15 Blog Designs That Inspire Me
Ian Lurie Jun 3 2008
In internet marketing, you have to design something, eventually.
When I’m stuck I do what any good creative does: Steal. Here are 15 blogs from which I regularly steal get ideas.
A List Apart
A List Apart is an old favorite of mine. The design is one of the best examples of a 3-column layout and Divine Proportion.
They also have brilliant articles, by the way. Subscribe.
Copyblogger
CopyBlogger.com‘s got a lot going on but keeps the chaos under control. I look at it whenever I need to figure out how I’m going to handle information overload.
CSS Addict
CSS Addict is just dang purty. I also really like the way they use thumbnails on the home page, and their typography.
EmanuelBlagonic
Emanuel Blagonic. i love the header on this site.
Erratic Wisdom
Erratic Wisdom is one of the most unique layouts I’ve seen. The archive at the bottom of the page is awesome.
Free Software Magazine
Free Software Magazine” has a great, simple top bar and a terrific color palette. A little heavy on the ads, but it integrates a lot of interactivity into a clean layout.
Jessica Claire
JessicaClaire.net is a photographer’s blog. I don’t usually like blogs with a huge header, or with Flash. This blog manages to put both together in a way that creates a nice look and some good information.
Maniacal Rage
Maniacal Rage has a great name, and a really simple, single-column layout. I like the sketched aesthetic, too.
North x East
NorthxEast has a unique way of listing posts on the home page that I really like. Clean fonts, nice typography. This blog pulls it all together from a design standpoint.
Pearsonified
Pearsonified has puppies. I like puppies. This design is all about the little touches: The tabs, the oversized first letters, the comment images – it all comes together.
Signal vs. Noise
When I need to remind myself simplest is best, Signal vs. Noise is the blog I look at. 37Signals takes simplification to new heights.
Ian Lurie
CEO
Ian Lurie is CEO and founder of Portent Inc. He's recorded training for Lynda.com, writes regularly for the Portent Blog and has been published on AllThingsD, Forbes.com and TechCrunch. Ian speaks at conferences around the world, including SearchLove, MozCon, SIC and ad:Tech. Follow him on Twitter at portentint. He also just published a book about strategy for services businesses: One Trick Ponies Get Shot, available on Kindle. Read More
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Great links Ian,
I read 37signals, listapart, copyblogger, and css addict as well. Now I have some new ones to read. I like sitepoint blogs, and 456 berea street as well.
I think this is an excellent list of beautiful blog designs.
I guess it would have been kinda wrong to list CM in the list :P
Please put out some more audio content…. PLZZ
Thanks for the list and the notes about what you like on each site. I’m working on a new site and looking for inspiration. This is really helpful.
What a great list. I’ve been looking for some cool new blogs to subscribe to via RSS so thank you! I especially love JessicaClaire.net. I’ve never seen Flash integrated so well in a blog.
Some good links in here and some really inspiring work – think i’ll be bookmarking their sites and viewing them to convince myself that “it CAN be done – look they did it!”
Definitely some good ones here. Nice list.