Top 10 Most Beautiful Blog Designs

Design matters - as much as people argue against the face, it does. Blog design is no different. A poorly designed blog with amazing content will not receive as many readers as a beautifully designed blog with equal content.

Here’s my opinion on the top ten most beautiful blog designs. Click on a picture to be taken to the site.

top10v1-devlounge.png

top10v1-avalonstar.png

top10v1-inman.png

top10v1-macintalk.png

top10v1-orderedlist.png

top10v1-ryu.png

top10v1-svl.png

top10v1-warpspire.png

top10v1ims-simplebits.png

top10v1-hicks.png

Comments

  1. #1

    alej744

    Are any of these actually worth reading?

  2. Out of those listed above, all but one is listed in my RSS reader.

  3. Sylvia Loh’s site design is amazing.

  4. @ Glenn..I’ll take a guess…SylviaLoh isn’t in your RSS =P

  5. I have been reading almost all of those for months. Many great sites there. Missing Veerle’s site though.

  6. Michael, you got it. That’s the only one there I don’t read - although I do read her boyfriends site, 5ThirtyOne (Derek Punsalan).

  7. #7

    syl

    awwwww…You don’t read my site. Am I too boring for you? ;)

  8. Nice collection Glenn. Smaller sets of favorites are far easier to browse through than those monster lists that seem to get on the big social sites.

  9. [...] Glenn Wolsey [...]

  10. Syl, I honestly hadn’t checked out your site since Derek first posted about it, now you have some content flowing I’ve added it to my newsreader.

    Derek, glad you found the list easy to browse and navigate. I wanted to keep it simple and too the point. I don’t care about the social sites, I care about readers.

  11. Thanks for sharing, some nice ones here!

  12. Great designs, but I would have added Adam Betts to the list.
    http://www.artofadambetts.com

  13. Glenn, where’s your site in this? Your layout is the best I’ve seen. Looks great and is simple and easy to nav and use.

  14. Incredible and inspirational stuff there. wphj: that artofadambetts.com site is amazing.

  15. #15

    Linda

    What do you think of http://www.modeblog.nl

  16. #16

    mark

    phillryu.com looks terrible in IE6…i know its not hip, but some of us are forced to use it, and its still a pretty popular browser. site designs should at least consider what a non-gekko browser will look like.

  17. [...] 5, 2007 at 4:58 pm · Filed under Uncategorized Top 10 Most Beautiful Blog Designs “Design matters - as much as people argue against the face, it does. Blog design is no [...]

  18. I like the layout of http://www.ytcracker.com

  19. #19

    ash

    In the end… all blogs look pretty much the same. They’ve brought a whole new level of mediocrity to the web. Gone are the days of flashing gifs and marquees. Now we’re stuck with glossy reflective logos and cloned interfaces. Nothing new in this list and certainly nothing inspiring.

  20. #20

    fresh_squize

    how about something a little different? i found this one recently while browsing through a travel community in LJ. the text format needs some work but i really dig the layout and design.

    http://www.seasonalnomad.com/blog

  21. No offense..but really there are so many better looking designs out there than the one you’ve compiled.

    But ordered list and simplebits are really good.

  22. My favorite out of your top ten is DevLounge.

    I think there are several others that it could be argued shouldn’t be on the top ten list for beautiful design. There are a couple that really aren’t on the same level as the rest.

  23. #23

    jeff

    No comment on why each of these sites are well-designed? I do appreciate looking at a bunch of web links, but without commentary or comments, it’s not a very useful posting.

  24. There is beauty in functionality, and not sure that many of the pretty ones I have seen are that readable…

    (Have an ugly blog but proud of it……!)

  25. I like your blog design, too.

  26. I read almost all of them regularly. Brilliant designs, but I agree veerle’s site is missing.

  27. #27

    joe

    not much beautiful about warpspire.

  28. I like the silvyaLoh one!

  29. #29

    missing_one

    Anyone remember Verle (http://veerle.duoh.com/)

    I would definitely vote hers for Best Designed Blog on the web.

  30. What about A-List Apart for one? A-List Apart is the best looking blog. And sure as hell looks better than these grungy, punk rock driven shit designs.

    Warspire is probably the worst looking blog I’ve seen in my life.

    Please, don’t waste my time with your sponsoring of your friends bs blogs.

  31. #31

    allen

    This site is very nice and has been featured on many other sites

    http://www.whitesquid.com

  32. #32

    Caleb

    I am a fan of http://www.aprilzero.com

  33. What is with using up so much space with gigantic headers these days? Widescreen monitors are becoming the norm, so horizontal real estate becomes even more precious. I think Devlounge and Ordered are the best ones up there because they have enough white space to not look crowded, yet lack the overwhelming header. The worst is the one with the tree. Where’s the content? The content is secondary, which is a pretty dumb idea for a blog, IMO.

  34. #34

    Sal

    List like this are always subjective - I think most of these are very nice and definitely deserve respect.

    That said, I also like:

    http://toddlambert.com/

  35. Well, most of them are great, but as others have already pointed, there are a few out there that would deserve to be on this list as well. Btw: What do you think about mine (http://www.yatblog.com)? I spent some serious time designing it.

  36. [...] read more | digg story digg_url=’http://blog.bull3t.me.uk/?p=10′; digg_skin = ”; digg_bgcolor = ‘#FFFFFF’; digg_title = ‘Top+10+most+beautiful+blog+designs’; digg_bodytext = ”; digg_topic = ”; Powered by Gregarious (21) [...]

  37. good list, there are also CreativeBits.it that look so beautiful.

  38. Are you sure?

  39. Thanks for putting my blog on the list! And yeah, it looks like crap in IE, which is definitely not ideal… but unfortunately I don’t have time to get that fixed these days.

    Also I’d definitely like to point out my friend Adam Betts’s blog:

    http://artofadambetts.com/weblog/

    Really beautiful stuff.

  40. Thanks for the comments and suggestions guys, I’ll compile ten more designs into a “Take Two” list in a week’s time.

    Phillip, on an un-related manner, it’s good to see you around. Haven’t seen you on iChat for a while. Next step is to start posting on your blog again. ;-)

  41. Thanks for the feature :) :)

  42. Wait, you actually *visit* blogs? How 2000 of you… :)

  43. AJ, my pleasure. Keep up the good work with DevLounge.

  44. Because I use feeds to check for blog updates, I ONLY read a blog if its content draws me in first. There are quite a few nicely designed blogs that I rarely read, because the content never gets me to visit.

    Meanwhile, one of the most basic and crudely designed sites brings me back with almost every update, because its content is so consistantly funny:

    http://www.ukresistance.co.uk/

  45. #46

    anon

    even though this is old i still find the design of these blogs in this list better than this top10 list.

    http://silentbits.com/2006/06/22/top-20-weblog-designs/

  46. #47

    drkansm

    I think that http://skindeep.logankoester.com has a wonderful design and should have been included in this best blog design

  47. [...] think these designs are all great, but I’m sitting here trying to figure out why the man isn’t in the [...]

  48. #49

    Alexey1111

    Guess what? None sports Google Ads. Leave those out and you’re halfway there!

  49. #50

    Matt

    Here’s a great blog design that I came across. Looks like it runs on WordPress: http://approva.net/audittrail/

  50. I think the best one I’ve seen so far is http://www.ndesign-studio.com.

  51. Thanks for the list. Good sites always deserve a little recognition.

  52. I agree with all except 2.
    For some reason I dislike the new shaun inman site. It’s too experimental in my eyes..
    The second one I don’t like is MacinTalk. Not enough contrast and I find the header and navi kinda weird.

    Simplebits is my favourite one.
    Perfect branding, colour schemes.
    My favourite design since the moment I got my hands on “Bulletproof Webdesign” by Dan Cederholm (The person behind simplebits.)

  53. I think you need to look here http://www.crowdspirit.org/blog/ and decide if it merits an award. After all, it did win a top 10 design award of 2006 from Springwise http://www.springwise.com/style_design/top_10_style_design_business_i/

  54. My website:)
    http://newsflash.tk

  55. #56

    Snot Nosed Bastard

    Since all these sites are beautifully designed, they must therefore generate more traffic than ugly sites like Google, Ebay and Amazon.com, right? Right?

  56. You should add http://aprilzero.com/ and http://mattbrett.com/ to next week’s list, Glenn. These two are examples of excellent photoshop work and wordpress design.

  57. The most perfect thing is when beauty meets functionality. It’s kinda like an intelligent supermodel.

  58. That being said DFTSOD (Design For The Sake Of Design) is also a have.

    Any blog that takes forever on slow connections because they look good only for readers to realise the content sucks is a have.

    There’s more beauty in simplicity than there is in gaudiness when the contents matter.

    Sometimes the fact a blog is simple means people take the time to read the content because they aren’t distracted by design.

  59. [...] tien blog designs. Via [...]

  60. #61

    schnuck

    errm… exactly. this list is most probably nothing else than a self promotion bullshit. and a desperate try to get more traffic to your buddies sites as well.
    the world is so small, isnt it? - delicious is dead for me from now on. what a waste of time.

  61. nice collection, really great design.

  62. [...] Top 10 Most Beautiful Blog Designs [...]

  63. Ron is right, mattbrett.com is probably the best design I ever saw.

  64. Matt Brett’s design is amazing, if this was a top 11 list - it would be in there easily. He will be included in the “Take Two” article.

  65. This seems like an interesting page for me to look at.

  66. Devlounge is a really good pick. Although it can be hard to find content sometimes, I like what they did with the home page layout (pulling posts from mltiple categories; possibly using WordPress’s get_posts() function), and the overall theme is excellent.

    OrderedList is also nice, and his Tiger Administration Theme plugin is a must-have.

  67. #68

    jbelkin

    Mostly good choices but the purple tree is a pointless giant graphic - and the last one has two many elents pulling your eyeline.

  68. [...] Glenn Wolsey : Blog Archive : Top 10 Most Beautiful Blog Designs (tags: design webdesign blog inspiration blogging templates webdev) [...]

  69. #70

    Sujit

    http://www.silentyak.com/

    I think this is also a nice work by one of my friend

  70. Your joking correct their is maybe 1 design there that would make a top 1000 list no way are these a top 10.

  71. [...] Glenn Wolsey 10 Most Beautiful Blog Designs [...]

  72. [...] Top 10 most beautiful blog designs. [...]

  73. [...] read more | digg story [...]

  74. #75

    Shilo

    Nice stuff, some is just because of a big graphic… that’s not really web design, but just graphic design. Sites that are well put together, are what should be highlighted.

    I think http://mattbrett.com and http://toddlambert.com are both worthy of a second list.

  75. [...] some impressive blog designs. Glenn Wolsey : Blog Archive : Top 10 Most Beautiful Blog Designs Geoserv. __________________ FaqPal |NewsDots |Blog |APNAOnline | Utopian Productions Website of [...]

  76. #77

    Mia

    Your forgot The Thinking Blog

  77. #78

    Me

    This list should definitely have included http://www.ndesign-studio.com/

    The Phoenix theme is gorgeous.

  78. really boaring !!
    Can you point out any thing that is
    comfortable with eyes ?

  79. [...] Wolsey publico ayer un post en el que recoge los que para él son los 10 diseños de blogs más atractivos. Podremos o no estar de acuerdo con sus gustos, pero lo cierto es que se trata de composiciones en [...]

  80. [...] notice quite a few posts about blog design recently, from these 10 beautiful blog designs, from these 45 selected [...]

  81. I just (almost) finished mine up last night and I think it is at least close to that. Not to mention that it is a heck of a lot funnier.

    http://www.destroyamericanidol.com/

  82. [...] For example, the only two reasons I regularly visit FranticIndustries is because he posts a hell of a lot and the website has a very welcoming layout. A poorly designed blog with amazing content will not receive as many readers as a beautifully designed blog with equal content. (Glenn Wolsey) [...]

  83. Really good selection. Maybe next blog about 10 worst blog designs?

  84. My Blog is much nicer, if you like Google CSS and Ebook readers.

  85. [...] Wolsey a sorti hier son top10 des dix plus beaux blogs en matière de design. Je dois dire que j’en connaissais quelques uns et que certains d’entre eux sont [...]

  86. Great list

  87. [...] sin embargo hay otros que no y están geniales como InternetDreams.Vía Anieto Aquí tienen otro listado en [...]

  88. #89

    Jack

    Has anyone seen this one:

    http://www.tinygigantic.com

    I think its beautiful. And lots of good reading too.

  89. [...] - 1981er (Tags: magazine art)9 - The 50 Most Important People on the Web (Tags: business)10 - Top 10 Most Beautiful Blog Designs (Tags: design blog)11 - You Don’t Know Jack - BETA (Tags: games [...]

  90. This is the worst list I have ever seen in my entire life. Apart from Phill Ryu’s Blog all of them are design nightmares!

  91. [...] Glenn Wolsey : Blog Archive : Top 10 Most Beautiful Blog Designs (tags: design blog inspiration templates) [...]

  92. [...] Glenn Wolsey : Blog Archive : Top 10 Most Beautiful Blog Designs Otro listado más de diseños de blogs dignos de ser vistos (tags: Blog creativity Inspiration layout templates) [...]

  93. Curious that none of those beautiful blogs was slathered with Google Ads. Does that mean they were beautiful but useless for money making?

  94. [...] a little a little inspiration, here is a list that may help. Glen Wolsey has put together the “Top 10 Most Beautiful Blog Designs�, and some of these are very [...]

  95. Oh, my blog is not there??! :) :p
    http://www.designrific.com

  96. [...] Glenn Wolsey 10 Most Beautiful Blog Designs [...]

  97. [...] Glenn Wolsey 10 Most Beautiful Blog Designs [...]

  98. [...] designed blog with equal content.” - 10 of the most well designed blogs on the Interweb.read more | digg [...]

  99. I’ve been reading simplebits.com for years!

  100. If we’re talking beautiful, you need to include Schillmania. Killer design.

    Only downfall: Scott doesn’t post nearly enough. ;)

  101. #102

    Don Ray

    Great choices. I think you should add Kineda to that list.

  102. Great collection, a lot of these sites I haven’t seen or may have just simply glanced over while at cssmania or something.

  103. [...] Glenn Wolsey : Blog Archive : Top 10 Most Beautiful Blog Designs (tags: webdesign blog inspiration templates design) [...]

  104. [...] Relacionado: Glenn Wosley - Top 10 Most Beautiful Blog Designs [...]

  105. [...]Top 10 Most Beautiful Blog Designs[...]

  106. I think it really depends on what readership you’re going for. I think there is some validity in the argument that certain groups of users will be overwhelmed by the subtleness of the sites. (i.e. “Where are the links? They should be bright blue…”)

  107. [...] Top 10 Most Beautiful Blog Designs 注册Text Link Adså?¯èŽ·å¾— $100 in FREE Links 推è??: Get Reviewed by this blog for $60 at ReviewMe! [...]

  108. Hello, that are really beautiful Design find I Style 7 best

  109. [...] designed blog with equal content.” - 10 of the most well designed blogs on the Interweb.read more | digg [...]

  110. [...] site, but I felt at home right away. My introduction to glennwolsey.com was via digg to his post on the 10 most beautiful blog [...]

  111. Your site should be in this list!

  112. [...] 10 Most Beautiful Blog Designs Ð?а блоге Glenn Walsey опубликован поÑ?Ñ‚ Top 10 Most Beautiful Blog Designs (10 наиболее краÑ?ивых дизайнов блогов). Дизайн каждого [...]

  113. I meant to also add what Nathan said. I really think the design of your blog it excellent and is one of the better I’ve seen.

  114. [...] Top 10 Most Beautiful Blog Designs [...]

  115. [...] Glenn Wolsey pointed out the top 10 most beautiful blog designs. [...]

  116. [...] designer you will probably find inspiration on this list. Glen Wolsey gathered together the “Top 10 Most Beautiful Blog Designs“Â?, and below you will find 3 of my favorite themes on the [...]

  117. [...] Check out part one of the two part series. [...]

  118. [...] read more | digg story [...]

  119. [...] Top 10 Most Beautiful Blog Designs (tags: wordpress theme) [...]

  120. Nice collection!

  121. #122

    John

    Amazing work, all of them… Now try this one, cute design (constantly evolving) and definitely worth reading :-)

    http://www.insearchofdessert.com

  122. #123

    James

    I don’t know. They’re pretty, but in kind of a bland, “everyone is working from the same general pool of design treatments” way. sylvialoh.com is the exception. It has some real style to it.

  123. Can’t say I agree with the inclusion of Shaun Inmans site to be honest. Although technically i’m sure it’s great, it has terrible readability and since the primary focus of a blog is to allow people to read it, I can’t see how it is an example of great blog design.

    Cheers

  124. [...] Glenn Wolsey : Blog Archive : Top 10 Most Beautiful Blog Designs [...]

  125. [...] Haven’t Seen, Top 10 Sites for Web Designers, 45 Fresh, Clean and Impressive Designs, Top 10 Most Beautiful Blog Designs, How Web 2.0 Logos are drawn (Photoshop), The Best Minimalist WordPress Themes, Comprehensive list [...]

  126. I think, for me, only blog design
    #1, #2, #4, #6 are interesting. The others look common, perhaps some slight modification from other ordinary template….

  127. I like the second one and the last one.

  128. [...] guy has put together his list of the best looking blogs. I wonder if I can use any of these as my [...]

  129. [...] 10 Most Beautiful Blog Designs Filed under: Uncategorized — recar @ 6:59 pm Top 10 Most Beautiful Blog Designs “Design matters - as much as people argue against the face, it does. Blog design is no [...]

  130. [...] Top 10 Most Beautiful Blog Designs Some interesting blog design examples. Even if you are not a web designer you will probably find inspiration on this list. [...]

  131. [...] Top 10 Most Beautiful Blog Designs Some interesting blog design examples. Even if you are not a web designer you will probably find inspiration on this list. [...]

  132. test

  133. [...] Top-10 most beautiful blog designs [...]

  134. Yes I should have a new template for my new blog.
    Justin
    Have a nice day to all.
    seedubai.blogspot.com

  135. [...] Aunque para gustos hay colores, resulta innegable la calidad de los diseños que Glenn Wolsey ha incluido en su entrada Los 10 diseños de blogs más atractivos. [...]

  136. I believe this one applies “Unless each man prodiuses more than he receives, increases his output, there will be less for him than all the others”, doesn’t it?

  137. This one makes sence “One’s first step in wisdom is to kuesstion everything - and one’s last is to come to terms with everything.”

  138. [...] Glenn Wolsey : Blog Archive : Top 10 Most Beautiful Blog Designs [...]

  139. #140

    Rick

    I went to Shawn Inman’s site because it looked cool in the screenshot, but I couldn’t even read a whole post before my eyes gave up. That background is way too much.

  140. [...] Glenn Wolsey pointed out the top 10 most beautiful blog designs. [...]

  141. But now you dont get even the simplest of thing. Luukas Bride.

  142. [...] Glenn Wolsey 10 Most Beautiful Blog Designs [...]

  143. Very Nice Collection Thanks For Sharing them… :D

  144. good list …
    appreciated …
    i like the dark ones …

  145. Wonderfull designs !!!

  146. Nice list! My favourite is Simplebits. I wonder if they’d like to share the theme :)

  147. they only wanna do you dir. Andreina Cecilio.

  148. Great list.
    you may want to take a look at this one.
    if u r interested, u may put that in the list.

    http://mintnetix.com/?p=17

  149. #150

    Jaakko Lehtonen

    I love your blog design cause i love blogs which are clean and beatifull. Still http://www.ndesign-studio.com/ is one of my favourites, i love that header! Oh and Macs4Life ;)

  150. I think these blog is really useful for new comers and Excellent resource list.

  151. [...] read more | digg story [...]

  152. All beautiful designs! I’ve subscribed to them all now (of course, I plan on ALWAYS clicking through to see the nice designs :D). I really find what Shaun Inman is doing is quite unique… changing the color slightly everyday. Interesting.

  153. All beautiful designs! Even more movtiation to redesign my blog for the 5th time.

    Well, at least I have some inspiration. :)

    Great post, keep it up

  154. i cant beleive devlounge changed there theme, the new one is HORIBLE.

    seriously i would go back and edit this glenn!

  155. 95421
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  156. [...] 10 gražiausių BLOG’o dizainų [...]

  157. Wow - great list of sites and just as great comments below the article. I just wrote an article that lists 180+ resources online for design inspiration and I found your article so helpful that I added your link to the article.

    Thanks.
    Rachel

  158. Hi buddie
    crenation

  159. cool list i like it

  160. I’m sorry, In my humble opinion these I don’t see how you can name these as the most beautiful. The first is okay, the second is beautiful, the third? the fourth? I don’t know why so many people have linked to this article, either they don’t have a sense of aesthetics or they are colourblind. I’ve come across much more beautiful site. lol to called the 3rd blog beautiful I’d rather not :|

  161. Make peace, not war!

  162. Great list of blogs Glenn.. It’s funny.. Some of them are simplistic in design, yet work so gracefully. Good insight into the mind of designers. Cheers.

  163. Just discovered a complete list of all marked down products at Amazon, sorted by category
    and % off, ranging from 50% off to 90% off (thanks Sonja for the effort).

    Actually I never thought Amazon would have articles with 90% off, but only in the category
    Electronics there are more than 3000 of them - look for yourself, the list is on
    Bargain Hunter (which is a blog of a woman who specializes in finding good deals at
    Amazon, like Britain’s “Jeanie”).

  164. [...] designed blog with equal content.” - 10 of the most well designed blogs on the Interweb.read more | digg [...]

  165. I assure that,these list will inspire the newcomers.My favourite one is hicksdesign.It has a wonderful design.
    I can see his hardwork on his blog

  166. great looking designs. I would love for mine to look like that.

  167. I worked very hard on my (dutch) blog and the world seems to like it. Have a look yourself…

  168. hello
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    buy laptop

  169. Great beautiful list

  170. Very nice selection, but I like more texty than bannery blogs,….

  171. #173

    Melioner56

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    If you have heart problems severe enough to make sexual activity a danger, you should avoid using Kamagra. Use it cautiously if you’ve had a heart attack, stroke, or life-threatening heart irregularities within the past 6 months. Be equally cautious if you have severe high or low blood pressure, heart failure, or unstable angina.
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  172. #174

    Arnie
  173. #175

    Diesel
  174. #176

    Catherine

    Great list! Another beautiful design you can find on a dutch site @ http://www.girlstyle.nl

  175. i rally like it so much i hope you can make one for the Web2.0

  176. What a beautiful list !! really amazing

  177. Hey Visit my webpage - I think thats a good built in design that I modified to suit my needs. Custom made widgets are the key to my blog.

  178. really Beautiful Designs i like it

  179. Nice collection i hope see flash collection

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