd, 2008 11:46 amthis design is very talent. designers feeling the atmosphere of our time with speed, replacing actions and culture of young people
nikos
April 10th, 2008 5:06 amHey! Ripp off?? Thats a bad comment there…. Yes there is a small similarity to the background but nothing more than this. Getting inspiration from another website or other designers is not unsual tactic.
Pat
April 12th, 2008 7:44 amJust a quick heads up to everyone who’s been checking out patdryburgh.net. A few weeks ago I changed the design, and stopped using my large RSS Icon. However, a few days ago I did make it available for download on my portfolio at atrickdesign.com. Just go to the blog section, and download the .zip which contains a transparent .png of the icon.
Enjoy!
matias
April 25th, 2008 7:24 pmthanks cordoba
Emily
May 10th, 2008 11:37 amcan you make one that has Allie Dimeco i have A Fan Blog and i need One!
Olly
June 11th, 2008 10:09 pmThank’s a lot for this review..!!
Igor
June 25th, 2008 4:41 amReally impressive!
Nancy
July 28th, 2008 11:44 pmReally its very good and nice layouts .I like all.
ella
August 11th, 2008 8:15 amyou should check out http://www.thecitylovesyou.com is a blog from mexico city, and they write about street art, fashion, toys, music, etc. the design changes all the time and is really nice.
axedbydax
August 21st, 2008 9:34 amThose are very beautiful blog designs. I love the Kulturbanause a lot. It is very unique and beautiful. Very nice design for inspiration.
vhic
August 21st, 2008 9:45 amthe best blog designs i have ever seen so far. Very very beautiful. They are very inspiring.Thank you for sharing them.
website design
Tim Jones
August 27th, 2008 12:43 pmThanks for the links. Toogle looks nice and also I dig that under contact they have their Xbox Gammer Tag. Pretty slick. Gonna remember that one. Also check out http://culturesoak.com/