New Beginnings for The Reluctant Stylista

Posted on Monday, 02.01.2010 08:55 AM

Tags: random thoughts

This is the first time I'm writing something non-fashion/beauty related here, but there's no better exception than now.  There's been a major revamp at The Reluctant Stylista lately, if you've noticed.  That's a new layout you're looking at, a new masthead and this time with an original artwork!  We'll be having more of that in the future. My boyfriend Paolo drew that for me, to look like me--I'm not that cute, but that's love for you.

Meanwhile, do you miss the colors of the old layout?  Do let me know.  I kind of do, but I was aiming for a different angle with this new layout.  I'm hoping I can figure out how to bring back some of the color to it.  I used to get compliments on the old one even though in actuality, that was kind of a rush job.  My friend Alvin used to pressure me about getting this site up since he already had everything laid out, it just needed the design (The Reluctant Stylista is self-hosted and was made from scratch, which is why it looks different from your regular Blogger/Wordpress sites).  So one night, I was determined to finish it and launch the next day.  I was hungry, and I was thinking of cupcakes--which was why the old layout looked like that.  Like an old-fashioned bakery.  It had pink accents so that it'd still look like a beauty and fashion blog, but I was more partial to the warmer shades of brown.  Many beauty blogs were already pink, but what color could I use that'd still look girly and yet not pink?  Yep, that's why the old layout had lots of orange in it.  I'm still more partial to orange, but I'm giving the hot pink you're seeing in this new layout a test drive.  If you notice, all links are colored the same, so it's easier to change into another shade if I get sick of the hot pink.

This was the first layout I came up with, which never came to light.  I have a thing for vintage art and pin-up girls.

I tend to get carried away with vintage design, so I changed the masthead to look more modern, thus more open to a wider audience.  It had rotating banners, two of which you're seeing below.

The actual implementation looked like this.

While we're at it, we might as well plug about what we do for a living (in my case, what I do for freelance).  Everyone behind The Reluctant Stylista is knowledgeable in web design and development.  The boyfriend and I are actually going to start concentrating on blog design and illustration services soon, so if you're interested, you can drop by our combined portfolio at The Six Thirty.

Alvin, the genius that made this site possible, is also available for interactive web design and development (it's his CMS I'm using for this site).  You can check out his portfolio at Chogi Interactive.

Tags: random thoughts

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