A pink redesign
I've been meaning to find some time to work on this site and so when when Pink for October was announced, it sounded like an ideal opportunity. An excuse to redesign the site (not that I've ever really needed one) as well as spread the word about a good cause. Sign me up! However, as it always seems to be the case, time just trickles away and so when Matthew reminded me that October was only a weekend away, I found myself in a bit of a mess having not even started any of the development 1.
To make matters worse, on that very weekend, I'd been co-opted to helping out with some house-moving2. And so it was that I barely managed to squeeze in the launch of my redesign in time for the start of October3. Welcome to the 8th iteration of If..Else codenamed 'Dianthus'.
Spreading the word
It'll be remiss of me not to talk about what precipitated this redesign. This year, over a million people will be diagnosed with Breast Cancer. Despite initiatives such as screening programmes, Breast Cancer is still the most common form of Cancer affecting women. For the last two decades, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month has helped in building wider public awareness and so, it's my pleasure to be able to subvert this site for a good cause, even if it's only in a small way. In addition, I'll be donating all my adsense revenue + 100% for this month to Cancer Research UK.
Words on this redesign
Due to the beforementioned time constraints, this site redesign is far from what I would consider finished. Even ignoring the many design features that I had to drop to get this finished in time for the October launch, I haven't been able to give this a rigorous test to make sure that the design holds up across not just the various browser configurations4 but also across the various pages and site options. In particular, I have little more than a vague hope that the existing content holds up without too much damage and I'm disappointed that work on the archive and search pages had to be dropped due to a sheer lack of time. Apologies for any borkages.
The big point to note about this redesign is how far I've had to stretch the definition in order to class this as a pink redesign. My initial sketches and prototypes used pink in a far stronger manner. In fact, one of the designs that I was all but ready to go with was full-on-pink. The problem was balance.
I personally don't consider myself to be a great designer and that showed in trying to develop a design that fit in with the Pink theme whilst not detracting from the content. My main problem was that, whilst each of my initial designs looked good as a one-off feature, the design always seemed to overwhelm the content which it was intended to support. With more time, I would have probably have been able to bring it under control but in a bid to get things done, I took the easy way out and applied dashings of pink to a more stable design. It's no accident that this iteration bears a lot of similarity to it's predecessor; realign is once again the word of the month.
I'm not sure how successful this design is yet. I guess it's still a bit fresh for me to make an objective decision. However, despite the rush job, I'm reasonably pleased with how it turned out. Whether I'll keep this look post-October, or whether I revert back or even redesign again is still an open question but for now I'm happy I managed to go live with it. And with that done, I'm off to bed.
- Though fortunately, I had sketched out what I'd planned to do beforehand and worked on a couple of the major assets such as the header. [back]
- Which was not helped by the fact that I also ended spending a good 8 hours on the road. What is it with rain and traffic? [back]
- Actually, I missed it by about half an hour but I'm ruling it in via use of a technicality as this site is hosted in the US:) [back]
- I did give it a quick test across IE6, FF1.5, Safari, and Opera 9 [back]
-30-
Phu, thats a sweet thing to do with the ad revenue. Love the design, it’s quaint and pink!
Pink…the new Black!
Nice update Phu…..(although your site was never shabby before)….stayed with the grey, dark backgrounds and lines eh?
Love it Phu, you managed to pull off pink without it being garish or overbearing, and retaining the brilliance of your previous design. I was intending - when the pink thing was first mentioned - to take part, but copped out for fear of it all being a bit sweet shop, good to see it doesn’t need to be.
Stuart: You MUST do the sweet shop thing! Hahaha
Looks great Phu. I like what you have done and I really dig the colors. The adsense plan is a great gesture as well.
Phu, it’s beautiful! You make “hand-crafted” a reality that is much too rare these days. Inspired as always.
Very nice job Phu. Reminds me of a speedy little pocket racer. Like you I used Pink for October as an excuse to get off my butt and to give something back to the community. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to browse through the rest of your site to acquaint myself with the new look.
It’s brilliant in Opera 9 and in IE_6_Tag
[Edit by Phu: Thanks Di:)]
Beautiful redesign Phu :-) Your attention to detail has really paid off.
[…] […]
Best one yet, and that’s saying something as I really liked the other ones, however this one seems like you’ve hooked everything the right way by building on what was there before. More realign than redesign which is the signs of a great design(er) http://www.cameronmoll.com/archives/001266.html
[…] […]
Phu the re-design is great, love it!
[…] Die 10 besten Redesigns für die Aktion Pink for October stehen fest. Auch bekannte Designer sind vertreten: If…Else Log, Warpspire und leihu. Obwohl der Grund für die farblichen Veränderungen ein ganz besonderer ist, dienen die Seiten auch als Inspiration. Tags: Inspiration, Farbe « d.Construst 2006 Podcasts […]
I’m joining this as well ;)
Looking good Phu :)
Thanks guys for the comments:)
Looks ace Phu! Loving the new style.
I just love it! Is there a way to get it? It would be really kind if you could send it via e-mail to me.
thanks in advice
steffen
As per usual you have crafted a slick looking and well thought out design. Notably, the little kinks in the pink ribbon - just tucked away up in the corners, but lovely.
Thanks for dropping by :)
Phu, as always, you bring class to every design.
[…] Like many others, I’ve joined in Pink for October, an effort to help promote Breast Cancer Awareness Month. […]
I am, once again, reminded of how ’sleek’ your blog designs are. This one is a little more ’simple’ compared to the last and that’s really it’s strongest feature..
Congrats…
I like this new design. Is more beautiful than previous one.
[…] Inspired by Phu, Anton and Matthew, I’ve turned this site ever so subtly Pink for October (you might need to hit refresh), in support of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. […]
I like it Phu and with good intensions, I like even more. I wish I’d done a pink portfolio for the same reason.
[…] Inspired by Phu, Anton and Matthew, I’ve turned this site ever so subtly Pink for October (you might need to hit refresh), in support of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. […]
Nice Pink for October Design, congrats on making it on CSSREMIX
[Edit by Phu: Thanks. Now if only someone would submit this to Stylegala, CSSBeauty and all the other galleries as well;)]
Congratulations with the pink theme. Not only a nice addition to the site but a worthy cause to boot!
Nice job. Now if only you would blog more often.
[Edit by Phu: Point taken:) This is definitely one area where I need to make amends.]
Not your biggest re-design-but as ever it’s elegant and balanced. You may not think you’re a great designer but I reckon there’s a few out here who’d disagree with your modesty!
Perhaps not an original ideat but I’ll throw it in anyway. When people ask to use your designs you could always tie it in with your commendable reason for the re-design and ditribute them for a small donation to your nominated charity-even if it’s just a couple of £’s it all helps….
Very nice design, as always Phu. ;)
The only thing I would change is make the comments link a little bigger; right now only the number is clickable but you could just as well make the “Number of Comments: XX” thing part of the link. Hail Paul Fitts!
[Edit by Phu: Good point Mathias, that was a silly oversight by myself:) ]
Really love the design (heard that one before..?!) Like the combination of black and pink. Never did a design on a black background, but it’s time to get working on is, gives a great contrast especially in combination with some nice images
I like it, but I think that it will make me sad in the long run… it needs more color :-)
The design is updated, but content isn’t. Not fair :(
I like your design quite a lot, however there is just one problem. I have 20:20 vision, so my eyes work perfectly, however my mind does not. Like many, I suffer from migraine, very severely. Now whilst I can read the first part of your articles, I can not read the rest, this is basically down to (you probably guessed it by now) the font. More specifically the font-size and spacing. Although I use FireFox, increasing the font size doesn’t help. I could also view your RSS, but where would the usability and fun be in that?
All I am asking therefore is if you could please try alternative font-sizes, fonts and spacings to produce a much more readable document. It has nothing to do with the light on dark/dark on light argument as I would have the same troubles in such a situation of the reverse colours.
In any instance, I truly like your design choices and attention to specific details, for example making the pink band have more depth. I believe it is a good step from your previous incarnation.
How come? No updates, but a brilliant design?
so i think its better than before
Nice design, but no updates upsets me
I know this is your name, but can you add one more dot to “If..Else”??
Grammatically speaking, two dots is bad grammar, it should be three dots to form an ellipsis.
“If…Else”?
A great design!