nyssabrowndesign

Most people know that at the moment, I’m working on a redesign for my site here. I do already have my design well on its way, and it is a big turn around from this current design. I have a few problems with my current design:

• It’s dark and I’m not enjoying it any more
• It’s too blog-like for my likings
• It has a couple of issues which I still haven’t resolved

These are a couple of reasons for the redesign. Another reason, and a main point to make, is that even since I did this current design (only a couple of months ago), I have improved a lot. It’s amazing to watch myself grow in such a short time and I know a few others are enjoying seeing my skills improve so quickly… I really want to show that to everyone else with this upcoming redesign.

Not only will it showcase my abilities to design a website and code it, but it will also show that I can do some illustration, which is not something I’ve really shared at this website at all. I’m not a great illustrator, but I’m better than some. I’m somewhere in the middle. I used to be quite good with a pencil, actually, but I’ve let my drawing skills slip so much over the past 5 years (since joining deviantART and discovering the wider world of art) that I need some serious practice. I’m considering after about 6 months of pencil and paper practice, I will invest in a tablet which will make not just digital drawing easier, but a variety of other things (digital signatures, logo design etc).

Anyway, moving on. Back to my redesign. Here are some main changes in my redesign:

• Light colour scheme. I’ve gone back to a white background. The other colours in the design will remain a secret for the moment.
• Less of a blog feel. I feel it’s important that that I move away from the typical blog design. While the blog will still be present as my main target in design is bloggers (and it will still be WordPress powered), it will focus more so on other content (like my portfolio for example).
• My website will become the “centre” of everything else I do. For example, an RSS page with a collection of feeds from my photoblog, deviantART and Flickr accounts (and perhaps some other places where feeds will be available).

This is just some of it. Though, the real reason for this post is to not really share my ideas for my redesign, but to get ideas of what YOU, my visitors, would like to see in my redesign. Perhaps not the design itself, but rather, what features would you like to see in the new year? Maybe you’d like to see more art from the various styles I do. Perhaps it would be something as simple as liking me to post in the blog more often… tutorials relating to Photoshop, or maybe even photography tips. Who knows. That’s why I’m asking. Share your ideas with me!

Just a quick warning too. Towards the end of the year, perhaps in mid-December, I will be putting my website into maintenance mode, which will mean no access to some of the articles or downloads. This will be a pain for some people, as I find most people come here for the downloads and the (very few) tutorials I have written here. For that, I apologize in advance.