Recent data indicates that an astonishing 70% of consumers trust the insights from bloggers over prominent figures like celebrities, journalists, and politicians. Given this overwhelming percentage of trust, a question arises… How do you captivate audiences with your blog design from the get-go?
There’s no doubt that quality content is the backbone of a successful blog. But, it’s important to note that first impressions stem largely from the actual blog design.
Consider this analogy: if your website homepage acts as the primary gateway to your digital domain, the blog design serves as the welcoming corridor, drawing visitors deeper into your brand’s narrative. Therefore, a good blog web design is much more than a superficial element.It’s an integral part of the user experience.
Getting the fusion of text, images and links just right is no small feat. A misalignment could easily deter potential readers and diminish engagement. As a guiding light, the KIJO team have curated a collection of 21 blog website examples. We think these strike the perfect balance between design and performance.
Let’s start with Help Scout. This is a blog that gives tips and advice on delivering exceptional customer service and specialises in engaging customers. This simple blog design embraces the beauty of minimalism, clearly demonstrating that sometimes less is indeed more. There’s a subtle but sleek progress bar that builds in colour across the top of the page as you scroll through each article. To the right of the pages there are clear, non-invasive share buttons and a very easy-to-access and constantly present Call to Action (CTA) section regarding email sign ups. Stripping back to basics, Help Scout’s achieved a harmonious blend of text and visuals. This makes the entire browsing experience clean, clear and highly readable.
Since 2008, Webdesigner Depot has been blogging about web design. So, their site’s got to be one of our top blog website examples! Here, design excellence isn’t just about appearance but functionality. With a layout that’s both aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly, Webdesigner Depot effectively engages its readers, ensuring they dive deep into the content.
Mashable – the news website, digital media platform and entertainment company – delivers a masterclass homepage design with its bold header image and strategic content segmentation. From new posts to trending articles, Mashable’s layout ensures readers have a rich selection of stories at their fingertips. However, it remains easy to navigate and understand. At the base of each blog page, there’s a clear and appealing ‘Recommended for You’ section too. It also includes a very accessible and actionable ‘Email Sign Up’ bar, which is simple but eye-catching.
A website and lifestyle brand targeted at women, Brit + Co’s blog design layout oozes warmth and charm. The homepage is refreshingly devoid of clutter and the seasonal content adds a delightful touch. Brit + Co’s nod to popular platforms like Pinterest, given the blog’s image-heavy content, is also commendable.
This brand needs no introduction, but did you know that Apple also runs a blog? Apple’s blog (or “Newsroom”) encompasses its brand and delivers that expected Apple style. It inspires confidence and familiarity within the user. The blog design uses a mixture of different size cards which are essentially condensed, miniature information boxes that give you a glimpse of the proceeding article. It also includes very well-shot imagery.
A career-progression tool, Pando helps companies increase their ramp time, develop high-performing employees and retain talent. This blog‘s website design offers a fresh take on simplicity, highlighting the importance of balance when considering your site. The judicious use of featured images, coupled with the right amount of text, offers readers a visually appealing and digestible content spread.
As a creative news outlet focusing on art, design and popular culture, Fubiz clearly has its finger firmly on the pulse of contemporary design trends when you look at their blog web design. Fubiz’ blog showcases a plethora of engaging visuals. Their method of presenting content, particularly with the inclusion of striking featured images, ensures an immersive and enticing reader experience.
HubSpot‘s blog masterfully combines a wide collection of content into a cohesive, visually-friendly layout. From the primary featured post to the side-listing of top articles, the CRM platform’s blog web design ensures readers have easy access to a comprehensively diverse range of content.
As a photography-centric blog (being an online-photo sharing platform), 500px wows visitors instantly with a large, high-definition featured image. The immediate clarity of the blog design’s theme, paired with easily accessible social links, is a testament to its effective design.
As blog website examples go, the infamous emerging technologies magazine Wired showcases a simple yet dynamic website design. With several topics presented, its blog page layout ensures that readers can quickly discern and access the content they’re most interested in.
Crayon is a competitive intelligence platform and its simple blog design encourages users to delve deep into its content. The primary focus on the latest blog post, followed by a grid layout, ensures that readers can effortlessly navigate through Crayon’s diverse article collection.
This luxury travel blog design captures the essence of wanderlust. From destination guides to cultural insights, the Pocket Wanderings layout complements the rich content, making for a very engaging read.
The Verge is an American technology news website that publishes articles and reviews about the latest technology. When it comes to its blog website design, The Verge scores points for its interesting and distinctive branding. We like how it’s coupled this with smooth and clear navigation.
Being a renowned website building and hosting company, you’d expect great things from the Squarespace blog design. Squarespace’s page has a unique layout that embraces the power of negative space. Its use of this technique makes the content really pop and incredibly easy to read.
Abduzeedo (or “abdz.”) is a design-focused blog showcasing the latest design inspiration. The blog design leads with a high-quality image focus and pairs this with a layout that’s simple and clean and thus, easy to steer and access.
Simply Business is an online broker of business insurance and also hosts a blog. This blog’s design delivers a great example of a strong CTA section at the base of the page, along with a clear, concise and readable author bio which provides essential credibility and trust to the content.
Off-Grid is a design inspiration blog – and an inspired blog design it is. It features an interesting and bold menu bar that spans the width of the navigation and pushes its subscription service at the top of the page. What’s clever here is that Off-Grid shares how many members already exist under the subscription CTA, which subtly implies to the user that they’re missing out if they don’t subscribe. The site also showcases the authors of the content in an engaging and unique way.
“A Pinterest alternative for creatives” is what Cosmos describes itself as. This blog website design opens with a sleek and enticing animation which evolves into different sized cards that pan over a 3D space to create their archive of articles. Cosmos’ site is a really distinctive, interactive and on-brand design to have as inspiration on your radar.
A digital agency that looks to harness the power of emerging technologies in order to create meaningful brands and websites, Refokus offers an innovative blog web design. It allows you to change the view from a grid to a list which enables the user to experience the Refokus site according to their own preferences. A nice touch is that on both list and grid versions, there’s a form of noticeable animation whenever the mouse hovers over an article’s card too.
The Simons Foundation runs this editorially independent online publication that specialises in covering the scientific world’s developments. Quanta Magazine’s cards are what really stand out here on this blog design. They are full-width and beautifully illustrated which are purposely unique to each blog. The cards are used to articulate the complicated concepts of some of the Quanta Magazine articles – it makes a really nice touch that feels engaging, bolsters the page’s personality and feels very on-brand.
Associated Press – the global news organisation – offers super clear typography headings as part of their blog design. They’re strong and use a full caps Serif font, which you don’t always see on sites, so this stands out. The colour palette is also distinctive – the reds and blacks are bold, impactful and encompassing of the Associated Press brand.
In the quest for a visually striking blog, remember that it’s not just about the aesthetics. Tailoring your blog design to resonate with your target audience’s preferences is the key and then marrying it well with relevant, well laid-out content.
Use these blog website examples not just for inspiration, but as a benchmark to refine your design and bolster that all important engagement.
