It seems that the majority of blogs all follow a standard layout: a long list of posts on the left and a sidebar on the right containing such things as recent comments, popular posts, etc. For this reason, when designing a blog, it is so important to do something innovative with the layout to help it stand out from the crowd.
Here are are 10 well designed blogs that all possess smart and innovative layouts. These should help inspire you to be different.
SpaceCollective
NEWTOYORK
ANidea
Jason Santa Maria
GOOD
Alpha Multimedia Solutions
Alex Buga
UX Magazine
Information Architects
Wilson Miner
Good post, making me think….should i change my layout.
Very inspiring. Interesting though how many of those ‘innovative’ layouts look like the good old days of printed content.
On a sidenote: information overload is a problem nowadays, seeing these thumbs information overload in even one single webpage is also a growing pain.
really love some of these ANidea deff made my eyes happy this morning 🙂
Nice list!
Great List! Thank you for helping me to think outside the box!
ANIdea is clever, but is probably a modification of a commercial theme available from WP Zoom (check a live demo here)
Wow. Innovative, indeed. JSM is everywhere, by the way 🙂
I think if you are a designer then you will be influenced by layout. Otherwise, it’s only content that matters.
Most of these sites look awesome as thumbnails, but once I visit them, they don’t look so great. Has anyone else experienced this phenomenon?
Well, within the standard layout I like what you did here, on this blog, with the recent posts and comments. Great abstract form for the recent comments and I just love the pictures next to the recent posts.
What I like about it, is that it is within the standard layout but done in a different and very tasteful way.
I just threw out all my comps for my site redesign. No more same-same multi-column gibberish. Forget even thinking outside the box. Design like there never was a box!
Great post. Already Tweeted.
Innovative..
“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
@Matt – I think it means to introduce something new or make changes in anything established, and so does dictionary.com. What do you think it means?
@Annemieke – Thanks! I’m glad you like the design 🙂
I was so into hammering my own site that I realized my blanket statement could’ve been misinterpreted as a knock against any and all sites using multi-column layouts. More importantly it could look like I was knocking your site. This is exactly why teachers would never call on me in school…
I really love what you’ve done here. The layout is fresh, colors are original, and I’m completely digging the comment column. 🙂 I’m going back to my side of the internets.
@Artboredom – I never thought for a second you were knocking this site. I’m glad you like the design. I think it shows that you can still be creative and different within a multi-column layout.
I definitely love jason santa marias site – its different with each blog post he writes! Its interesting – we cram our blog content into a consistent layout – when the layout should be flexible to change when our content does. I think this is something we have been missing out on in web design.
Hey Guys,
You cant miss https://www.treehugger.com
I saw Alex Buga’s site last month and was greatly inspired to make my portfolio the way it is now. Nice selection.
@Matt – I think he is using the term “innovative” properly.
Innovative – Introduction of a new idea into the marketplace in the form of a new product or service, or an improvement in organization or process
Some of them are really beautiful.
My favourite is ANidea.
Most of these are nice and clean. The only problem to overcome with non-standard type layouts is making sure people/search engines can still navigate the site efficiently while keeping the design integrity.
Thank you man.
Stambled your article.
Good Luck!
@GG one would think so, but disagree. Whether the layout is ‘pretty’ or not may not matter nearly as much as content, but the layout being USER FRIENDLY certainly is. Nothing makes me click ‘close’ faster than a website with a confusing layout, or just too ‘busy’ looking.
Hello!
Very Interesting post! Thank you for such interesting resource!
PS: Sorry for my bad english, I’v just started to learn this language 😉
See you!
Your, Raiul Baztepo
Great and useful site. Congratulations!!!
You know you are right. Most of the blogs do follow a standard layout, which at times look very boring. I particularly like the newspaper style of Jason Santa Maria. Alex Buga is also nice. Really innovative.
These are really mediocre, looks like just a space filling post to me…
Come on guys, you can do better
Great post very inspiring! Time to do a little reworking for me.
Nice list! Very inspiring. One question… How do websites make it on this list? Do they e-mail you their website or do you search around and stay on top of these designs?
Thanks!
There’s some really inspiring stuff there. Thanks for bringing it to us.
this is just awesome ,had to bookmrak this page.
thnnx a lot
Thanks for Sharing!!
Really very Inspiring and Innovative Layouts.