Introducing a New Blog Design

I’m so excited to announce that, after 5 years of blogging, I now have a professional blog design! (If you are reading this in a reader, be sure to click through to the blog to see the new design.) A professional blog design is something I’ve always planned to do and am so happy that the day has finally come. So you can see how far I’ve come, would you like to see how my blog design has evolved since its beginning? It’s changed a lot!

Way back when I started my blog, I knew nothing about blog design. I started by typing my title into the header. Nothing fancy to look at, but it worked. After a month, I figured out how to type in a solid block of color and created a basic image that looked like this. Keep in mind, this was my very first image way back in 2010.

Script Header Title

By 2011, I had learned more about images and designed this header image myself. It was a big step up from one font typed on a solid background.

Damask Header

In September of 2012, I found a designer (who no longer does work) but she created a header and blog button for me. It was a much more professional looking logo and one that I loved.

JoyfullyThrivingHeader-Gen.jpg

When I changed my tagline this past year, I used PicMonkey and tweaked my header logo myself.

cropped-JoyfullyThrivingHeader-Upper-Tagline1.jpg

I’ve long dreamed of hiring a designer to completely redo and update my blog. I’ve learned a lot about design and coding but I knew a designer could do so much more for me. (Plus, a designer could accomplish it so much faster than I could!) After I took Elite Blogging Academy, I knew I really needed to make this happen so my blog could continue growing. I researched designers and options and stumbled upon Laura of PixelMeDesigns. Her prices were reasonable and her designs were amazing. I started saving and finally took the plunge and contacted Laura in August.

This past week, it was time for work to begin on my site! I loved working with Laura and she did an amazing job redesigning my site. There’s so much to see that I hope you’ll explore the site for a bit. For now, let me start by showing you the new header and logo she designed. I couldn’t be happier with it! I love the colors and the fonts and how well it describes my blog in a glance.

Joyfully Thriving header

My blog is streamlined and updated now. All the content is still here. You’ll notice that the posts are now labeled with images that correspond to their topic. I still post occasional deals, but they will now be marked expired once they are over. I have a new recipe index that I’m working on getting organized. It should make easy to find any recipe that you are looking to find!

My social media buttons are at the top, so it’s easy to find me. There’s also a search button at the top so you can find whatever you are looking for – a specific recipe or an article that you can only remember a couple words.

I still have lots (and lots!) of updating of images to do so I am slowly and surely working through that. For now, I hope you enjoy exploring the new site! I’d love to know…what’s your favorite part of the updated design?

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15 Comments

    1. Thanks, Shelly! I’ve been tweaking for so long (and it was okay) but Laura accomplished in a week what would have taken me months…or longer! Ha. It was money well spent (finally) for me. Good luck with your changes!

    1. Thanks, Emily! It took me awhile to save and make this investment – but I’m so glad I did! It was time to make this change.

  1. Beautiful!!! This is so nice looking! I love the open, bright feeling, and the red and blue coloring that emphasizes the heart of your site. Way to go, Kristen!

    1. Thanks, Janeen! Like you, I like the warm colors and the open feeling. I want to share my content efficiently but I don’t like cluttered sites. I’m glad to have crossed this off my list of goals – although now updating posts is of a more urgent matter!

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