New decade, new The Novel Hermit. (That’s the saying, right?)
TOP SECRET NEWS REVEALED! | NEW BLOG DESIGNNNNN!
Do you know why you saw that “Top Secret” notice on my blog the past couple of days? Do you see anything different?
BLOG NEWS | Lack of Posts + New Header
There’s good news and bad news. I’ll start with the bad since that’s what influenced this entire post in the first place.
THE BAD
(not really “bad” bad)
I apologize for the lack of posts on the blog.
I really wanted to have a bunch of posts ready and posted, but I hadn’t gotten around to actually writing them.
Why? NaNoWriMo has taken over my entire life. I did not write the first two days, so that set me back a bit. For the past week, I’ve been bent on catching up to the amount I’m suppose to have. Yesterday, I was so close, but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to reach that goal. Hopefully, today I will catch up.
Because of NaNoWriMo, I haven’t been able to read anything because I lack the focus and the time I usually read books have been replaced by my WIP novel. :\ I’ve tried to read Perfect Ruin by Lauren DeStefano, but it’s kind of slow and I am a bit annoyed by the main character, Morgan. (She’s too naive/sheltered for my taste.)
I’m hoping that when I do catch up to NaNoWriMo, I’ll be able to find time to read again.
THE GOOD
1. NEW BLOG HEADER, EVERYONE!
Yeah, the header is extremely simple, but hey, it’s super cute!
I really wanted to make an awesome banner with a narwhal (because y’know, I am having a narwhal loving phase. They are precious creatures! You can see the extent of my love on twitter where I’ve inflicted it onto people). I didn’t know what to do with the header in a way that wouldn’t make it too empty or busy. At the moment, what you see is what I could come up with. I really hope it isn’t too bare. If anybody have suggestions of what I can do to make it even better, feel free to tell me.
(I’m sure that when I get tired of that header, I may change it back to my previous one, but we shall see. :D)
Thanks to everybody who tweeted their response over on Twitter. You do not know how much it means to me that you love it as much as I do. (I need validation when it comes to anything graphic designing-related. ;D)
2. I’ve also rewrote some of “about me” page. Still pretty unsatisfied with it, but it’s a slow process to perfect it.
3. Also, if we talk on Twitter a lot and you want a personalized card, just tell me and I’ll make one and send it to you for the holidays! (‘Cause personalized cards are the best! And by personalized, I don’t mean I’ll cut construction paper and create images with it. I’m not artistic enough to do that. I’ll be using my printer and have witty/sentimental words about our friendship + an outline of an image that reminds me of you. It’ll look all fancy, but the content is far from it. ;D)
I’m sure there is more news I want to share with you all, but at the moment, my brain is too tired to remember. :D (Oh! I do have a lot of NaNoWriMo news, but I will post that on Sunday.)
CHANGES! Design-wise!
See, I have followed through on my desire to redesign my header. I am very pleased at the results.
Here is what it used to look:
And here it is now:
Ahhh, what a difference!. It’s gorgeous. Maybe because it’s new. New things always make me giddy. (I’m sure I’ll be sick of it a few months from now.)
Now, it’s time for a Q & A about the changes.
Why did you want a change?
I got tired of looking at my header. To me, it looked…stiff and impersonal all of a sudden. I felt that the typeface of my old banner was dated, and that it didn’t fit with the books I’ve been reading. It felt awkward and unnatural. I wanted something more fun and, in a sense, more representative of me…now.
What did you change?
The colors I used and the layout is still the same. I wanted to maintain the cleanliness and simplicity of the two, so I didn’t change that. I redesigned the header and the weekly meme images. The weekly meme images used to be circles, but I changed it for flags because it didn’t take as much space. (Although, I might change the flags for squares with rounded corners. We’ll see.) I changed the “hello” in the sidebar and the social networking icons.
Tell us about your header.
My blog name is “The Novel Hermit.” I wanted my header to be simple, and not glaring/annoying to look at. On the sides of the name, I placed a blur of blue, which is actually a watercolor image of a hermit image. It was accidental – the watercolor. I had always intended to find a hermit image (to reflect my name) and I found a hermit image in the typeface – “SeaLife.” When I placed it next to the name, it looked awkward because it was too sharp/clean cut, so I began messing with the filters on Inkscape, seeing which one would soften the hermit image. And voila!
What typeface is your header?
Belta Bold! Everything else (the images) are in Belta Regular.
I really love it. When I first saw it over at Carrie Loves, I fell in love with it. I knew that was what I wanted to use for the typeface of my header.
Who made it?
I did! For someone with no artistic talent whatsoever, I did well.
And now, I have a question for all of you, my readers: how do you like the new header? Thoughts? Criticisms? Questions?