designs on mexico

Still building.

Still decorating.

For the past year, I had intended to change the look of my blog.  It looked the same as the day I started it in December 2007.  I just never got around to doing anything about it.

That changed on Saturday.  Due to a series of circumstances, my old template disappeared as thoroughly as Amelia Earhart.


Poof!


Gone!


There was nothing to do but sit down and start building from scratch.  So, build I did.


My trip to the Portland Zoo was canceled earlier in the day.  That gave me time to start thinking about what I wanted the page to look like.


Under normal circumstances, I would have spent a week establishing design principles and testing out options.  I did not have that luxury.


But I have learned several principles from reading other blogs.


The first is to keep the design simple.  Clutter takes away from the posted material.  The form should reinforce the message -- not be the message.


The second is a corollary of the first.  Pick a design that reflects the subject matter of the blog -- and stick with it.


The third is a personal preference.  Due to the brightness of my monitor, my eyes fatigue when reading text on white backgrounds.  The easiest blogs for me to read are blogs with a colored background with high contrast text.


Easy principles to state.  Not so easy to execute.


Picking a simple template was easy.  Blogger offers a "Simple" template by name.  After tinkering with it, I decided it would meet the first principle.  Onc e all te textured colors were stripped out.


Then, I needed a design.  Because the blog is about my adventures of living in Mexico (despite my current temporary relocation), I decided to use the Mexican national colors: red, white, and green. 


The background color is the spine of any blog.  I knew it should not be white (see ramblings above).  That left me with green and red as candidates.  After trying several options, I eliminated primary red and green.  Too plain.  Too stark.  And, after a few more auditions, settled on a pale brick red.


That left green.  I tried using it as post titles.  But it looked less like Mexico and more like Kris Kringle.


The solution was easy.  I could use my beloved limes in the header and get as much green as a tree hugger could crave.


That left only one task -- a new title.


When I started blogging, I chose "same life -- new location" after reading a series of comments from people who believed that a move to Mexico would solve all of their social and financial problems.


I simply did not believe it.  That approach makes us a victim of our circumstances.  The experiences that make up our lives do not disappear when we cross borders.  People who have trouble fitting into society in their home country will most likely experience the same thing in Mexico.  Often in spades.


Or, so I believed when I crafted the title.


Even though I was moving to a new location, I was taking my life (who I was) with me.  As it turned out, I think that is exactly what did happen.


But the title now needs a make-over.  And I need to give it some thought.  When I come up with something, I may even revise the entire template.


Until then, here it is.  New page.  Same locution.