I came across Little Bits Of Lovely by Rachel on Twitter not so long ago and completely fell in love with it! It’s a blog on everything from fashion and interiors, and all the pretty things in between.

With every post I feel as though Rachel is practically in my head (“Love this! Love that!”). And I fancy everything she features from the images she chooses to the ways she creates picture collages.

Here’s a screen shot of her blog. I love the simplicity of her design: three colours and no fancy fonts, and how it looks like there’s a lot to look at, yet doesn’t look cluttered at the same time. Straightaway I can find her name, her photo, and how to locate her on Twitter and Tumblr. Her subscribe button is also easy to locate.

(Tip: Tumblr – a blogging platform – is used by many bloggers who already have a blog as an inspiration board.)

The only things I’d suggest is that she include an e-mail RSS option, as not everyone knows how to use an RSS reader. And that she register a domain name (she’s currently at littlebitsoflovely.blogspot.com). Though sadly, littlebitsoflovely.com is gone – something to consider when choosing your blog’s name.

Nice work, Rachel! Now I’m going to hunt you down on Pinterest. I have a feeling I’ll be re-pinning everything you do…

Who’s excited about the new Blogger template designer? Me! Even though I’m a WordPress gal (you may have seen my tweets on dreaming about WordPress the other day…) I’m excited about what it means in terms of making Blogger blogs look even better (no more seeing the same template on every second blog!)

A great example of how good a Blogger blog can look is Nikki Yazxhi’s beauty blog bellaMUMMA. Nikki comes from a magazine background which means she’s one creative lady, however you can learn SO much about simple, easy ways to make your blog look good. Here are a few examples:

• Nikki consistently chooses strong, well-lit, beautiful pictures that you just want to stare at.
• All the images are tonal – lots of pink, champagne and grey.
• The beauty product shots are super sharp and clear and Nikki arranges them well to fit in with the words. No big, empty, white spaces around them.
• Attention to detail! Nikki does little things such as making the second or third word in her headlines IN CAPITALS. Subeditors everywhere probably want to cringe, but I think it’s become Nikki’s signature style. Whenever I see a new bellaMUMMA post on Facebook, I recognise the blog by the headline straightaway. It’s the same when I see a bellaMUMMA tweet.
• Lots to look at without being OTT. I feel as though my time spent on Nikk’s blog is a good investment, and I leave having learned something new.
• Groovy music. Ordinarily I’d strongly advise against any blog having music play, yet somehow, Nikki makes it work…

Here’s a shot of Nikki’s blog (which coincidentally features another one of my favourite blogs, Table Tonic). Check it out!

Some people, when they look at a blog, read a couple of posts and move on. Me? I scan the screen, then head straight for the “about” or “FAQ” page before moving on to a part I really love: the footer credits (yes, really)

So when I was looking at my friend Shannon Dunn’s blog, I noticed something I hadn’t seen in a blog’s footer credits before: a link to Etsy.

Shannon uses beautiful illustrations to illustrate all of her blog posts (a good way to keep the look and feel of your blog consistent), so when I saw the link to Etsy it was like a light-bulb moment: “Ahhh, so that’s where she gets the great images from.”

This was followed by a few more thoughts including, “How clever and original! You’re not going to find the same images on every second blog!”, then, “Man, that must be an expensive way to buy images”, and finally, “Maybe I’ll just ask her about it and she can tell me more”.

Here’s a snap shot of Shannon’s blog, which you can visit here. My Q&A with her is below, so don’t forget to scroll down!

How did you come up with the idea of using Etsy for your blog? To be honest, it really just evolved. Being creative for me is about trusting the process. So when I’d finished playing around, it had taken form as you see it. Part way through designing the site (which is still very much under construction), it just felt like the right thing to do… to keep it all tightly branded. I’d love to say it was a very deliberate strategy from the beginning, but it wasn’t. I just loved [the artist] Noemi Manalang‘s illustrations and thought it would also be a great way to showcase her talents.

How did you found suitable images – did you just stumble upon them? I wanted to find an illustration that resembled me in some way, and came across Noemi’s illo that I’m currently using as my twitter background. From there, I discovered her other works and fell in love. Her work seemed to fit perfectly into not only how I wanted my site to look, but it also resonated with me. Because it’s my site, branded with my name, it was really important to create pages that I felt reflect my personality. I didn’t, however, realise I had such an affinity for pink!

What does using similar and consistent illustrations mean to you? I have a couple of other blogs, Diary of a Vegan and The Green Dove. I really wanted my personal site to be different from these. Incorporating consistent branding through illustrations turned out to be a good way to do it. I also wanted the site to feel well put together. Because it focuses on natural healing therapies and nutrition, I didn’t want to follow perhaps the expected route, which can often be clinical and boring or have way too many bells and whistles that get in the way. There are many sites out there that have great information, but fall down with the design. For me, it’s a complete package. When I visit a site I want to be entertained and informed and find it easy to navigate. I also want it to be clean, yet stylish without being visually assaulting. I do think my site attracts mostly a female audience, which could well be to do with the feminine design!

How do you and the artist work together? I feel very blessed to be able to work with Noemi. Our collaboration is mutually beneficial. My site is an advertisement for her work and of course I benefit by having beautiful illustrations on my site. We may also be working on another project later in the year, which I’m very excited about. I really believe that when you’re on the right track with anything, the details simply fall into place, as it did with this site. If it feels like it’s a struggle to pull everything together, perhaps there’s a more perfect option waiting around the corner. It’s just a matter of looking, and trusting the creative process we’re all instinctively born with.

Anything other design tips? Take risks. If you love an illustrator’s work, but don’t have the budget, talk to them. Perhaps your site numbers are of interest to them and your partnership could be just what they were looking for to get their designs out to a wider audience. Also, trust your own creative process. You are unique and if you site is a reflection of you then you can’t go wrong!

www.shannondunn.com