The first makeover was for Diane at Bookchickdi. Her blog is part book review, part Broadway play review, and she wanted a design that combined the two ideas. She also liked what I had done with the Books in the City makeover from a few months back.
Here is a before shot of her blog:
Here is the after. Click on the first image if you want to go to the site directly:
I drew everything but the photos and the Twitter bird, although I did recolor it. The header images are of Broadway show signs and of a bookstore that's actually on Broadway. The footer images are of Central Park, where Diane said she spent a good deal of time as well.
I also redid Diane's Twitter page. I forgot to take a before shot of it, but here is the after:
I was trying to draw upon the idea of New York and books without making it exactly like the blog design. I had seen so many Broadway photos online that were actually photos of the Broadway street sign that I decided to go in that direction by putting her blog name on a street sign on a New York City street corner. That building on the right is supposed to be a corner bookstore. You can see more or less of it depending on your screen resolution and monitor size.
The second makeover was for a second book review blog, The Unread Reader. Its author, Missie, also wanted something similar in feel to Books in the City. She also wanted to incorporate her favorite colors, hot pink, yellow, and black.
Here is her before shot:
And here is her after:
As with Diane's design, I drew everything in this makeover except the photos. The Kindle and Mac shots Missie provided. The other three were stock photos.
I also redid Missie's book rating system. You can see part of it on the sidebar, but the rest you won't be able to see on her blog until she writes her next review. In the meantime, here is a sneak peak. They're mini-Kindles with stars.
I also learned how to do drop down menus for navigation bars and how to change the post font to a nonstandard font so I'll probably be adding those to my services soon. I just need to take a day or two break from the computer before I go blind or permanently meld with my desk chair.
Because of the makeovers, I still haven't gotten around to playing with Wordpress or creating any premade designs. I'll try to get to them one day.
