Jun 14 2010
Favourite Layouts in June
Towards the end of 2009 it seemed like I was seeing the same premade WordPress themes over and over and over again. Bloggers were too bored / busy to create something fresh and new? Who knows. It was pants, though (from a visitor perspective) and didn’t do much to inspire me to make over my own blog. Not that you guys should feel responsible for my state of mind or anything, don’t worry yourself there. :P
So anyway, tada! I have seen a few fab layouts this month. In an attempt to lighten things up after a few dramatastic posts I decided to do some link love! :D Here we go…
Mia Chimera
Interesting, original artwork? Check! Pretty arty flourishes? Check! Witty quotes and one-liners? Check! Big, easy to find/use navigation? Check! A daft tagline? Check! What’s not to love?
CUPKATE.org
Score — more original artwork! Cute custom(?) font, original icons in the sidebar too. Plus, Kate’s birthday is in January and everyone knows people born in January are superior to everyone else.
jemjabella
OMG OMG OMG! Yes, this is a sneaky self-whoring plug here at the bottom for my NEW LAYOUT that is a huge surprise and mystery *doo doo doo* not least because it’s being created at this very moment by the lovely Lilian who is a genius of all things arty and creative. Coming soon to a jemjabella.co.uk near you… :D
24 Responses so far
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Cupkate is awesome… love the wood texture!
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I’m always more in favour of self made stuff rather than bog standard off the peg designs. It shows that real thought went into something rather than being happy to settle for ‘what you can catch hold of’ stuff. Link love is good :o)
How could you tempt me with the ???’s though? I mean… come off it…you know how impatient I am *chews knuckles in anticipation* Hurry up Lilian, I really wanna see this! (or I’ll eat the next cheesecake all to myself) hehe
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Hah! So sneaky! Tsk tsk. Can’t wait to see it, after all the showing off you’ve been boasting about recently :P
I’ve seen Mia Chimera’s layout just today too, and I love it. I couldn’t find a comment link though… *sulks* :)
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Hurry upp… you’ve been teasing me for too long! :-P
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Mia Chimera is lovely… the witty one liners give it a rather whimsical quality!
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Mumblees – I too am a big fan of those who create their own layouts. I can’t stand my own site being premade, it just doesn’t feel like me. :)
Cupkate.org is something I came across recently because of the comments left here, I do find that it is a very attractive layout due to the artwork. I find it could use just a little more color, but then again it wouldn’t look very "sketchy" if there were. :D
I was hoping for a bit of a longer list, but hey, I’ll take what I can get. :P
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Yaaaaaay! :D
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I like both of those layouts! Though, I thought I’d inform you, Cupkate used brushes and fonts from http://ego-box.com. Still creative and attractive, nonetheless. :)
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Definitely looking forward to seeing what you’ll be doing with JJB :D
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The main font on Cupkate is Rockwell Sketch. She made it look really good though! :)
Really looking forward to seeing what Lil has done!
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Jem, you teaser! I can’t stand it anymore. Out with it quick! :p
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I love the artistic look on Mia Chimera! And I’ve been waiting for your new layout for ages and ages. Hurrryyy!
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Those are nice sites but I think they look just like all the other ones.. not so original. Cupkate uses tons of resources from other places (not that there is anything wrong with that, I used to do it too!!) The font is from Dafont, the drawn images are from http://www.flickr.com/photos/puntobipolar , I am pretty sure those hand-drawn icons are from this: http://tutsii.deviantart.com/art/49-hand-drawing-icons-set-123691516, so it doesn’t scream at me.
Wahh, I am a party pooper, I know. :P
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The layouts are really cool! Can’t wait to see what is created for this site. :D
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I don’t mind pre-mades too much. My previous layout was one actually. It was easy when I needed a change.
Something I like about ‘todays’ layouts is there is less image heavy blend styles and a little more text and original oriented. I’m liking how we’re moving forward :)
Can’t wait to see your new layout :) -
@Nellie: it was the handwriting font I thought might be custom, not the big blocky one (I know Melly has used that one) :)
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…what is a "daft tagline"? I am a simple American and thus do not understand this phrasing. I apologize for my ignorance. D: I do not deserve such a traffic boost from generous comments I cannot comprehend!
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I love that CupKate one. :) I think layouts with the owner’s drawing are the best, because they always turn out great. I would do one, but my offline-life takes up too much of my time, so I usually use my photography.
And I agree with Kalliste – it’s nice not seeing celebrity blend layouts everywhere (though they still exist :P).
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@Haley: daft == silly/fun/that sort of thing ;)
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But the art on Cupkate is not drawn by the owner, is it? She wrote, "All materials are copyright to their respective owners, and no copyright infringement is intended in any way." and the images in the layout (the back of the girl’s head) are from that Flickr account I posted the link to. :C
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It’s slightly disappointing that the drawings etc aren’t done by Kate but it’s still a cute layout :D
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Jem dahling, the Cupkate design is all resources, including the smaller handwritten font. I can’t place the name of it at the moment, but I recognize it. Either way, despite using a bunch of free resources it’s well done and that’s what matters. Anymore everyone’s websites look the same (I’m sure I would be just as guilty if I was still webwhoring!) And Cupkate does seem more unique and put together than others. :)
Can’t wait to see what’s coming to jemjabella.co.uk! Though, I do wish it was something you designed. While you are a developer more so than a designer, you always have an interesting take on design for that very reason!
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The font looks like Sketch Rockwell. :P
I don’t see the problem with using resources, they save time for me personally. I am capable of putting together a lot of things that I would use as a resource on my site, I am just too impatient and it’s just too time consuming. I think CupKate is cute and I love the name as well. :P
