#ArmchairBEA Day 2: Aesthetic Concerns

Posted May 12, 2016 by Dani in Events, Thoughts about things / 1 Comment

ArmchairBEAWelcome to Day 2 of Armchair BEA. You can read my post for Day 1, and introduction to ME, right here.

Today’s theme is Aesthetic Concerns, and it has two parts:

  1. Books
  2. Blogs

Nice and simple!

Before I get started, don’t forget there’s a Twitter chat later today all about being an international reader and blogger!

Armchair BEA International Twitter chat

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Pretty Books

I know I’m not alone in this..

I have bought books solely based on their cover.

Don’t lie to me. You know you’ve done it. Whether it’s a cover that caught your eye on a shelf at the bookstore or a seductive glimpse of a free Kindle book, good covers have the power to grab you, reel you in and make you buy something on impulse.

I’ve even bought whole series for the sake of the matching colours. I haven’t read the Throne of Glass series, but I have All The Books in matching paperbacks, bought at YALC last year for a steal. (I can’t wait for YALC this year, guys…) Despite listening to The Mortal Instruments audiobooks, I bought the entire 6-book series on a whim because I liked the spines that came together to form a landscape image.

Since becoming a blogger and not-so-great bookstagrammer, I find myself buying more physical books than I used to, and I sometimes choose physical over ebooks just because of how photogenic they’ll be. Books with fancy spines, sparkly effects, hidden surprises under dust jackets and so on always find their way onto my shelves! Inner material, like maps and illustrations, also have a higher chance of me purchasing them.

On the other hand, I will also admit to having been put off by a shoddy cover. This sounds terrible, but when I see blog tour emails or review requests, I do consider whether the cover of the book will appeal to my readers and fit with my blog. This is especially true for indie books. If it looks like the author made the cover themselves using a basic image editor or Photoshop, taking a stock photo and plopping the same old fonts over the image without careful consideration of colour and placement, I just feel like the author is messing around and not taking their book seriously. If an author is not serious about their book, why should I be?

Being an indie author is no excuse. One of the main reasons I even requested Air Awakens by Elise Kova was because of the cover image, and she’d commissioned it from Merilliza. Now I own two prints from the series! (Fire Falling and Crystal Crowned, if you’re wondering!) The series even has a map and other cool symbols that I’ve got stickers for. Elise gave a shit and got it done properly.

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Pretty Blogs

I have agonised over my design a lot. This is especially true of the recent redesign. Like with books, a blog design should reflect the content and the style of the blog. Blogs, in particular, should also reflect their owner.

So I guess, when you design your blog, you have to think:

  • Who am I?
  • What do I enjoy reading?
  • What’s my writing and reviewing style?
  • What colours do like?
  • What patterns and pictures appeal to me?

I’ve noticed a lot of blogs out there are generally white or light pastel colours. Florals are also a thing. And I did think about doing that. BUT…

  1. I don’t like pastel colours. Since I was little, I’ve worn either black or brightly coloured clothes. In the past year, I’ve taken it a step further and dye my hair bright colours as well.
  2. I don’t want to be like everyone else.

When you look at my blog and colour scheme, I want you to know you’re on my website without having to look at the URL or even the heading. I want you to see the dark background and pink/green/orange accents and be able to recognise whose blog you’re visiting. And then, if you’re at an event, I really want you to spot my rad pink hair across the room and connect me to my blog. (This might be wishful thinking for strangers to recognise me, but I LIVE IN HOPE. My hair has been useful for my friends to spot me in a crowd, though.)

I also feel like pastel colours are better suited for calmer bloggers, while I am not a calm blogger. I am an excitable blogger, and I also hope that I’m a fun and funny one. (Again, possibly wishful thinking.)

As for the fonts? The main text font is an easy-to-read Source Sans Pro, why the headings are Frederika the Great. I love Frederika the Great because its outlines are structured, but it’s filled in with scribbles. The scribbles sometimes go out of the lines, and I feel like this represents me. I like structure, but I’m also a little bit crazy and like to push boundaries from time to time.

I’m basically Contained Chaos.

Before I leave you, I want to share with you my top tip for designing a blog. It’s actually really simple and probably not what you expect.

Write down your font names and colour hexadecimal values.

Here are my colours:

  • #0E0E0E
  • #FCFCFC (highlight to see!)
  • #AD1457
  • #E91E63
  • #F4511E
  • #7CB342
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Question time!

  1. Do you judge books by their cover?
  2. Have you bought any books solely based on how they look?
  3. Have you got multiple copies of books because you want all their different covers?
  4. Have you ever turned down a review request because of the cover?
  5. Would you be able to recognise my blog from a distance? What about your own?
  6. Can you think of any blogs that have a distinct, recognisable design?
  7. What does my design make you think about me?

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

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One response to “#ArmchairBEA Day 2: Aesthetic Concerns

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