Yes, I’ve changed the look of my blog! It’s a big style transformation, motivated by two total accidents: one, I saw a WordPress announcement that reminded me that I could change the look, and two, I accidentally clicked “activate” instead of “preview” on this theme and decided to just run with it. 😉 I really like it. True, I do kind of miss the colorful collage header on the previous theme, but on the other hand, the text-centered look of this theme lets my entries’ images stand out more. And the resemblance to traditional print media makes the whole thing — I think — a lot more readable, given my penchant for writing much wordier entries than I ought to. 😉 I’d love to hear your feedback, though! What do you like and dislike about the new look?
I spent a nice chunk of the day working on the “rush calligraphy commission” I mentioned in my earlier post (see right): the name cards and inner envelopes of a friend’s graduation announcements. This was really fun. I’ve always wanted to use my typeface/calligraphy obsession for an actual job — and since this is such a happy occasion, it was extra enjoyable!
The "font" I used for my friend's graduation announcements
I won’t display any of the actual cards, for privacy reasons and all that, but this is the “font” I came up with. I wanted something that looked celebratory and cohesive, without being too feminine or traditional (this is a guy friend, btw). I’m happy with it (and my Recife Scribe rollerball), and I think the finished cards look quite nice.
Aside from the cards and revamping this blog, it’s been a lamentably slow day — as I predicted earlier, even if I didn’t say it in so many words. I don’t like these grey rainy days because it’s so hard to focus when I’m slightly chilled all day long! All I want to do is curl up in bed with a good romance or mystery novel, and sip hot tea and soup! If I had a “real” job I suspect days like this would be spent secretly browsing Facebook and playing Minesweeper until 5 PM.
… and no, I still haven’t gotten around to the daily pages I abandoned this morning.
If you are looking to curl up with some hot tea… at least for three minutes… FabMo has created a lovely little intro video that explains what they do. Not only does it give a real sense of the warmth and personality of the organization, but it shows very strikingly just how much beautiful, high-quality material they’re rescuing from landfill. Give it a look!
Intro to FabMo from FabMo on Vimeo.
satsumabug.com | Lisa Hsia 
Oooh! I love the snazzy, new look! I’m a big fan of clean lines and bold text, so this layout really appeals to me. Love the handwritten font for the graduation announcement. 😀
P.S. So, I just clicked on your header to go back to the home page, and I saw the newspaper style layout this time. Love it! Also, I gasped out loud when I first saw your new design, and I’m not really sure what I thought had happened–that someone else had taken over your blog or something equally absurd. 😉
Yay! I love it too — and you’re my first new comment on this layout! 😀 I think it’s going to make me more conscious of my writing and image selection, now that those are basically design elements and not just stuff you scroll down to look at. 🙂
Hahahahaha 😀 I’m always temporarily stymied too, when someone drastically changes the look of their site. It’s so easy to forget the internet is insta-changeable. 😉
i’m so confused! am i supposed to click on the title of each post to see them individually? if so, i don’t mind the sleek new look. but i don’t like the homepage newspaper thing very much… will the newest one always be on the left and push the older ones over? seems weird to me. but just my personal opinion! 😛 i do like the things at the bottom though (about this blog, subscribe via email, calendar etc.).
Yop, seems like the newest will always be at left. You’re right, I guess that does make it harder to navigate through several older entries at once! But you should be able to click on the titles to see the posts singly.
I love the bottom section too… I was telling Erik I wish I had the time to figure out how to code in CSS so I could tweak these templates more. ;b
Just out of curiosity, how do you usually read the blog? Do you use an RSS reader, just visit the homepage, or something else?
i usually just visit the homepage. yes, i have a favorites folder on my bookmark toolbar and i compulsively refresh those pages when i’m at the computer 😛 i suppose i could use an RSS reader… if i could figure out what it is and how to use it 😛 (yes shameful i know for techer). otherwise i use my phone at work to periodically read but sometimes it doesn’t get the most recent posts on it and i have to manually go into your posts and keep clicking “newer” until i find the new posts. haha yessss i am a caveman!!!
I use Google Reader — it makes it very easy. 🙂 You just click on the little RSS icon on any blog you want to follow, and it adds it automatically to the reader! Saves you from having to refresh all the pages manually. 😉
Agh I can’t imagine reading anybody’s blog on a phone. 😐
Well, if I can figure out anything to make this layout easier for you, I’ll do it! 🙂