This poor WordPress theme (Design Agency by Simon Bouchard) has only lasted a few months, but alas, I’m feeling the inexorable tug of web design wanderlust.
I like this theme a lot. It speaks to my personal design aesthetic of clean lines and an emphasis on typography. I love how the blog page looks, and especially the archives. I like the simple and clear navigation. What I don’t love is the lack of threaded comments, the inability to write my full tagline after my name (It should read “writer, martial artist, geek” instead of just “writer”), and the narrow width of the text line for blog entries. These may seem like small things, but they eat at me every time I use the site.
Also, it lacks energy. As much as I love clean lines, I love organics more — curves and circles and textures and pops of color evoking nature. Finding the balance between cluttered and curvy and corporate has proven almost impossible. (And believe me, I’ve put a lot of time into finding and modifying themes.) I’m also writing middle grade books now, and I don’t feel like this site design is kid friendly. It falls too far on the side of slick.
When I was a web usability designer, I would ask clients what adjectives they wanted people to think of when visiting their site. Basically, what adjectives they most associated with their brands. My seem to continually change, but for now, I’m going with: adventurous, fun, and professional. (I’d add “accessible” in there too, but that has more to do with functionality, and I think every site should fall into that category.)
I have a few templates picked out that I’ll be playing with over the next few weeks, so expect some rough days and bizarre layouts. And please, tell me what you like and don’t like about this design, or even better:
- What would you like to see in my next design?
- Is there content you want me to add?
- Do you think the adjectives I mentioned (adventurous, fun, professional) accurately represent me?
And, just for fun, what are your adjectives? Does your website reflect them?