I always thought it would be cool if my website was a piece of art in and of itself. The question is how do I make it a piece of art and not distract from the diverse art I post everyday? This will take some discovery and experimentation, but the header seemed like a good place start.
My header has in fact been a source of much contemplation over the last nearly six months of keeping up my website. I have been mostly content if not entirely satisfied with the simple header I have been using, my thinking being that my art should speak for itself.
This being said, my basic criteria for a header is as follows:
- Readable
- Reflect and convey my artistic identity
- Not distract from my daily artistic musings
I also don’t really want to develop something that is so polished that it depersonalizes the site. I have a very personal connection with my art and I want your experience of it to feel personal as well.
And now, I put it to you. I have developed my first header option. Should you be some wayward follower from the future and my site header has already changed, here is how my header looks today:
And while I may have run a foul of a few of my own guidelines this is the new header option I have designed (click for a larger view):
The crazy cool and potentially distracting design in the background comes from a section of an original Simian style piece which I have yet to blog. The lines are classic pen and ink which I inverted in Photohop.
For me, it satisfies the personal requirement and it may be readable enough. My big hangup is whether it might be too distracting from my art. My brother loves it and I’m still on the fence. Feel free to tell me what you think.
The new header is rad. The classic pen is my fav. Although i wouldn’t change what you have currently. You said it the best, don’t want to distract. A very clean statement is what you got and i think thats all you need.
Notice how rad paintings usually have dull frames. That’s all they need. Now if the painting is dull or is super minimalistic, then yes, go ahead and spice up the frame.
I been thinking about this since i have a frame job of a very classy painting. I am really trying to hold myself back because i don’t want to take any attention away from the glittering beauty.
If you were to change it though, i would somehow clean up the lettering. You have 3 colors that make up the wordage. Don’t get artistic with the wordage and keep the drawing may be cool.
The second header is graphic but distracting.
Big fan of your work.
Dennis
i’m fairly new to you – i like how u have it today – it’s clean – colors suggest (to me) sophisticated & compelling to see what’s next (sub-title should be aligned left w/title, tho) –
your ‘simian one’ – ‘distracting’ is putting it mild. The typeface is hard for me to read as it fights with the graphic – i don’t know enough about you to understand how this design relates to you but, it kind of reminds me of the designer ski boot boutiques in Vale or Telluride, they all use that as motiff.
I’ll certainly be checking you out, though.
Keep up the good work!
Jay, I like them both actually, but that’s the gemini in me too.. one day I like this, and one day I like that. I had a blog groupie that loved my work, but when I first started out, I knew nothing about blogging, and he is the one that made me clean up my header. The original one was loud and in your face!
Because I’m an artist and have an art blog too and because I love you man, I’ll be brutally honest. The header is weak, not for lesser mortals perhaps, but for a genius like you it is bland and looks like the site is a branch of Yahoo or worse.
Why not have a self portrait and hand lettering? that would say a heck of a lot more than that font I’ve seen a million times. Even better, why not do a miniature masterpiece for the header, after all it will load before the art does on slower machines.
You are a visual artist who knows solid classical realism, has a fresh imagination and a definite flavor that allows you to make instantly recognizable renditions of what we already know but in your own way.
I instantly knew it was Hunter Thompson on your latest post, I instantly knew who the presidents were on your July 4th post and I also instantly knew it was you who drew them, that’s a sign of a great artist.
The banner says to me, as a graphic designer, that you perhaps paint generic landscapes and sell them at craft fairs after your retirement from 40 yrs work in a factory and now you dabble in blogging. It’s not you.
The other one looks like you took 5 minutes in Photoshop in 2003 to make and is even worse! You, of all people, deserve a banner that commands attention and inspires awe!!
Hrm, interestingly enough you should find a way to blend the header with the background otherwise it just looks like a ‘block of color’.