I won’t lie, getting this blog up and running was not as easy as I wanted it to be.
At the core of this difficulty lies the fact that I am blatantly indecisive which can be quite the issue when handed a domain with a blank slate. In saying so, you can imagine how dazed I was when I learned that there are thousands of WordPress templates and plug-ins. The Virgo in me had to get going.
The Process
Initially, I thought that having some experience in design and content creating could serve me well. (To lay down some context, I spent the first half of 2019 working as a junior communications officer.) Yet, I struggled to find my vision. In the past, though I had copious amounts of freedom to release the kind of content that I would be interested in engaging with, I still had guidelines to work within; fonts and colour schemes that I had to gravitate towards to comply with the brand’s aesthetic. But, what exactly was my aesthetic? Yes, I too am still in disbelief that these are the kind of questions that run through my mind these days.
So, to prevent myself from being further overwhelmed by all of these choices that I had to make, I went back to the only place I thought fitting, the drawing board. Or the mood board, rather.
Getting the Look
Although I didn’t exactly know what I wanted structurally for my blog, I knew what sorts of visuals that I was drawn to. As you can see from the images below, I kinda have a thing for earthy pastels.
In hindsight, what we’re working with now doesn’t exactly emanate what I had originally envisioned, but I can sleep easy.
When it came to deciding how the site would be navigated, after playing around with (too many) different columns, I finally decided to go with a scattered look with no columns at all. Classic me. Now that I’ve gotten accustomed to it, I think it’s rather fitting—matches my headspace. It also serves a purpose as well, as, in theory, my posts don’t need to be read in a certain order. Readers can just browse and see if a certain post/mood grabs them by the feels.
The Final Cut
At the end of the day, I just wanted to create a space that was inviting, visually appealing, and most of all, made you feel like this:
when the playlist SLAPS
So there you have it folks—the makings of Moods & Mixtapes.
