Design examples
Blogging has long been a popular means of sharing content and is becoming increasingly relevant. These days, when online communication is close to indispensable, more and more people are creating a blog in order to connect with readers worldwide, expressing their thoughts, experiences, and knowledge.
Whether as a standalone website or as a section within your existing site, a blog can serve as a space for you to share your story. It allows you to tell your tale in your own words, and with your own visual language to match.
To inspire you in creating your blog, we’ve compiled this selection of ten blog examples packed with all of the design wisdom you need to transform your blog into one of the best in the business.
Illustrator and designer Pierre Kleinhouse uses his blog as a platform for sharing the behind-the-scenes of his work process. He uploads process videos from his YouTube business channel, details his sources of inspiration and lists his favorite tools for digital illustration.
As a bespoke touch to his site, Pierre’s added an illustrated tiger’s head. The illustration doubles as both the blog logo and the website’s favicon. It’s a small addition, but it greatly contributes to the blog’s credibility and authoritativeness.
As a freelance designer and professional illustrator, Pierre is happy to share his tricks of the trade with an online community of creatives. In doing so, he’s able to establish his expertise and widen his reach.
In addition, maintaining a blog makes it easy for Pierre to regularly update his portfolio website with new and valuable content for his audience. This is an important SEO tip (Search Engine Optimization), as fresh content can greatly improve a site’s chances of ranking higher on Google search results.
Bella & Bloom makes for a great blog example because of the way its design mirrors the content. Most of this blog’s posts are centered around increasing website traffic through website design and other small business tips. And from the written content within, it’s clear that this design-related blog is in-the-know about their craft.
Other features also make this evident. One of those is the professional-yet-chic atmosphere of the blog, crafted with a calming website color scheme of gray and white. It’s a classic choice that compliments the array of colorful featured images in the blog posts.
Another way that engagement is encouraged is through their Instagram Feed, as well as their use of the Member’s Area for allowing visitors to comment and “heart” favored posts.
Leslie doesn’t let her audience down on the promise of her blog name, even when it comes to her site design choices. She finds ways to put a personalized spin on even the most fundamental elements of her blog, such as the Instagram Feed that lines the bottom of the page and the custom message on the live chat box. Both emerge as clear representatives of her unique voice.
Her sense of humor extends beyond her posts: instead of leaving her blog sections as basic text headers, she makes them sparkle by accompanying the text with high-quality photographs. This way, the “Travel” section, for example, is represented by a hand holding a passport. By keeping even the smallest of details consistent with her personality, this blog example ensures that the maximum amount of Leslie will radiate through.
Who said blog posts always have to be preceded by an overflowing trash can of crumpled drafts? It can be exhausting coming up with new blog ideas all of the time, especially when you have other things to focus on like, you know, creating your 18-foot tall sculptures.
Instead, artist Jorge Blanco dedicates most of his blog’s space to media coverage of his exhibits. To make sure his work gets the same attention as it would in a gallery, he arranges high-resolution photos of his colorful pieces against a white backdrop to create maximum contrast. Jorge might be a sculptor, but he’s certainly mastered the principles of design in this two-dimensional medium, too.
Clearly Tabitha must have read our article on how to become a social media influencer (especially step #8!). Indeed, her blog is a stellar example of how adding an online venue for personal thoughts and advice can act as a powerful engine for building your brand.
She doesn’t simply dish out fashion and beauty advice to her audience of mommas and mommas-to-be, she also hands over the tools to make it all happen via a “Shop the Post” widget. Placed at the end of blog posts, this widget allows viewers to replicate her look. And with Pinterest “Save” buttons hovering over each picture, fans can keep her glamorous aesthetic on hand for inspiration.
There’s more than one way to answer the question of what is a blog, and Lizzy Hadfield provides an especially photogenic one. This blog example serves as the visual diary of a stylish fashionista and marketing influencer.
Using the Wix Pro Gallery to arrange her images and posts in a grid website layout, Lizzy fills up the screen with softly colored pics that retain a cohesive visual language. This layout looks just as great on her mobile website version, too, with the different posts compiled into one long, full-screen scroll.
Design and lifestyle blog Lux Living Weekly is part of the interior design portfolio of Casa Vilora Interiors. New visitors to the site are invited to subscribe to the blog newsletter via a lightbox that gently fades into view, promising a free design guide for new subscribers.
As CEO of the Casa Vilora design firm, Veronica Solomon writes blog posts about everything from home decor tips to debunking design myths. By clearly defining her core values - those being eclectic, classic, bold, whimsical and timeless - Veronica was able to build a brand and apply it consistently across all assets.
As a result, her website’s visual language and brand identity are also carried over onto the blog. The blog features an elegant font pairing of a serif and a sans-serif font (meaning, with and without little embellishments at the ends of the letters), forming a graceful look. The blog logo was made using the same logo font of the design firm itself, adding to this blog’s great use of typography.
Helena Krüger’s blog merges the worlds of fashion and art to produce the whimsical illustrations that grace her website. The multimedia works traverse time and place, reflecting hints of 1940s Paris cafes alongside the newsrooms of New York City in the ‘70s.
The designer uses the blog to introduce web visitors to the places, styles, design techniques (and scrumptious looking food – save us some, please!) that form her galaxy of inspiration. Her well-organized and intriguing blog categories at the top of the page, from travel to hand lettering, further invite readers to get lost in her visual-heavy documentation of the everyday beauty she finds around her.
This glimpse into her world helps welcome and build trust in her expertise with potential shoppers on her online store, increasing the chance that they’ll leave the site with a glamorous, newly-purchased piece to hang on their wall.
This blog is a self proclaimed “visual ode to the aesthetically pleasing” – and it’s easy to see why. French for “in the city,” this style and art blog allows its newest post to take up the majority of the first fold. By utilizing the split screen layout, a current web design trend, the highlighted story is able to draw much attention and pique readers’ curiosity.
This blog example, run by photographer Sharon Radisch, covers a wide breadth of topics that are of relevance for its audience, from interviews with artists to summer bag recommendations. And as if taking cue from blog post checklists, en ville has perfected the user experience down to the smallest of details. For example, notice how all external links open in a new window and how credit is always given to the featured models, makeup artists and other collaborators.
When approaching the question of how to start a blog, one of the first topics you’ll need to decide on is whether the blog should be a standalone website or a section within your existing site. Nutrition coach and digital media strategist Isabelle de Burgh opted to include her blog as a section within her personal website.
The blog features three select articles at the top of the page, with captivating imagery to make them stand out. Covering everything from nutrition, to fitness, to sustainability, Isabelle helps readers make informed choices about their lifestyle and wellness, with plenty of plant-based recipes and cruelty-free shopping guides.
By Joanna Kramer
Community Writer
By Eden Spivak
Design Expert & Writer
