It has been almost seven months since I launched the wireframe layout and posted the WTF post to enlighten readers about the redesign of the site. I happy to announce that I have some news for you on the progress of the redesign, as well as some notes on what to expect for the new year.

Update on the Design

I had my first meeting with the awesome Rogie yesterday about the creative direction the illustrations for the site. We brainstormed a couple of ideas that Rogie came up with and finally settled on one that plays off “pixels and outlaws.” Its really rad and I cant wait for it to go live. Once the sketches are polished and illustrated to size, I’ll code them into the site for you guys.

As a teaser, here are some sketch ideas from Rogie.

[sws_nivo_slider effect="fade" slices="15" anim_speed="500" pause_time="3000" start_slide="0" direction_nav="true" directionNavHide="true" controlNav="true" controlNavThumbs="true" controlNavThumbsFromRel="true" ttkeyboardNav="true" pauseOnHover="true" manualAdvance="false" captionOpacity="0.8"][sws_nivo_slider_item href="javascript:void(0);" image="http://www.outlawdesignblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/saloon.png" thumb="http://www.outlawdesignblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/saloon.png" caption="Saloon for header area" image_width="{width}" image_height="{height}" thumb_width="{twidth}" thumb_height="{theight}"] [/sws_nivo_slider_item] [sws_nivo_slider_item href="javascript:void(0);" image="http://www.outlawdesignblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/quickthoughts.jpg" thumb="http://www.outlawdesignblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/quickthoughts.jpg" caption="Ideas for character and pose in saloon" image_width="{width}" image_height="{height}" thumb_width="{twidth}" thumb_height="{theight}"] [/sws_nivo_slider_item] [sws_nivo_slider_item href="javascript:void(0);" image="http://www.outlawdesignblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/assets.png" thumb="http://www.outlawdesignblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/assets.png" caption="Asset ideas for buttons and the like" image_width="{width}" image_height="{height}" thumb_width="{twidth}" thumb_height="{theight}"] [/sws_nivo_slider_item] [sws_nivo_slider_item href="javascript:void(0);" image="http://www.outlawdesignblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/outlaw.png" thumb="http://www.outlawdesignblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/outlaw.png" caption="Basic text and font idea" image_width="{width}" image_height="{height}" thumb_width="{twidth}" thumb_height="{theight}"] [/sws_nivo_slider_item] [/sws_nivo_slider]

Plans for the Future

Outlaw Design Blog has achieved moderate success over the years regardless of the amount of time and effort I have put into it. While I could no doubt keep on running the blog in this haphazard fashion, it’s likely that it will eventually loose its popularity. As a result, I have decided to not only dedicate more time and resources to the blog, but also have been throwing around ideas of how to improve it.

Here are a few things that I will be working on in the months to come:

[sws_divider_basic]Content – In the past, the blog was a collection of my personal thoughts on business/design, photoshop tutorials, and resource/inspiration posts. While I will continue to post these sorts of articles, I want to expand upon this type of content and include more news and discussion based posts. So expect to see a not more “mini post” of web and design related news.[sws_divider_basic]Events Calendar – This is actually a beta idea for a much larger project I have been thinking about for a long time, but I figure the blog is a useful way to test it. There seem to be new and great conferences, webinars, and events popping up everyday. I want to add an events calendar where people can easily search and add web and design related events.
[sws_divider_basic]Question and Anwsers – Think Yahoo Answers, but geared toward design, business, and freelancers. To start with, it will just be myself answering questions, but I would eventually like to get some big name designers and business owners to help contribute to this section of the website.
[sws_divider_basic]Inspiration Gallery – Yes, I am aware there are hundreds of these out there already. This one will, however, be more than just a CSS gallery. It will be a collection of anything I find inspiring from t-shirts to posters and anything else that inspires.
[sws_divider_basic]I have some other ideas, but these are the ones I’m going to focus on first. I would love to know what you think of these ideas and if you have any suggestions.

Suggestions from You?

I’m doing this partly for myself, but mostly because I want to create a website that really benefits, helps, and inspires the community. So please, if you have any suggestions, let me know. After all, you are who this blog was made for.