Designed by Love from Be

Hi Everyone!

As you can already tell my blog’s gone through a bit of a facelift. So this started when I mentioned to Rose from Le Petit Trianon that we needed step up our blogging game. The post on how to make the second part of the year spectacular seems like to have spoken to a lot of you guys because it’s one of the most read posts in my blog archive. So after some awesome suggestions from Rose, I started planning on how I can make this space more inviting and presentable.

The story

So there I was looking around for South African designers( you know, because local is lekker) and because some people don’t really answer e-mails or DMs and also finding someone asking above a grand just left me feeling really frustrated. Then I remembered that when Rose’s blog was still Crumbliest I read that it was designed by Be. I think I also started following her around that time.

So then I decided to ask her on Twitter and she agreed! She had exams at the time so I had to wait till they were over and then she started working on it. The conditions/playing rules to working with her were clear as day and I just thought it would be a piece of cake to sort out the other things. If you’re South African Blogger the next will be applicable to you. If not – skip to final result.

The complication

At the time I had an FNB smart card because I opened it up before I got a job. Then when I tried to setup PayPal it required a Cheque account. So because I did not have one I asked my mom if I could use hers but because hers wasn’t linked up to FNB online banking facility, the process wouldn’t work. Then I tried to switch over to a Cheque Account myself then I had to wait like forever for the card to arrive and on top of that I had to obtain proof of residence because I’m living in a new place that’s based on a lease agreement (that I hadn’t signed yet). So I had to wait for the contract, sign it and then have access to proof of payment. After that I could fetch my new card (and the queue was ridiculous that day) And then only I could have Paypal verify the account.

So the lesson here: Have an active Paypal Account now (whether you need it or not because one day you’ll need it urgently!

Brainstorming

To be quite honest, I didn’t know how I wanted the blog to look like. I was still keeping it from my friends and family because my audience is based more in the US/UK. One thing I knew though was that it had to be clean and crisp. My main inspirations are Shirley B.Eniang and Wendy’s LookBook. Obviously what makes theirs stand out more is amazing photography which is something I painfully lack (working on it!). So I sent Be an e-mail with vague instructions of what I’d like it to look like hoping that she’ll read my mind, countries away. I was also counting on her experience with her previous design jobs because I always loved browsing through her portfolio.

Final Result

What makes me happy about my blog now is how clean and elegant it is. Like a white canvas that is yet to be painted. That’s where I am with my blog – the beginning. And the minty green is the exact shade that I wanted because it also gives the blog some colour but is so faint that it fits in nicely with the clean spring theme. I work with difficult people all day long at work so working with Be was like a breeze of fresh air. Through all the drama and despite the setbacks behind the scenes she continued working on the design and changing it when I asked her to and she continued working on it up until I was COMPLETELY satisfied.

And I’m happy!!

If you’d like to work with her on your blog design, check out her portfolio!

Later

xx