Archive for Blog Header Designs
Custom Blog Header for a Million Dollar Diva
Posted by: | CommentsI've been extremely busy with an offline project and have had to turn away several blog header design requests.
I did get the opportunity to help an internet and network marketing coach with her blog header. She had just paid a pretty penny for this design and was really desperate to get my opinion and asked me to call her on the phone.
I told her that it looked like she was the "Dollar Diva" and that she should have it done over. I had every intention of passing on the project, but one thing led to another and I found myself working on her header.
What can I say, she needed my help and I think it must be my strong protection instinct, because I can't say no to helping someone that really needs me.
I had just been messing with photoshop and I accidently created an effect that I loved and wanted to use someday and this was just the opportunity. I thought I could use it to dress up her design to look like a million dollars.
Well, she was ecstatic. Really.
I LOOOOOVVVEE IITTT! I think this is awesome!
Well, how would you describe that reaction?
It was a nice diversion from my other project and I made a very nice woman happy. Thats when I love what I do.
Roy
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PS The winner of the February free blog header drawing never got me the info I needed, so I'm going to have to reschedule now that its March.
Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.
-Groucho Marx
Does the Blog Header Guy Still Do Other Design Work?
Posted by: | CommentsBeing a design guy for thirty years, I sometimes get asked by my header clients to design logo's, business cards, brochures, etc.
I'm normally so up to my elbows just doing blog header designs that I usually decline. But I wasn't too busy and this husband and wife team are just nice folks to work with, so I made an exception for them.
Plus, I had just done the web design concept drawing as a pattern for their other designer that I thought I'd just be able to knock this one out. Boy was I wrong.
So what was the design for? A half-page SuperPages ad.
You talk about a nightmare. 
Lisa had a vision for a very interesting design that was nothing like a typical YP ad and I wanted to do it.
Coming up with just the right photographs to please their client was test of endurance. And fitting everything into the ad made me reach into my bag of tricks and pull out my earliest sign design training.
I had the honor of taking some classes back in the eighties, with Mike Stevens and John Knox, that taught me about prioritizing copy.
Well, here's the before and the after designs…what do you think?
BEFORE:
AFTER:
So there you have it.
The Blog Header Guy does all kinds of designs and other neat stuff. It can't hurt to ask.
Roy
Dressing up a logo for a new custom blog header design.
Posted by: | CommentsA friend from the Local Biz Builders forum has used me to do several blog headers this past year for her clients. Because I've had some real fun with her projects and she's a joy to work with, I asked her if I could showcase this project.
Last week she asked me to do a header that had what I thought was a pretty tired logo with boring clipart and some crazy font that was probably trendy when it was done.
As an old signguy, I lived and breathed lettering and the illumination of the letters for almost thirty years and I have strong opinions on what looks right, but I was also a little hesitant to say anything.
I mean why rock the boat, just do the header and go on to the next one.
I did a quick layout and decided I could freshen up the logo with some new graphics and type face changes. I needed something to write about, so I suggested that I tweak the artwork and offered to do the logo changes for the header for free.
I liked the overall layout, I just didn't care for the treatment of the typefaces or the clipart. This is the before image.
I wanted to keep the logo kind of the same so I started with the sun.
I liked the radial gradient for the yellow, but thought I should do something with the red.
Next I wanted to mess with the "easy day" copy. I kinda like welding letters together that overlap unless it makes them less legible. In this case I used a Bodoni clone and gave the letters a little dimension.
Now it was time to tackle the clipart. I have several GB of vector art that I've collected over the years and spent a few hours sorting through them looking for something I could use. The dolphin was easy, the marlin was a little elusive. Kind of like fishing for them.
Now we're talking. I chose a bold serif font for the rest of the copy and this is what I came up with.
Well, that does it for this article. What do you think of the changes I made to this?
Till next time.
Roy
Mule Tied Greetings to All the Fans of Blog Header Guy. :)
Posted by: | CommentsWow another year has blown by.
Looking around, we all know it's been a tough year for a lot of people. Not exactly the change we were hoping for.
In the spirit of the holiday season, I just wanted to offer up my sincere wish that the next year finds us a nation that is strong in kindness and mighty in our desire to help one another.
Do what you can to help, its not hard if we take the focus off ourselves and what's ours.
I'm looking forward to the new year, how about you?
Roy
PS. Watch for the new site layout coming soon, going for a less cluttered look with more tutorials and site makeovers.
Christmas Blog Header Package from my Holiday Niche Blog Header Collection
Posted by: | CommentsI've had a number of folks download my free christmas blog headers and had quite a few ask about getting more without the text.
So, being the blog header guy, I put together a package of seven holiday blog headers (960px x 200px) that I'm offering for only $10 as a holiday gift to my readers.
Christmas Blog Header Collection
Santa Blog Header
Santa In From the Cold
Antique Santa & Teddy Bear
Antique Christmas Card on Grunge Wallpaper
Snowman Church Scene
Snowy Trees and Christmas Presents
More Abstract Christmas Header
*Bonus* Snowmen Group Shot Header
Don't be alarmed by the watermark, it's a very small safeguard to minimize the free usage of these blog headers, and won't be on the finished images.
So, there you have it. No sales pitch other than, here are some custom designed blog headers for only $10.
Customize your Christmas Blog Header
And if you want me to customize one of these christmas headers for you, my $17.00 offer still stands.
Have a Great Holiday… I know I will.
Use of Fractal Background on World of Warcraft Blog Header
Posted by: | CommentsI love what I do cause I get to work on the coolest stuff sometimes. This week I had an order for a World of Warcraft blog header.
I was in the middle of working on a new project for BlogHeaderGuy.com where I'm going to be putting together inexpensive blog header packs that focus on specific niche markets for internet marketers.
It gave me the idea to put together a niche market blog header package for the World of Warcraft game. Only problem is that I never played WOW or even wanted to. So, this was gonna be a challenge.
A few years ago, I was collecting grizzly bear artwork for a sculpture I was doing for a theme park ride. I know I had one of the world of warcraft bears in my morgue file, which I could modify for this header project.
I used a a dark blotch green and brown base for the background, but I planned on using an overlay from my new fractal header package.
I am writing another article showing these headers off that I'll be posting soon.
Very subtle, but very cool background effect. What do you think?
I next took the World of Warcraft logo and applied it to the image with a luminosity blend. Notice the fractal background peeking through the logo. I really like these fractal headers.
I like it, but I don't care too much for the way the logo goes off the edge on the right side. So I grabbed a screaming eagle I had in that same morgue file to put there.
There you have it. Another happy client, okay he was ecstatic and wanted me contact him when I finish my blog header package for the World of Warcraft niche.
Until next time.
Roy
Custom Blog Header Design With a Matching Ebook Cover…Too Fun.
Posted by: | CommentsThis morning I received a request to quote on a custom blog header with a matching ebook cover. I love these kind of projects. The only spec's I had were "multicolored party graphic background should work just fine."
Okay, wide open empty canvas, let's see what pops out of these little grey cells.
Custom Blog Header
I started out with with a multi-color curtain gradient for my background.
I messed around with the liquify filter until I came up with this.
That was kinda cool, but it's too distracting to put copy on, I needed to soften it up a little, but also needed something else. I went through my artwork collection and found just the thing, an abstract background that I could crop out a small section of.
I took the abstract image and applied as an overlay and got this effect.
That was looking pretty cool, but at this point it didn't say party as much as acid trip. So I needed something like that old ipod commercial with the sillouettes. I went through my graphics collection and found just the thing which I applied with a soft light filter.
Now what should I do for copy?
When you have all the photoshop filter tricks at your fingertips, you have to know when to hold back and this is one of those times.
There is so much going on in the background that you want the copy to be bold enough on its own to stand out.
I went with one of my Letterheadsfonts.com typefaces and chose LHF Esoteric Old Condensed. Bold with serifs with a burgundy stroke outline.
It needed something else, like a tag line, so I contacted the client and asked for something to put on the ebook that I can rework to put on this header.
Here is the final blog header design. He really liked it and so did I.
Custom Ebook Cover Design
I had a little trouble coming up with an ebook cover design I liked. Designing in horizontal format and then trying to make it verticl takes a little bit of doing.
I went through my Photoshop Action Scripts and settled on my 3d Action Script Ebook #2.
This is going to sound weird, but I decided today that I have too many action scripts. It took forever to find this.
Anyway, the action script only takes two steps and takes a flat image like this.
And with one click of the mouse it produces this.
You can check them out here 3D Action Scripts You can orduce professional looking graphics with these quality scripts.
So, there it is. A header and ebook cover and a happy client.
Roy
