Great Designs: Trish @ Just a YA Girl

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I've started a new feature. Great Design is a way for me to showcase other book bloggers that have put the effort forward to learn how to do great design work. If you would like to be considered for this feature please fill out the form!

Trish @ Just a YA Girl

What resources have you used in your design? Is there any websites you'd recommend for resources?


I love to use a lot of resources in my design. So here’s a list :)

PowerPoint- If you are a windows user PowerPoint is sometimes much easier than trying to use Gimp or Photoshop. It is pretty basic but you would be surprised with what designs you can make. I use it for all the buttons I’ve created.

Gimp- The header of my blog was created in Gimp. It’s free to use and there are a lot of tutorials on the net.
 
Colourlovers - This website is amazing. There are several seamless patterns that can be used as a background for any template. You can even make your own seamless pattern if you wanted to.

There are also several tools such as Themeleon that you can use to customize your twitter account.  
Google- When it comes to a code question that I can’t figure out myself (because let’s face it, I’m self-taught and I know next to nothing most of the time) then I google it. Google has saved my blogging life so many times.

Fonts- I am a font nerd. I huuuuge font nerd. I can’t get enough of them. I feel that a good font will add versatility and playfulness to your design without being in your face about it. There are so many great fonts on the net. My favorite is Shelter Me by Kimberly Geswein.

What do you like most about your design?


I like the “feel” of my design. My blog has lot of soft elements. Such as the vintage floral pattern used in the typography and the cream background color.

I like to keep the busy stuff in my posts so that my readers can relax when they visit my blog. I like that it is distinctly mine.

I made the buttons, the graphics, and I customized the template to fit my personality. It feels like home for me and that’s a great feeling to have :)

What has been the biggest difficulty in getting your design to be how you want it?


Finding a good template to use as a base. I don’t make my own templates because I don’t know how (I wish I did!). I take a readymade template created by a graphic designer (who allows the template to be used! This is important!) and then I customize it to suit my needs using code and colourlovers.

There are some really talented and kind web designers who create free templates that can be used by the public. You just have to know where to find them.

I can’t thank these women (and men) enough for their hard work. Lauren @Nymfont (she also makes some wicked fonts), Sharnee @Suckmylolly, and Katrina @PuglyPixel are my top three. They are unique and creative individuals I deeply respect.    

Have you enjoyed learning about design?


Yes! I actually want to learn more. They say that you can’t blog without learning a little bit of code and it’s true. I don’t think code is scary.

I have fun with it. In the future I would like to make my own blog templates and get down and dirty with the code. 

Some of my favorite designs by Trish-









The ethereal quality of her design puts me at immediate ease. I love designs that calm the senses instead of invigorating them. When I’m reading blogs my eyes can get increasingly tired and her design gives them a break. Plus it’s simply beautiful.

Categories: Great Designs