There are many different styles in blog design that have an impact on how well your blog structure will turn out. The layout and organization of your blog is undoubtedly one of the most important traits of a good blog design.
There are many different methods people use to style their blogs, and at the end of the design process – they can usually be categorized into a design type of their own. The two types of design that I want to look at today, the final day of Design Versus Week, are minimal and compact blog designs.
Today, I will be comparing some elements of the new Blogussion design to the elements of my more simply designed blog, Asnio.
Minimal vs. Compact Blog Design
Is keeping it really simple the best form or organization, or it it best to have elements that stand out in a more compact design? We’ll compare the two popular styles in the final day of Design Versus Week!
Minimal Designs
A minimal design is just as it sounds – simple. There isn’t much to this style, and it really focuses on two main design elements: whitespace and typography. It may seem bland and dull to some, but minimal designs can actually be quite beautiful.
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Focus on content
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No clutter
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More unique design
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Easier to load
Because there are so few elements in a minimalistic design, there are little to no distractions. Generally, a blog design with minimalism in mind focuses the most on the content area, often with the inclusion of beautiful images and font styling.
In a minimalistic design, you rarely see different design elements. Mostly everything looks the same, and the element that overtakes these designs is text (usually). Because these designs aren’t filled with images and different colored boxes, clutter really doesn’t form.
If there is clutter, then it’s most likely not a minimalistic design anyhow.
Believe it or not, minimal designs actually don’t look the same all that often. They are more unique, because of one of those main elements they rely on as I mentioned above: typography. There are thousands and thousands of things you can do with your font styles, so the chances of a minimalistic design actually looking the same aren’t all that likely. Of course, if no innovation is put into the design – there will be plenty of minimalistic sites with similar looks.
Minimalistic designers are probably the smartest, because of the fewer resources they include in their design. A minimalistic design is more than just having a simple look, but it’s also about having a lightweight source code. So, don’t expect to find any good, minimalistic blog designs load too slowly!
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Harder to make
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Not ideal for high-content blogs
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May not have everything you want and need
Believe it or not, as crazy as it sounds, a minimalistic design is harder to make. Much harder actually, as it forces you to use the bare minimum of what you have to make it. This style of design forces you to work with no hacks, or quick fixes – you have to design with perfect logic. Yes, that means using a grid system if possible.
I wouldn’t recommend you choose a minimalistic design for a blog you know will have a lot of content. If you like to expand your blog and add new things like services, affiliate pages, or maybe even a forum – a minimal design can’t always hold that much information. Plus, a good marketing practice that ties into design is making things stand out. Really, you don’t see all that much “stand out” when you have a minimal design.
Some minimalist designers want more, but know it wouldn’t work. Blogs that are simple often drop a lot of features that users would enjoy to have, and sometimes make things harder to do in the process.
Compact Designs
A more compact design, such as Blogussion, has a lot more going on that a minimalistic design. More elements stand out than others, and there are often very few things “simple” about this. I will use some screenshots from the new Blogussion design as a representative of compact designs, and a sneak peak for what you can expect Sunday!
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Easier to make
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More information
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Separation
It still takes some creativity and experience to make any design, but a compact design is generally easier to make than a minimalistic design. As crazy as it sounds, I think it’s true.
I feel that a “flow” is easier to find when making a compact design. There isn’t as much logic required when it comes to this style of design, but just like any form of design, it still requires some critical thinking at times. I expect some disagreement here, so let me know how you feel about this point.
It’s easier to have a lot of content on this kind of design because of the expandability of it. Because of the lack of whitespace, there is a lot more room for more information. This make sit easier to add new sidebar widgets, add banner ads, and really any kind of content you like.
Unlike minimalistic designs, there is more of a separation of different elements. For example, a sidebar and the content area will both be clearly different, and the header of a site will most likely have some contrast from the body background color. It is easier to distinguish two different elements from one another as there are fewer patterns in this form of design.
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It’s harder to emphasize content
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Larger load times
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Clutter
Even though different areas of your blog are easily separated, there is still a lot of other information that will compete for your readers eye. Content is closer together and different elements stand out more than others. Sometimes, you may have more interesting looking things in your sidebar than your content area, and that’s obviously not the most important part of your blog.
Compact blog designs are full of many different things, and the more that is on the page, means the more to load. There are a variety of things that could lead to a larger load time. More images, more content, different scripts, more CSS, etc. Many that aren’t much of a factor in minimalistic designs.
You saw this one coming. Because there are so many different things in a compact design, a lot of clutter can form. Clutter can be considered excess images, text, links, boxes and anything that really isn’t absolutely necessary. All things that aren’t seen in a minimalistic design.
My Verdict: Compact Blog Designs
Unless you have an extreme interest in minimalism, have a portfolio, or a low-content blog, I think a compact blog design is the best choice. The more information you can add to your blog, the more your readers will love you anyhow, especially in a competitive niche. But as always, it really does depend on the type of blog you have.
Tomorrow on Design Versus
This is the last day of articles to be published as part of Design Versus Week. Kind of sad, isn’t it? Tomorrow, I will be publishing a checklist of things you need to be sure you have done in order to have the best chance possible of winning.
Yes, you can tweet that post too as well for another shot at winning.
The Discussion
Leave a Comment Read Again?This was one of those delicious postsand discussion. Well nothing new, Blogussion is full of them.
And Mr. Alex… get the new Blogussion design here already! How long do you want us to wait? You don’t want protesters outside your home, do you?
About the two styles versus. I think it again comes down to what kinda blog it is. As you rightly pointed out – if you are going to make it big with stuff to sell, affiliates and all then sure it makes sense to have a compact design.
Or go with he light one if it’s just gonna be you. I happens same in case of the FRiEnDz and Meditation Rocks (compact design) as compared to my official site (KingSidharth.com) which is quiet simple.
The stuff I really want to know – how to use grid with Thesis – what methods do you use to make sure it works and stays? You know Thesis having all that default padding (which is good) but that can interfere with planned paddings and margins. A little bit enlightenment on that can really help.
Love the way this week brought up so much goodies. Can’t wait to hear for prizes – I can feel that I’ve won somehting. XD
We need to start hating you for being so awesome – or maybe we can’t help but love it.
Rock on, forever more. (opps that sounds like I am dying after writing this).
Sunday, it’s almost here.
It seems like most of the things I compared this week depend on the content of the site, but it always comes down to how you implement it. If you can somehow make a minimal design with high content on it work (and vice-versa), then go for it.
I don’t use grids that much, but because I have used Thesis so much, I like to think I know where all of the padding is. This theme isn’t straight 100%, but I am actually testing a grid on this new theme…so I’ll let you know there.
Yea, its almost here. That reminds me of the entrance test I have on Sunday. Damn it!
Yea, they were kinds reflecting back that it really comes down to how well a desiger does what he does and how well he knows. You know you should start a certification coruse or test or something.
I tried to do something on my site with mixing up minimalist design and stuff.. I have new design in Q but it needs more pro photography. Will talk to you abou that later.
I tried using grid with my own site (960.gs), worked well till photoshop but I really need to learn to use it with CSS..
You seem to be quiet well versed with PHP. Will mail ya today hope to catch up with you on skype too.
.-= King Sidharth´s last blog ..Why ‘King’ Sidharth – the Secret Behind ‘King’ =-.
I prefer Compact Design. I am currently using one which is more compact than minimal. It looks so professional to have a compact design.
But people who just started blogging should first go for minimal designs unless they are designers or designing expert.
.-= Agent Deepak | Blogging, Marketing & Success´s last blog ..The Secrets of Success – Desire =-.
I am current on the berge of choosing a theme for my blog. Hope this would help in choosing the right theme for my entertainment blog.
.-= paul | entertainment tonight´s last blog ..Anne Curtis on Women’s Health magazine =-.
Blogs designs really matters in thee blogosphere, and its something which must be given enough attention if one wants to make his blog a perfect one and capable of earning something!
.-= Peter´s last blog ..Azarenka v Martinez Sanchez preview tips and Statistics 09 April 2010 =-.
Hi,
My pick is also compact design, I will also like to put more live in my blog.
.-= Onibalusi Bamidele´s last blog ..Get over 1000 new unique visitors to your website every month =-.
I caught the sneak-peek at your new design, Alex! I definitely agree on this one. Your blog should serve many purposes and it’s pretty much impossible to do that with a minimal design.
Looking forward to the release!
.-= Nick Tart´s last blog ..Interview: Sabirul Islam, Hundreds of Wedding Proposals =-.
I’ve always liked the simplistic and minimalistic designs the best. It makes it feel like the content is the most important thing. I do agree that they are much harder to make. While I don’t mind compact, it does get distracting and you can quickly get side tracked. But compact has more to offer a visitor and it will probably keep the visitor on the site longer. But then again, minimalistic could highlight and sell a product better… DOH! Point is, there is no right way or wrong way, it’s just the way that makes you the best ROI. You have to experiement.
This is the first time i know that the minimal design is much more difficult than the compact one. I prefer the compact design. However, the page loading time is really a problem for me. A lot of optimization need to be done to optimize the rate.
.-= Kok Siong Chen´s last blog ..Tamoxifen – Breast Cancer Treatment =-.
I suppose mine is compact, it sure ain’t minimal. lol
I was going for plenty of stuff, while not cluttered and good navigation.
.-= Dennis Edell | Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!!!!!! =-.
What people need is information, so I think minimal design is more better at all.
.-= Reza Winandar´s last blog ..This is blog is now Do Follow =-.
I agree that compact design is more suitable in most cases. Regarding the issue of emphasis, one of the solutions would be to use headings and good heading structure. We can also avoid clutter by making sure all of our page’s content are important and are serving a purpose.
.-= Julius´s last blog ..NVDA: A Free Alternative to Screen Readers =-.
It is amazing how a site that is minimalistic is always harder to design. Everyone always thinks the opposite because there is less elements to design, so wrong!
.-= Brad´s last blog ..Surfing Angourie Back In The Day =-.
I think the emphasis should always remain on minimalistic blog designs. The reason why I say so is because too cluttery blogs are being exited very often, resulting in a huge loss.
I am an advocate for Minimal Designs. I am more on content. Anyway, your blog rocks! Keep it on. And you’re only 17.
it was just great information sharing and thanks for that.
Je zou samen geloven met de multi-triljoen contanten van investeringen die wikipedia wel wat veel meer servers te verwerven.
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