Exclusive look at the New Outlaw Design Blog Re-Design
Danny Outlaw has given us an advanced preview of his re-designed Outlaw Design Blog. And I’ve got to say it looks fantastic, Danny talks us through the process & reasons behind it, and what we can expect from the new design, and in fact the new Blog, as his re-vamp goes further than just a fresh new look.
What I love About the New Design
Before we get Danny’s thoughts about the design and the inspiration behind it, I thought I’d talk you through some of the things that make this design stand out for me.
The Subtle Touches
Yeah a word I love to use, but this is a prime example of how subtle elements & details help build a feel of quality. Everything from the background illustrations, the bullet holes and the 1pixel highlights around boxes to the small little green bar on the hover state in the top navigation. It seems everything has been thought of.
Footer Area
A smashing example of a very useful and simple footer. We’ve got special attention to a new feature of the site, the podcast, as well as some relevant links & information, topped off with a very hand & easy to see search bar.
Overall solid feel
With everything in mind, and looking at the full design – it has a very solid and easy to use feel about it, something that not all blogs have. What I mean by this, is it’s a site that just feels right, and I can imagine feeling comfortable spending any amount of time on it. I’m Looking forward to seeing it go live (which I believe is on the 20th April)
The Preview
Click the image to see a full size preview of the design.
What inspired such a huge relaunch?
To put it simply, I always a bit unhappy with past versions of Outlaw Design Blog. While the designs them self weren’t bad, I just didnt feel they helped me contribute to the community as much as I wanted to.
I started Outlaw Design Blog because I wanted to share my skills, opinions, and thoughts on the business of design. While a traditional blog helps do this, it is only one of the many tools out there for sharing such things. Now that the web and its users are more accustom to finding information in a variety of formats, I decided it was time to raise the standards and start offering information in a variety of multimedia formats.
It is really this interest in multimedia sharing that really sparked the fire for the re-launch.
When Outlaw Design Blog was just a thought, the idea was to create a “super blog” that was a combination of Freelance Switch, PSD tuts, and Smashing Magazine. I never really came close to create such a blog in the past, but this relaunch should change all that.
Rob Palmer Branded07.com who did all of the illustration and the better part of the design also inspired me a lot. I love his site and work. I have worked with him in the past and he is just amazing! He went all out on this design for me and he deserves many thanks for that.
What cool features can we expect to see in the re-launch?
One feature that will play a large part of the new Outlaw Design Blog is one that I have already started playing with a bit and that is video. I am planning on making video a part of as many posts as possible in the future. Everyone learns in their own way; some people learn better by reading, other by hearing or seeing. For this reason, I want to add video, text, and possibly audio for every post that can handle it. After the relaunch, and as my video editing skills improve, the videos should become a little more professional looking and less like home videos.
Aside from regular videos for posts, I am working on doing a semi-regular video with David Leggett from Tutorial9 which should be awesome.
Another feature that I am really excited about is the Outlaw Design Podcast. I am working with Andrew Lindstrom from the Well Medicated Blog to create a podcast with a few other panel members including David from Tutorial9. The podcast will be monthly and cover a variety of topics the freelance creative should appreciate.
I have also been building up a collection of high quality stuff to give away. You can expect to see everything from hi-res textures to premium WordPress themes.
I have been working on building up a collection of Photoshop Tutorials. So you can expect to see anywhere from 2 to 4 Photoshop tutorials a month.
I am also working one finding some developers to work with to create some top notch web tutorials for designers.
This new design also has an entire section dedicated to review of products and software that creatives are interested in. On these types of posts, readers will be able to read my review, write thier own, and read others review of the product. There will also be a link to purchase the product, as well as compare prices on it.
Additional Screenshots
What Do You Think?
Does it look promising to you, does it sound like Danny has made a change for the better? Did you prefer it before? Whatever your thoughts we’d love to hear them. I personally am really looking forward to it, from the design side of things I can’t wait to see the site live, and from the content side of things Danny has put a lot of effort into improving what he has to offer his visitors, so I’m also excited about seeing and reading that!
Written by liam on April 15, 2009
freaking awesome. can’t wait to see it in full effect.
The theme is pretty solid, but not a big fan of the logo font. Seems like it could be stronger.
Incredible stuff Danny!
This looks awesome – I love the design and the bullet holes look awesome. Not exactly sure about the grungy title, but I get where it’s going.
Nice. I’ve been wondering what this’ll turn out like for a while now. Danny, I hope the launch is a huge success. Good luck.
My latest post: BBH and logos worth a dollar
Some very big changes and I’m liking them! Have to agree I’m not so sold by the ‘OutlawDesignBlog’ font but the background really caught my eye (I hope not to quickly
) and I like the look of your comments and Social Sharing setup too 
Looking forward to the launch to see the full effect of things and to future posts there too!
Alex | @ZenElements
My latest post: Create a Metallic RSS Feed Button in Photoshop
Yeah, the type face sucks, for sure. It is only temporary. A real logo is in the works.
Thanks for the comments everyone!
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I have not seen any other outlaw blogs but this one surely looks very promising to me. The design is way too cool. I wish I have the talent to make a blog design like this.
This looks awesome, although I’d agree with others on logo typeface. I love the combination of colors and the background.
Great work!
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I like the theme, but the header is too big.
Visitors will have to scroll down to see the main content
Nice website, looks very detailed, how long did it take to re-create the website?
My latest post: The power of Twitter
Looks very sharp, nice work man!
Way too big of a header, but other than that it looks sharp.
[...] look at the New Outlaw Design Blog Re-Design: Danny Outlaw has given us an advanced preview .. http://wefunction.com/2009/04/exclusive-... [...]
[...] Websites (cssleak.com) Some websites are just designed horizontally, and they’re great too. Exclusive Look At The New Outlaw Design Blog Re-Design (wefunction.com) I doubt the exclusive-ness when so far two other sites have the post, but this was [...]
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Nice, the only thing that i dont like is the green color of the ad space. Its ugly!
wow! that is great article with featured case,it inspired me! thanks! I have submitted a link of this article to our website in order to share it with more people,check:
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Looks nice, I like it alot!
The bullet holes are a nice touch. Just the inner shadow in those red/brown-ish titles looks kinda cheap in my opinion.
Loving the re-design. Definitely a step in the right direction for your blog, Danny. I see some influence from tutorial9.net – which is awesome. I’m pretty much in love with that blog. Best of luck!
I really like the design over all. The only thing I find annoying is the fixed footer, you should add an option to turn it off.
It’s live! Looks really awesome. Way more then I was expecting.
I think there’s too much real estate wasted at the top and the hat looks like clip-art. but it’s a nice look and feel
A great looking design. I like the small details like the birds and the gradient of the light through the bullet holes. However, I would squeeze up the space in the header.
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I realize its been mentioned about the type for the “outlaw design Blog” being bad, but i would like to stress that the font bleeding cowboys is becoming just as bad as…(yes im about to say it) …PAPYRUS… argh! i see it every where. sooo much so that i hate seeing it now and find it hard to take who ever is using it seriously… oh well…I do really like the rest of the layout and design, it’s pretty snazzy!
are you serious?
the new look is awful.. the header is gigantic…the navigation is also huge…the bottom frame or div (i don’t know the name of that) that stands still while you scroll down is horrible!
i like the content, but the design is so ugly!
i’m sorry its my opinion
My latest post: Made by Julene
Great piece of design work Danny and Rob. I hope it transfers over to HTML just as well.
I kinda agree with the big header (though wouldn’t call it awful :-s) as it only seems to be that big to fit the cactus in… which in my opinion isn’t a good enough reason to waste that space.
Apart from that – I’m looking forward to seeing it.
James
I noticed few functional flaws. The header, or the area between the top of the page and the featured articles area, seems to be too big, on popular 1280×800 displays you have to scroll down to see any content. Also you’ve put search box at the bottom of the page – barely a place where people expect to find it.
But overall a very nice, interesting and polished design. Good work!
interesting design. Inspired by Nine Lion?
Unfortunately I aim unable to compare it to his previous design, but I love this latest design. Love the mix between texture and crisp flat images
My latest post: Stunning Use of Textures!
Exclusive Look and Re-Design is very very beautiful and gorgeous .
By “looks fantastic” you mean exact copy of http://www.tutorial9.net/ (which looks fantastic).
awesome look..and abut re – design is also gr8..
hello….
Lovin’ the new look. My favouite parts are the bullet holes in the wood. The whole thing just looks unique.
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nice post..
i like the cowboy hat
thats unique
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nice article. I m new here,but I ve seen many articles on different blog about this outlaw blog. Why is it so important?
It looks nice! Very creative, I really like it. Congrats
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I like outlaw design, nice site.
this design is really outlaw.. damn it..
its very cool cowboy western design…
good job man!
cheers!
cool!
Super works, pleases me very well.
cheers!
[...] the original here: Exclusive look at the New Outlaw Design Blog Re-Design Share and [...]
I am more of a clean design person. For me this a little too heavy.
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Honestly, I don’t see what all the hub-bub’s about. This site is just a straight rip from two respectable sites, tutorial9.net and nineliondesign.com
Also, not to be a debbie downer, his content isn’t that mind blowing. It’s just another site that aggregates content from other blogs, I’m sick of “Top 50 Background” posts
[...] Read the original: Exclusive look at the New Outlaw Design Blog Re-Design [...]
Awesome set! Thanks for sharing
Super works,
Looks great. In fact, I just bought a 32×32 ad through buysellads for my personal site to be displayed on Outlaw Design.
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Nice theme, Thank you
My latest post: THIS SCRIPT IS NO LONGER SERVING DATA. UPDATE YOUR PLUGIN
Looks very cute, Thank you
My latest post: THIS SCRIPT IS NO LONGER SERVING DATA. UPDATE YOUR PLUGIN
hey button holes are awesome and great
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Great site, however, clicking “100 free Worpress themes” make the center content to be placed on the far left outside the viewport on FF 3.0.
The search bar should be empty on focus so that i dont have to erase the default text in there, or at least should it be selected.
Incredible wordpress theme, Its one of the best theme for the personal blog.
The first time I saw the redesigned site I just sat there thinking OMG, WTF, this is awesome!
The design is first rate and I must give props to Danny and also to Liam for posting this. Many thanks guys.
Awesome! Great tips on designing a blog. I want to redesign mine. Not sure what i want to do though. I will keep this in mind when I start skinning it.
I have to agree with Nitendr, it’s an incredible wordpress theme
Great article! I enjoyed it very much.. very helpful I am looking forward for more articles like this!
Very impressive. I wish I were that talented.
It is awesome man really !
I like to see a template design that observes every detail
Pulling out all the stops. Great re-invention of the site, and still as exceptional as ever.
Awesome, You remind me the cowboy named Lucky Luke.
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What a stuff ! very nice
Very impressive. I wish I were that talented.
Pretty nice theme.
I love it.
Yeah, I am not a big fan of the Bleeding Cowboy type used in the logo. I see it used a lot now and days a dafont.com special. Overall good feel to the rest of the site though, I enjoy it.
Exceptional design! Very stylish and professionally done. I didn’t know a WP blog could look this nice.
This looks awesome – I love the design and the bullet holes look awesome. Not exactly sure about the grungy title, but I get where it’s going.
freaking awesome. can’t wait to see it in full effect.
It is amazing what people can do with wordpress. Blogs have come a long way.
Fabulous design! You got me motivated to improve my dental blog.
It’s a very nice template.
Thank you.
[...] Outlaw gives WeFunction a sneek peek of his (now launched) OutLaw Design Blog redesign. The post features an analysis of [...]
wow. great template. looks like something i’ll be using in the future
Amazing blog! Outlaw has it going on!
Cool theme nice wood design example, thanks for link!
Thank you for this absolutly great theme!! i love it!
its very cool cowboy western design…
A smashing example of a very useful and simple footer. We’ve got special attention to a new feature of the site, the podcast, as well as some relevant links & information, topped off with a very hand & easy to see search bar.
This blog is very nice and informative.Thank you for the great story.
was very beautiful western design
Great article i really appreciate it, maybe check this out also JOOMLA web designs.
wood textures is so nice.Template is vers good.
talking about talent. Wow! Very Inspiring
Wow! Useful Article. There is no doubt blog is the way to drive the traffic if we update with quality content and daily updating.
I love the new look!
I think its a kind of abuse of the bleeding cowboys font, but I’m a big fan so can’t really complain. Great website, we featured it on our own CSS Gallery, Beautiful 2.0.
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Wow very nice themes. I’ll be including it in my favorites and visit again for sure. Thanks for sharing.
Great font selection for the website style and great redesign congrats.
good
Great typography, appreciate the share.
I’m a pretty big fan of this I especially like the subtle background, I might start putting that style into my designs that I do for my Medical Web Design company
Yes really styled design, and great changes.
so talented Outlaw is. look forward to it.
Cheers for sharing!
Looks really awesome. Way more then I was expecting
Yes really styled design, and great changes.
so talented Outlaw is. look forward to it.
what should i say? this is really really great my freind thanks a lot for sharing!!
Exceptional design! Very stylish and professionally done. I didn’t know a WP blog could look this nice.
Thanks for sharing this nice work and post. This is a really competent and professional redesign. LT
Excellent collection of useful tips for great redesign techniques, Cheers
good theme, thanks.
I found this a really inspiring redesign article, and I have bookmarked it for future reference. Thanks
Wow great re-design, Thank you!
Nice subtle background, I will try to incorporate this style into my design soon, Cheers
very nice article.it help my reachers
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Exceptional design! Very stylish and professionally done. I didn’t know a WP blog could look this nice.
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Great redesign work there. It is an inspiration.
what should i say? this is really really great my friend thanks a lot for sharing!!
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Nice. I enjoyed the blog post. I actually knew about most of this, but having said that, I still thought it was useful. Nice job! Frank Manor
You are really talented with your designs!
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Thanks for the information. Will you be making others like this?
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I have not seen any other outlaw blogs but this one surely looks very promising to me. The design is way too cool. I wish I have the talent to make a blog design like this.
Thanks for this post Marc
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I have not seen any other outlaw blogs but this one surely looks very promising to me. The design is way too cool. I wish I have the talent to make a blog design like this.
Looks very sharp, nice work man!
I found this a really inspiring redesign article, and I have bookmarked it for future reference. Thanks
Looks really awesome. Way more then I was expecting
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Really It looks very amazing & creative design. after read this blog i m getting new ideas to design new website for me.
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Very impressive. I wish I were that talented.
Great job, I think it really captures the brand of the company well.
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