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Jun
05

You can write but can you design?

Last week I wrote a guest post on The Everyday Web Expert about writing tips for designers. These were basic writing tips for people whose focus is the graphics, not the words.

Today, I am tackling the other side of the coin – design tips for writers. Just because your writing is fantastic doesn’t mean your design skills have to be sub-par. Here are 4 simple design rules that every writer should know:

1. Color is your friend. I can’t count the number of writer’s sites that I have seen that are simply blah. Black, white and one other color for emphasis. Boooring…. Just because you are trying to show off your writing skills doesn’t mean you can’t use color and make it pop. I’m not talking following in my footsteps (I love bright colors) but by adding some eye catching graphics and colors to your site increases the likelihood of people sticking around longer. People like attractive images, colors and creativity. First impressions are important, whether you mean to or not, a bland site will create an idea about your writing…

2. Images make your writing stronger.  text connect

3. Text can be beautiful and creative. Typography (or the art and techniques of arranging type, type design, and modifying type glyphs.) is just one simple way to make your writing better. Many writers chose whatever the standard font is, assuming it doesn’t make a difference. But, your font can make a huge difference. Next time you are ‘just going to go with times new roman’ (or if you’re wondering what that means), choose a different font!

4. Google Images is a search engine. Many writers think that their writing is just for the main site, and will forget that they need to label images properly. When you do place images on your site, make sure to title them with a search engine friendly name. Google Images scours sites for the titles of the images and will help your seo if you label them correctly.

Related posts:

  1. Great design doesn’t have an industry
  2. 10 websites to find gorgeous design elements
  3. Contemplating a site re-design

Category: Business & Marketing Strategy, Content Development, Graphic & Website Design
Topics: , , ,
  • http://ariwriter.com Ari Herzog

    Hold on a second, Kirsten! While I agree with you on images, let’s remember that many websites–at least those with RSS feeds–are read primarily in feed readers, email threads, and related infrastructure. While I visit your website, I don’t have to as I can read the entire post without visiting your site. So, don’t waste time and money building colors if nobody will see them.

    Ari Herzog’s last blog post..10 Twitterers and Their Blogs Who Inspire Me

    • Kirsten Wright

      Ari,

      While I do agree that a lot of people read via rss, I (and most other bloggers) do still get a large amount of traffic to their actual webpage! From looking at my stats, I can see that I have a substantial amount of people that come to my site to read it, rather than via RSS (I’m sure this is the same for a lot of writers).

      The way that your site look defines a bit about you – and I stand behind the belief that even a stellar writer needs some color on the site…

  • http://www.angryjuliemonday.com Julie @ Angry Julie Monday

    I read through readers and actual sites. I totally agree about the picture thing. I think my posts can get somewhat boring without any pictures or illustrations.

    And people definitely come directly to my site, because I see the stats.
    [rq=1055,0,blog][/rq]Wordless Wednesday: Shakes at Woody’s Diner in Laguna Hills

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