Ideas on updating your blog - part 1 x

Hello everyone and firstly a BIG thank you for the really helpful and supportive comments you have left me for my new blog design. It's not completely finished because the class is still running but I thought I would share a few snippets to explain how and why I changed.

So firstly, I have had alot of time sitting here feeling ill but when I have had good days or parts of days, I've tried to keep my mind active and ticking over. I have done a few Photoshop classes with Jessica Sprague before and am on her mailing list, so when a class called ''Bloom your blog'' landed in my inbox I thought, ''Oooh that sounds interesting!''.
The lovely thing about Jessica's classes is that everything is explained clearly and simply, you do need to know how to use Photoshop Elements or Photoshop, there is always loads of class downloads and video tutorials as well as handouts, and there is a class forum for this class to share queries and advise. The cost was also very good for a class like this. So I jumped in and joined the class.

Secondly, I have never really used much of myself in my blog design, plenty in blog posts but not what you would call alot of me. I wanted something fresh and simple but with a hint of my personality and interests. One of the first things we had to do was create a colour scheme we like and this was very much based on colours which appealed to us but also, and more importantly, colour linked to our personality. I have always been drawn to pinks, lemon and blue shades  so most of my mood board was in those colours. Jessica also encouraged us to look at colour psychology and I found an excellent graphic design site which explained this very clearly.

Pink is a  feminine, romantic, compassionate, warm and nurturing

 Blue is an intelligent colour, it’s logical, ordered, calm and efficient, coolness, serenity even and trust

 Yellow is an emotional colour, it exudes emotional strength, self esteem and friendliness.

Having read around the subject of colour and psychology I knew I had found the right shades for me and my blog. I want my readers to feel welcomed and have a sense of friendliness when they arrive, and over time I hope that my readers find coming here to be a positive, uplifting and interesting experience. If you want to find out more about colour psychology, then pop over here to read more.

The third part of this process was to find the perfect colours and ideas for the new image. For this I am so grateful I have developed a love of Pinterest. It is the perfect place to look for colour, style and design ideas, plus it can link you to places you never expected to go. I firstly looked at the different colour palettes and made a selections of these which I really liked and was particularly struck by the more chalky colours. They seemed more fresh and muted than the main colours I'd chosen. Once I had pinned down exactly what I was looking for I spent alot of time looking at other blogs. This was great for identifying the style of blog I liked and the extra little pieces I felt I wanted to add to my blog such as a new photo of myself and some linked buttons so my readers could contact and follow me and get to Pinterest easily.

So here are just a few of the things I pinnned....................

No 3 : came a from blog called The Ardent Sparrow
No 1: This card of colours came from The Photo Card Boutique 
No 2: You can also find great colour combinations at Design Seeds
I really loved Kristin's blog design especially here circular photo and the tab top pages. 
I also loved the style and colouring of design guru Will's blog  

You can find my full Pinterest board here
 
I hope this will help other bloggers gain a taste of what we learned and I be back with another part soon.