54 Inspiring and Original Blogger Designs
April 04, 2008 Filed under: Blogger Templates 41 Comments
When I begin devising a new Blogger template design, the first thing I do is look for inspiration. CSS galleries and design showcases are among the first places I visit to be inspired, but one thing I have noticed is that there are rarely any Blogger powered designs on show!
So over the past few weeks, I've been searching for the best Blogger powered web designs to provide a source of inspiration particularly for those who use Google's Blogger platform.
In this article you will see 54 unique and inspiring Blogger powered designs: some of these seem based on generic/free templates, while others are so far from the generic norm that it was difficult to believe these are powered by Blogger at all!
For your visual pleasure, here are these 54 excellent Blogger powered designs, organized by category. I hope you enjoy looking through these designs as much as I did finding them!
My Favorite Five
These designs are my absolute favorites of the bunch, whose designers should be particularly proud of the excellent overall appearance and functionality of their blogs:
Woork
Can you believe this site is powered by Blogger? Woork is a magnificent design, and the content is truly awesome! I was glad to have found this site to be able to subscribe and read these great posts, not to mention the inspirational design this is packaged in...
La Blogueria
This monochrome design is truly stunning in every way. SO much work has gone into making every aspect of this design fit with the main theme. Just take a look at the animations and mouseover effects. And don't forget to take a look at the camera-phone in the top left of the screen...
Lawrie Malen
This mere screenshot cannot possibly give justice to Lawrie's fabulous design. This one really takes my breath away...
Powered by Flash (yes, I did say flash!), this unique Blogger design is truly inspirational. I have never seen a blog quite like this before, much less one which utilizes Google Blogger!
Uptime Studio
This site is a fabulous example of how Blogger may be used as a CMS (content management system).
This charitable photography site has been featured in many CSS galleries and uses W3C valid HTML markup. The slideshows are truly stunning and contribute to the overall make up of this beautifully designed site.
Kokogiak
Kokogiak's design uses so many different functions, including show/hide div animations, Google maps integration, site search... It's wonderfully laid out and one of my favorite ever designs in terms of functionality and a joy to navigate.
Clean/Simple Layouts
This section features designs which are clean, simple and well laid out.
RedditAll
This is the personal blog of Alexis Ohanian (who designed the Reddit alien logo).
Metamorf
I love the rounded corners and subtle color scheme at play here. It's such a pity the author decided not to continue using this blog...
Twitter Blog
Never underestimate the power of a simple header image combined with striking images in posts!
Infinite Thinking Machine
This clean layout perfectly enhances the educational content of this resource site.
Meta Microcosmos
For me, this design sums up the process of "blogging as journalling". Despite the clean simplicity, there is still excellent attention to detail. Look in the top right hand corner while the page is loading for an example...
Gem @ Blog
It's so easy to find your way around this clean design. The label cloud at the top of the page makes it easy to understand what this blog is all about, while the static link to the top of the page (bottom right) is a touch of classy usability.
Dev Blog Zone
A clean and professional layout which fits perfectly with the theme of code and development explored through the articles presented here.
ChaseJarvis
Chase Jarvis' blog was recently featured in Blogger's Blogs of Note. I love how the pale design perfectly sets off the photography and images in the posts. It's well integrated into Chase's complete website, so you can barely tell you are leaving Blogger hosting when clicking on the tabs in the navigation section.
Ficcionalista!
I adore the beautiful simplicity of this design. It's so clean and uncluttered, and the placement of every element seems so well thought out.
Dark Designs
In contrast to the previous set, these designs use darker color schemes to great stylistic effect.
Iran Graffiti and Urban Art Report
This is a really unusual design, utilizing expandable DIV sections for different areas of the blog. Iran Graffiti showcases urban art caught on camera in Tehran. It really is worth a visit to see some of the stunning designs featured in this blog.
Fonsite
This striking design makes great use of PNG transparency and even renders correctly in Internet Explorer.
Black Zedd Basic Literature
A cynically corporate design (you'd need to read this blog to discover why...) which is pulled off beautifully! The drop down menu and scrolling news ticker really add to the depth of this design.
Second Life First Person
I always love to see how people use the Blogger templates I provide here at Blogger Buster, and this customization is truly an excellent example of what can be achieved with a little imagination!
Feminine Designs
This set of Blogger powered designs are feminine, girly and inspired by women's interests (candy colored inspiration for all the lady bloggers!)
Flair in the City
I've always admired Angel's Blogger powered design which was originally based on one of Jackbook's Wordpress conversions (though you really can't tell at all which one this was!). Every element of this blog is styled to pretty perfection with an excellent choice of color scheme which really sets of the great content. If only all fashion blogs were so well designed...
Xiaxue
Xiaxue's blog is beautifully designed and is such a great presentation of her personality!
I'm Just a Blogger
This is such a unique and feminine design. The styling in the header is reflected throughout the template, and the bright colors complement the author's personality in vivid technicolor.
Homeschool Diaries
A lighthearted design makes this homeschooling blog a fabulous place to learn of this mommy's experiences.
Hip Mama's Place
This "Mommy Blog" is dedicated to fashionable mummies and their trendy offspring.
A Woman In Full
This design is truly a work of art. It seems inspired by 1950's style movie posters and is very eye-catching!
A Mere Trifle, My Dear!
Although this is quite a busy design, I love the overall theme of nostalgia: everything is drawn together, from the flock style wallpaper to post images and sidebar icons.
Immoral Matriach
An eclectic combination of old meets new in this striking personal blog design.
Musicians/Artists/Photographers
This section showcases some of the best Blogger powered designs written by musicians, artists and photographers.
Throw The Fight
This blog utilizes flash, YouTube and other stylish elements in such a great way! Blog posts provide news to fans of the band, another great example of how Blogger may be utilized as a CMS.
Jupiter One
Here again, flash is used in the header section to provide fast loading background music.
Dangerous Muse
I love the effectiveness of this simple design, especially the huge "dates" which overlay the actual posting date.
Project 100 Animals
The simple backdrop is the perfect canvas to highlight the beautiful artwork showcased here.
Mid East Collective
A striking, graffiti style header combined with ultra bright colors in the sidebar creates an eclectic mix.
Fabrizio Fareze
An excellent showcase of photography is perfectly enhanced by the Polaroid styling of each individual post.
Alberto Montt
Here again we see how a simple clean layout can perfectly set off such beautiful artwork. Each post is so well designed with each image framed and styled so well.
Miscellaneous Designs
A final collection of Blogger powered designs which were difficult to categorize. All are excellent and inspiring in some way.
ts0
Thom Shannon's blog screams simplicity, yet is so aesthetically pleasing in structure and form.
Obviously (The Obvious Blog)
Obviously
This is the official blog of Obvious, the company behind Twitter. I love the parchment style background combined with the striking red logo.
Odeo Blog
Slick and usable, this blog is branded with Odeo's striking logo and fits perfectly with the main site's theme.
Grape Digging Sharon Fruits
This design really breaks convention! It's almost as though the blog posts are printed as a label on the jam-jar!
Spoiler TV
This is just one in a series of interlinked "Spoiler TV" blogs written by Dark UFO. It's really hard to tell that these blogs are hosted by Blogger, especially with the attention to detail, the use of DOM tabs in the sidebar (which change to display recent posts, feeds, stats, translations and so on) and the slick menu bars.
Mi-Microcosmos
Another stunning design by Yo Misma which encompasses the personality of this creative blogger in both background and attention to detail.
World United Bloggers
A collaboration of bloggers from all corners of the world whose message is clearly employed in the striking header. Navigation is simple and well styled, while the sidebar sections are well organized and easily distinguished from the main content.
Ask The Admin
This blog has so much personality! Throughout the design and blog posts are funny illustrations, cartoons and such which perfectly enhance the theme of "geeky humor".
Los Malditos Samurias de Gallaecia
For me, this Blogger powered design is Eastern inspired bliss! I love the way even each post title is styled according to the theme; blog authors have their portraits framed in the sidebar and the header is just... amazing!
Mike Durrett Confidential
The style of this humor blog reminds me of Presidential campaigns, though everything on this site feeld as though it's been placed in the correct area. Even the images and quotes in posts are positioned well.
Inzitan Blog
This blog is based on the Magic Paper template, but with a little adaptation this becomes so much more beautiful. By adding the image of the little girl and the flash functionality to the header section, the author has really made this template come alive.
Tech In-Law
Here is another Blogger powered design based on an existing template. The unique header design goes a long way to explain for the casual visitor exactly what this blog is all about, while the clean content section is easy to navigate.
Fresh
The title of this blog sums up the design completely. Featuring a cool color scheme and no clutter whatsoever, this is a breath of fresh air.
Awful Announcing
One of the things I love most about this design is that even the ads complement the general theme! The over-sized navigation buttons near the header set this apart from others of a similar design.
Basic Instructions
Scott Meyer's cartoons are brought to life online in this hilarious blog! Each post is a self-contained and perfectly crafted piece of art which will have you rolling on the floor in laughter! This design is mostly monochrome, with the only elements of color appearing in the footer section as links to Meyer's other sites.
the iseen blog
Vahagn Mkrtchyan's blog is a creative visual resource about art, design, architecture, photography and more. Each post is almost a work of art in itself, stylized perfectly to match the overall theme of rounded corners, use of color and general style.
Final Thoughts...
While writing this post, I came across even more excellent designs and had to delay publishing so I could include these too! I know there are many more excellent Blogger powered designs to be discovered and would love to follow up this article with another in the near future. So if you are especially proud of your own Blogger powered design (or know of another blogger's work you would like to see showcased here), feel free to drop me a line or leave a comment below.
If you have enjoyed this post please consider adding this to your favorite social bookmarking service, or subscribe to the feed and receive free updates of new Blogger related articles as they are posted. As always, I would really appreciate your comments and opinions, so feel free to let me know what you think by leaving your comments below.
Discuss "54 Inspiring and Original Blogger Designs"
Comments? Questions? Let us know what you think! Join the discussion >>
Aw shucks you made the little geeky guy blush :)
Thanks so much from your friends over at AskTheAdmin!
Warm Geeky Regards,
Karl "TheAdmiN" Gechlik
Great inspirational list for any blogger blogger out there. Should that be blogspot blogger?
I love that asktheadmin website also!
Thanks for including my blog and for the kind comments, and thanks for the great list. No doubt it will inspire to further push the design of my site.
Oh wow. Coming from the RSS feed link, I wasn't expecting to see Flair in the City listed here. Thank you so much for the kind words, Amanda. :)
I'm so amazed with Uptime Studio's design! Absolutely love it. And Woork's design is making me jealous. Teehee! :D
Thank you!!! Thank you so much! Gosh I am such a lucky girl!
Love Elaine
Muchas gracias Amanda ha sido todo un placer comprobar que el diseño de mi blog a pesar de la sencillez es de tu agrado.
Un abrazo.
Thanks for the great list of blogs. A lot of them have some awesome ideas. Mine is blogger based, and I integrated my website into it - let me know what you think if you have a chance...
www.curlysu.com
www.susannaloewy.com
Wow those are some nice blog designs... My looks a toilet compare to the ones you mention here, but, my delivers, at least till now. But, like any other blogger out there, I always thinking on having a new high quality design for it, I still thinking about it... Maybe one f this days.
Yours truly,
Luis Galarza.
Thanks - not for including my blog www.chasejarvis.com/blog--but for highlighting so many other great blogs. So impressive.
My RSS reader just got that much more full... I owe you one!
That's a list I've been looking for! Before I did my design, I looked around for best custom-designed blogger blogs to see how far we can go with the template. But it's not that easy to locate them. Thank you for your effort!
BTW thanks for including my blog. I appreciate it a lot! Your recognition as 'inspiring design' surely made my day. Worth the effort!
Thanks so much for including my blogs in this marvellous list! Now I have to visit so many sites for inspiration and ideas, thanks for this too!
I am just soooo thrilled that you've noticed my blog (furthermore, that you'd like it)! I don´t know what to say so I will just say that... I am sooo thilled!
Thanks a lot! I means so much coming from you. Also, I am really amazed at the brilliant ond original designs over there... besides, most of them are made by non-professionals, and for sure, more than one, including mine, are made by people who just months ago barely knew what a "link" was :D, and this I have to thank blogs like yours and people like you, and a bunch of blogs from your list too!
Congrats to all those inpired bloggers that put so much care in what they do.
Regards Amanda! I love your warm, no-nonsense and beautiful blog.
Thank you all so much for your kind comments! I was hoping to email everyone on the list about this post, but it seems many of you have already found your blogs here :)
I've just noticed a problem with this post in IE and will be back shortly to reply to all your comments.
Best wishes and thank you all for visiting!
Amanda
For Karl L Gechlik: Yours was one of th efirst sites I found when compiling this list! I really couldn't believe this was powered by Blogger as it's so different from what I'd usually expect to see :)
For Commodore: It's hard to decide whether to use Blogger blogger or Blog*Spot blogger, especially when many of us use custom domains! Thanks for stopping by, I'm glad you have enjoyed this list.
For Dark UFO: You're most welcome for the inclusion. I love how you have combined your blogs to make it seem like one huge site :)
For Angel: Your design is amazing and one which I've always admired! Of course you were going to be on this list!!
Uptime Studio really surprised me too! Unless I'd seen the Blog*Spot domain, I would have skipped past this and assumed it was a regular web site (not a blog!).
For Elaine Biss Designs: You're most welcome! I love your feminine design and your content is great! Thanks for stopping by :)
Thankyou ever so much for including indextwo.net :D In the Top Five too! SCORE!
Para Gem@:
¡Su diseño es maravilloso! Estoy alegre ofrecer su blog en esta lista. La simplicidad puede ser hermosa también, yo ama considerar cómo usted ha hecho un blog tan hermoso de una disposición uncluttered simple. Perdóneme por favor si mi español no es tan bueno, como debo utilizar un traductor para contestarle de esta manera. Gracias por parar cerca para dejar su comentario :)
For Curly Su: Thanks for stopping by! I love how you've managed to integrate your blog and site so completely, even looking at the source code makes it difficult to know which is which :)
I've bookmarked your blog as I hope to follow up with another showcase in the future.
Thanks for this!
For Luis Galarza: Not everyone has the time or inclination to customize their design to the extent you see in these examples. Ultimately your blog design should be something which works well for you, so I wouldn't worry too much about this until you feel ready :) I do hope this post has provided you with inspiration though, should you decide to change your template in the future.
For Chase Jarvis: I know what you mean about all the subscriptions! While researching this list I came acros so many great sites and now have loads to read every day :)
It's still a pleasure to feature you site here, I love how you have integrated all elements of your site so seamlessly.
For Black Zedd: I was hoping to write this for some time, though finding any lists of designs which featured Blogger powered blogs was the problem! Luckily once I'd discovered a few I kept on finding more (it was almost like following a trail of breadcrumbs!).
You're more than welcome for the inclusion of your blog in this list. I recognized how great your design was some time ago and am happy to finally help others find this too :)
For Yo Misma: I love your attention to detail in your designs. It's thrilling to see how your blogs are so unique and beautifully styled!
For La Blogueria: Thank you so much for stopping by! I was amazed by your design, especially now that I understand how much you have learned in such a short time to accomplish this! It's such a great experience to visit your site, and I fear my static screen shot cannot do this justice. You feature so many elements which I had not considered for blog design before finding your blog :)
Thank you for your kind comments, both about Blogger Buster and the other blogs featured in this showcase.
Best wishes,
Amanda
For Lawrie: I remember having found your blog some time ago (before I even begam writing Blogger Buster!). I'm just as thrilled to see your blog loading today as I was back then. Flash design is something I have never worked with, though you inspire me to begin learning more about this.
Thanks for stopping by! And I'm more than happy to feature your blog in my favorite 5: it's awesome!
I must chime in with the majority here and say WOW! Thanks for featuring me, I wouldn't have had a clue you did if I didn't hop by here every once in awhile like I usually do. Thanks, it's really appreciated! :)
Thanks so much for including our blog in this marvellous list!
The Uptime Studio team
This is another great blogger post thank you. Some of these sites just give those blog beginners among us, higher things to aim for. Some future tips on how/if it is possible to incorporate some of these nice add-ons would be wonderful for amateurs like myself. In really basic language. I mean, realllay basic. :-) Looking forward to future posts.
WOW. I had no idea this place existed yet here I am featured. What an honor. I wish I could take full credit for my design. I just got lucky and stumbled upon a great designer. :)
Thank you again for the inclusion. Just - wow.
Thanks again Amanda - I would love yours (and your readers) input on how we could make AskTheAdmin.com better!
I worked long and hard to get the site looking good and (Not like a blogger site!) and would love to move to our own wordpress server...
Maybe in the near future!
how beautiful is my blog 9bad eng)
I found this anime site : av and for my surprise blogger is the CMS...
Awesome designs! As much as I wish to be good at blog design, as a newbie I content myself with www.i.ph 's easy to use drag-and-drop design interface.
Amanda, solamente saludarte, y que sepasque durante una temporada utilize toda lagamasde colores que muestras en tu blog...Un saludo!!!!
Meeeeee!! *lol* Thanks. :) All the credit goes to my pal Courtney @ judithshakesdesigns.com though; she's really talented.
All of the layouts were really great - and thanks for introducing me to some new reads!
Amanda, thank you sharing this, it was VERY useful for me.
i like World United Bloggers most ..
I'll add this blog, take a look of it:
http://nox-mysterium.blogspot.com/
Later
For Chakal: Wow, that is a beautiful design! I love the way images in the posts have also been styled to match the overall theme.
That is definitely bookmarked :)
Thank you for stopping by, and especially for sharing that lovely design.