Since I got into blogging about 2 years ago, I probably saw hundreds of blogs using beautifully designed custom themes. Still, there’s only a handfull of blogs that were memorable enough to remember after a long period of time. In most cases, what made the blog memorable was not the design itself, but the person behind the blog. Not necessarily because the blogger was a famous person, but because of the way he chose to visually brand himself.
Below are some examples of bloggers using visuals to build a strong personal brand. Of course there are other elements (achievements, networking, charisma, helping others, supporting a cause, etc.) that contribute to a personal brand. I’m strictly talking about visuals here:
Ayoush Saran - his site was recently featured in CSS Mania. The action figure representation of himself is the best creative idea I’ve seen recently. This is also a great example of how you can build a viral personal brand.
Matt Brett - his blog went through a redesign since I first saw it, but it still keeps the same look and feel. Matt is famous for a lot of projects, like the standardization of feed icons, but I will always remember him as the guy with the grungy looking blog, who loves video games.
Doug Dosberg - he’s probably one of the first bloggers to use the cartoon representation of himself, instead of a real picture. There are so many bloggers using it nowadays. Doug managed to stay memorable, by adding a little twist: the head band and the chopsticks.
Brad, Ryan, Keegan aka The Big Noob - the big bold title, the navy blue background, but most of all the portraits on the header and the featured post, all these elements make this blog memorable. It’s probably one of the best blogs (certainly the most famous) making use of the blue / green color scheme.
Matthew Mullenweg - the first time I saw his blog, I didn’t know he’s the guy behind Wordpress. Now I know he’s the #1 most important Matt in the world, but when I say Matt Mullenweg, I instantly think about the header collage, the mug, the childhood picture.
Lisa Bettany - Lisa is a “multimedia producer, blogger, photographer, 2.0 expert, model, actress” and also “Canada’s Sexy Geek Blogger”. Oau! She’s definitely a purple cow. She is yet another example of beauty and brains. The blog header pretty much sums it up and makes her blog so not easy to forget.
Do you have other examples? Do share. 
Similar Articles
Was This Love?
2 Comments
Thanks for the mention. All the images around the banner are all photos I’ve taken of my own things. I felt it was important to immediately show my readers, I’m pretty geek and I like gadgets and gear, but I’m also quite childish and have a sense of humor. No matter what I write about I always try to inform and engage the readers, but most of all entertain them. After all there are hundreds of tech/gadget/2.0/apple/sexy geek blogs, but only Mostly Lisa is… well… as deliciously random as Mostly Lisa.
I’ve never been called a Purple Cow before. Better than a Red Bull :p
Lisa, you know what I meant.