Wednesdays are usually all about home projects, but today is about my home here on the interwebs - the new blog look! Here's a little story of how it all happened and who made it happen.
History of the Blog
The story of how Swoon came to be is kind of fun. A number of years ago, Jamie was planning her wedding and I was helping out with the details, and we both realized how much we loved it. At the time, I was working at a job (not my current one) that I didn't love and needed a creative outlet. Jamie and I considered event planning and made pretty decent strides to that end. We branded ourselves "Swoon Events" and started a company, started blogging, worked with a designer to create our logo and color scheme and even met with a PR consultant. There came a point where we had to decide whether we did it as a hobby or a profession, and neither of us was willing to leap to the latter. We also realized, as we blogged about home stuff, that our passion was more with home projects and DIY than with weddings and events. So we did a rebrand, and Swoon Style and Home was born. We also redid our blog and went with the yellow and grey color scheme that was on the blog for so long. We shared the blog for years - taking turns posting and sharing about our home projects and style/fashion loves.
Time marches on and things change ... and Jamie found herself busier at work without the ability to blog. So the two of us talked (um ... we talk a lot. usually some wine is involved) and I asked if she minded if I took over the blog for awhile and redid it, of course leaving the door open for her to return at any time. She was all for it. I say all this so that you know that I didn't railroad my way to change up the blog. Jamie was, and always will be, a huge part of what Swoon is.
And as time marched on, and my life changed, a lot of my focus turned to running and triathlon. Bill (kind of jokingly) suggested that I rename the blog "Swoon Style Home and Sweat" and I thought that was brilliant. My posts were settling into a routine anyway - Monday workouts (sweat), Wednesdays projects (home) and Fridays what I wore (style). I didn't want to change the URL but definitely loved the idea of adding the "sweat" to the name. Thank you Bill!
The New Design
So where to begin? I knew I wanted a totally new look that really reflected me. I started where I started in the past with blog design: the blog Snippet and Ink. Snippet and Ink is a wedding blog, but she also creates gorgeous inspiration boards. Those are mostly for wedding planning purposes, but Jamie and I used them a number of times in the past for our blog designs. So that's where I started. I went through all of the inspiration boards and went with the one that I liked the most. This one:
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| Photo courtesy of Snippet & Ink |
I loved the gold, the white, the cream and that blue. I thought it was memorable, chic and yet still very simple. It seemed very me. Also, I would kill for that dress.
I wanted a blog with a lot more white space. Something easy to read. And also something pretty to read. I think the blog is just that! I also wanted something that was easier for my readers. I've gotten comments that the "comment" section was hard to find. Now it's right at the bottom of the post, which definitely makes more sense. The new nav bar at the top also makes sense. I'll eventually update those buttons/pages.
The Designer
I started with the designer who worked on past iterations of Swoon, but she is on maternity leave. So I did some google searching and landed upon Stephanie at How Sweet Designs. I loved the blogs that she designed, her ordering/designing process seemed very simple and streamlined, her prices were totally fair, and I thought she was a great fit. And she was! I have to say - it was truly a pleasure and a breeze working with her. And it took maybe 3-4 weeks from the second I placed the order until the site went live. I highly recommend Stephanie if you're looking to redo (or even start up) a blog. It helped that I had a clear direction, but she was able to understand my vision even when I couldn't articulate it all that well (e.g., "the font isn't swirly or swoopy enough ... can you change it?").
So that's the story of the new blog! I hope you enjoy it. I sure am!
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