Welcome to a whole new look for Free Pursuits. I hope you like it. I’m really happy with how it turned out. I liked the old design too, but there are a couple of reasons for the change.
Why The Redesign? Wasn’t the Old Look Just a Year Old?
It’s true, this is the third design for Free Pursuits since I started it about 15 months ago. The design that was up until a couple of days ago was less than a year old.
To be frank, I decided to create a whole new look here partly because I really enjoy new designs and the design process. It’s a lot of fun to create a new design, and it also helps keep my interest in a project fresh. A new design can also spur creative thinking and help you connect with your audience better.
I don’t necessarily recommend bloggers to go through redesigns quite so often, but since I’m able to create and implement a blog design like this myself, it doesn’t cost me money, just a little time.
And that’s the second reason for the redesign. A few months ago, I started offering site design/development and marketing services over at Think Traffic.
Another designer had created the design this blog used to wear. Now that I’m helping other people with design and marketing myself, I want to use Free Pursuits as a showcase for my skills in design, community building, marketing, etc.
The first purpose of any blog’s design should be to create an immediate, subconscious connection with your site’s target audience. Design is the first thing processed by a new visitor’s mind, and an appealing design can make the job of your content easier.
In this case, I want Free Pursuits to help you work for yourself and live the life you want. I want the design to encourage you to read and contribute to the site often, to spread the word about what we’re doing here, and to subscribe or connect so we can stay in touch. Those are the goals I focused on in creating the design, and I’m looking forward to watching the results.
Design isn’t everything, but a good design can give you some advantages. Content is ultimately more important than design in connecting with readers and building a community, but why not leverage a design that gives you a head start?
This new design for Free Pursuits wasn’t all about design, either. You’ll notice a new tagline (strategies for working for yourself and living the life you want), a new sidebar introduction to the site and a few other content and copy tweaks. Let me know what you think in the comments.
I’m sure there will be some additional design tweaks coming soon, but the framework is ready to share with you now.
Old vs. New
This design and the old one were both built on the Thesis theme for WordPress.
If there is anything you think this new design is missing (or if you see anything out of place), please let me know.
I like it, although I do miss the blue header a little!
The one issue I see is that when I zoom in with Firefox, the page background doesn’t scale along with the text.
Hey Josh, thanks for the note. I forgot to check everything for browsers with text zoom enabled. It’s fixed now, so you should be able to zoom as you like. Cheers!
Great redesign! It looks cleaner and fresher to me than the old one, and I also like the new tagline. I‘d like to see your ebook placed more prominently, because it’s a real burner and people shouldn’t miss it.
But all in all, the new design is a real winner in my eyes!
Thanks, Fabian, I’ll probably give the ebook (New Economy Superstar, listed in the footer) a more prominent place shortly. I wanted to start with the basic framework and then shuffle things around a little as needed.
Great new look and love the redesign! Keep up the great work and amazing resources!
Awesome, Jeff. Will do.
I really like the new look. Very clean and easy on the eyes. Did you remove your affiliate banners (break out of 9-5, etc.) for a reason or are you planning to put them back later?
Hey Juha, no reason in particular. I like to trade up what’s in the sidebar from time-to-time to make sure regular readers get something different.
I like it. The old one looked good, but I like this one much better. If I knew anything about design, I might even be able to tell you why!
You don’t need to know anything about design to know how one makes you feel! Thanks for the feedback.
I like it a lot, Corbett. You and I have very similar tastes when it comes to clean and effective design with bold splashes here and there. Well done sir.
Oh, cool, Matt. Glad you like it. I’m always impressed by your work. Thanks a lot.
Hi Corbett,
Excellent site! Love the change… right to the point.
As a side note (for self-promotion), I am looking for an angel investor in case you happen to know someone reasonably close, geographically speaking, to Ontario, Canada. I had someone in Singapore interested but prefer to have someone fairly nearby who can catch the excitement and want to play a part and not just financial though that IS important. Thanks.
Thanks, Walt. Best of luck finding an investor. Not sure many angel investors read this blog though.
Hi, Corbett. I like the new design. We’ve been working on our own updates and had already decided to borrow your tip of adding the number of monthly readers to the header since Feedburner has been so wacky lately. I can see now that further simplification is in order.
Designing when you are not a designer is tough. I like James’ comment above – it reminds me of the story of the judge who said he couldn’t define pornography, but he knew it when he saw it.
Thanks for walking the talk on both of your sites – I learn a lot every week.
Thanks, Betsy! I’ve been hoping I’d see your new logo up on the site sometime soon. It is really great. Best of luck with the non-designer designing. It does get easier with practice. Just observe the little details and layouts of other sites you like as a learning tool. If you have any specific questions, feel free to email me.
I love your designs Corbett. Everything is very clear and strategically placed.
Awesome, John. Thanks for the compliment. Hope all is well with you.
Hey Corbett!
I’m loving the new design, I feel like it’s the New Year, new start, new beginnings, like you said–let the creativity begin!
Oh, I’m really diggin the “Get updates by carrier pigeon email or telegraph RSS.” –LMAO! hilarious!
Hey Parker, here’s to new beginnings.
The carrier pigeon reference must have been left over from the circa-1900 design template I borrowed
I like this much better, Corbett. It’s calm, clean and spacious. It makes me want to spend more time here. The previous one was more masculine. This one is probably more welcoming to everyone. It’s neutral yet warmer. I also like the new version of your logo/logotype. Congrats!
Calm, clean, spacious, great description. That was the mood I was trying to convey. Glad you want to hang out here more. Thanks, C. A.
Hey Corbett,
I love the new design. The best thing is that it’s open and inviting. I also like the new tag line. Thanks for all you do.
Great, Rasheed. Your comments always make me feel good. That’s a wonderful thing.
To tell the truth, I don’t like the designs of the blogs that run on Thesis. They are usually very simple (not in a good way) and ugly. And they all just look the same.
But your blog is different. I LOVE the new design. It’s one of the best blog designs I’ve ever seen and definitely the best Thesis-based blog design I’ve ever seen. Could you tell me how much would it cost to design something like this? I’m just curious.
Marcin, check this page that features lots of different Thesis customizations:
http://www.artofblog.com/thesis-design-customizations/
I think the real pros can come up with really unique looking sites.
I’m a relatively new user and an amateur who still has a lot to learn, but even I can say that Thesis is more than just the looks. It’s extremely practical and great for search engine optimization. I had my doubts about it at the beginning, too. But now I can’t imagine myself using another theme. I do everything, even the niche sites I’m learning to create through Corbett’s online course, on Thesis (without even using an FTP program). And Thesis has made a difference for me.
Thanks for the link! Some of these designs are really good but there are also many regular, “typical Thesis” ones. It’s all a matter of a good designer but I have almost exclusively seen those basic, white designs.
Great points about Thesis, C.A. It’s true, the out-of-box appearance is a bit boring, but that’s not why I use Thesis. The real benefits to the theme are the excellent foundational elements it provides, like SEO capabilities, customization ability, speed, and flexible elements. I use it as the basis of my WordPress designs, but tend to customize it heavily.
Thanks for the compliment, Marcin. Glad you like the new design so much.
As for cost of a design like this, it really depends on the level of customization you need. There are three typical possibilities, self-installed themes, template-based designs or completely custom designs.
Themes/skins that you install yourself usually run $40 to $200. Template-based designs (where you’re choosing from some existing designs, and only slightly customizing one) are $800 to $2000, and completely custom designs run $3,000 to $6,000. All prices depend on which designer/firm you’re working with. My prices are in the middle of those ranges. I don’t have any skins/themes available for sale yet, but I might release this design and/or the previous Free Pursuits design as inexpensive skins.
Thanks for the answer! It would be a great idea to release something similar to this theme with some customization options.
Definitely digging the new look.
Thanks Nate!
Love the new design Corbett. Feels a lot easier to navigate and having the social media stuff in you header and footer has given the body a cleaner feel.
Hopefully the social media icons in the header aren’t too subtle. I’ll watch closely to see how often they’re clicked on vs. before.
I love it man! Great design for sure, I’m working on a new design for my blog over at VentureMixx (some of it is inspired by ThinkTraffic)…will consider a major redesign in the future and keep your service in mind. Keep rockin’ it buddy.
Thanks, Tony. VentureMixx is looking good! Nice work.
Hi Corbett — Love the elements and layout but I’m going to go out on a limb and say I don’t love the color scheme. I don’t get the chunky black letters and clay/grey background. Don’t see the connection those choices have with the spirit and freedom of a sail boat or living/striving for the life you want. Seems a bit weighed down and dreary to me. I do love the sail boat logo… fits the blog topic perfectly and captures the essence of freedom — wind in your sails exploring the big open sea. Could be a bit larger… looks more like a boat adrift in a storm. ( Or maybe that’s what you were going for?)
Ah, darn, I was hoping everyone would love it
Thanks for your honesty and constructive feedback. I can see your points about the color scheme. To me, the blue just felt dated, and I’ve always thought of blue as a “corporate” color for some reason. I thought of the clay colors as the earth, so the freedom analogies would still work. The sailboat can be adrift in a storm, space, the sea, or wherever you like. That’s the beauty of art, it’s your choice as the viewer 
I’m diggin it!
The design is really easy on the eyes.
The one thing that irks me (just a tad) is the blue background on the top 10 posts. The rest of the design is variations of brown and the blue kinda sticks out a little too hard.
Most likely it’s intentional to stick out so people check out the list but for me there’s a bit of a disconnect.
Otherwise, I really love it. Logo definitely has a stronger impact on me.
Thanks, Murlu. Yeah, I’m not totally sure about the sidebar heading colors yet, but I’ll live with ‘em for a while and decide. Thanks for the feedback!
I’m a bit late to the party but hey, this is really sleek design Corbett. I especially like the colors, they make the site a much, much more pleasant read.
Keep up the good work!
Awesome, Mario! Glad you like it. Thanks for the encouragement.
Corbett, love this new design
delivers your one – sentence mission statement right up there in the header, good seo but even better for readers to get your benefit across right away
Colours emphasising key areas look great against grey background
maybe I should buy thesis sometime?
Adam
Thanks Adam. Thesis is great, but it takes quite a bit of wrangling to get it to look like this. Out of the box it’s pretty plain. If you know CSS/HTML/PHP, then go for it.