Best Design Nominees

VOTING IS NOW CLOSED THE WINNER IS THE BOOKISH BRUNETTE

Here's how it's going to run down: there will be a poll at the bottom of this post and you simply just vote for your favorite blog out of all of these arguments! :) Each day, there will be THREE voting rounds posted, so you'll have to scroll down and see all the posts for yourself. Each voting round lasts for exactly a week and once every voting round it done, winners will be announced, and prizes (if you would like to donate contact us. Please remember that if we don't get enough prizes we won't be giving ANY out at all) shipped out—that is, if the winner wants a prize.

For the Best Design nominees, we asked for a screencap of their blog, and a little about their design inspiration.

Mind Reader

Mind Reader design was made by Silvia @Darkest Sins and it's about everything I love. The lady represents me, a sort of gothic Mad Hatter, and the rest represents all my passions: books, the gothic & eerie world of witches.

About the Blog: Mind Reader was born from my passion of books. I mainly blog about my reads, which include urban/dark fantasy, paranormal romance, dark erotica and historical romance. I sometimes also post reviews of movies I watch, and some other times of genreal things that catch my interest.
 
The Bookish Brunette 

My design usually reflects the season... ;) or an event! 

My chick always stays the same, although she changes clothes and makeup depending on her surroundings! Because I'm anal that way!

About the Blog:

I started The Bookish Brunette in April of 2011, quickly became known as the Zombie Queen after Zombie Craze 2011 was held in June of 2011... and Zombie Craze 2012, this past May, was phenomenal! I've since started working with the AMAZING Claudia McKinney of PhatPuppy Art, doing book cover typography and recently started a book touring service, BB Book Tours!

Bewitched Bookworms

Rating Example:

Something that was always important to me was the design and layout of our Blog. I admit, I am a design addict - I love to stare at beautiful pages, sites that invite me to say longer. This was the aim for our layout. I wanted it to be inviting, therefore I wanted soft colors, a clean & soft design and an easy navigation. They grey color with the pink and blue highlights was chosen to be easy on the eyes and definitely is one of my favorite color scheme! Being romantic at heart I wanted to transport this feeling, and  the beautiful hand drawn book with the butterflies in the header exactly fits my romantic heart.

Also, I'm a lover of small cute details.  I think my rating system is is exactly like this, those cute dolls are just adorable with a love for detail and I believe they are definitely unique. In addition, I have book genre badges to underline the genre a certain book fits in. 

But the layout itself it not everything. I also spend a lot of time with the layout of each post/review so that readers feel also visually invited to read our posts/reviews. Each review has a 3D cover and a post graphic, to add to the overall feel of the blog being something I hope people find visually attractive. 

Last but not least, I am extremely in love with our featured slider, which show casts our recent reviews with a featured image.  These images are also made by myself for each post. 

About the Blog: 

The Bookworms have been up and running since 2.5 years and we review a variety of book genres, although our primarily genre definitely is Young Adult fiction. We are 3 friends (Pushy, Heather and Danny) running this blog together with each of us having a distinct voice and genre preference. We are very passionate readers and we especially love to share this passions with our readers! In addition to review books, we also love to interact with authors and help them to promote their books! 

GraveTells 

Our main page is magazine-style with quick, easy-to-find references to nearly every other part of the site, including on-going giveaways and events as well as a top review scroll bar to see all the latest review posts
Our blogroll (The Feed) is clean, striking and UNCLUTTERED! You will not find a thousand annoying blinky ads on a double sidebar or a rainbow of eyesore colors on GraveTells. We only show you what we think you might like, and we do it with class. Readers come first; advertising comes second!
Our header slideshow rotates between announcement images of current events and
promotions. Scroll through all the slides for quick updates!

We create all our own graphics for our events and awards… many from scratch
Our color scheme is memorable and sets the tone for our darker paranormal and urban fantasy focus
We celebrate our review team members by making each of them a special signature graphic they can use in reviews and in their own correspondence.
We make it easy to find what you want when you want it. Readers come first at GraveTells, so we’re always open to feedback on what makes your viewing of our site easier and more pleasurable. *grin*

About the Blog:
Erotic or chaste, gritty or sparkling, novella or epic, GraveTells has been hooking up fans of paranormal
romance and urban fantasy with their book boyfriends since 2011.

Come check out our “/tells of grave tales” and meet your next crush @ http://gravetells.com

My Secret Romance

 

When I was creating my header I knew I wanted a photo of a couple. However, I didn't want their faces to show. I wanted it to be a "secret" couple. I also wanted to incorporate books into the photo, but wasn't sure how. That's where Sarah from Okay Creations came in. Eventually I found the silhouette of the couple that felt like the one. So I sent it to Sarah, along with colors and inspirations and told her to work her magic...and she did! I absolutely love it! She did such a wonderful job...exactly what I wanted. It shows a secret romance, with lots of smooching and books, which is what my blog is all about. A big thanks to Sarah for my beautiful header! 

About the Blog:

My Secret Romance is mainly a romance reading book blog. However, we'll read and review whatever we fancy at the moment- so we're not too picky! There are eight reviewers who contribute to the blog and without them My Secret Romance wouldn't have made it this far. For me the blog has grown beyond a place where I can share my thoughts. It's now a place where relationships have developed. I never imaged that I would meet and become friends with so many different people who I had so much in common with. I am so grateful for them. The blog encompasses a wonderful set of woman who bring their different tastes and perspectives creating a unique blend. Yet we are all compatible with each other. I love these ladies and wouldn't have it any other way. Plus, what it all boils down to is we find more and more juicy books to read!

Parajunkee

The Parajunkee’s View design has gone through a lot of metamorphosises throughout the three years in existence. Currently the design is image based and reflects what I would believe to be a Persephone type image, representing the dark and light side of the female consciousness. Deep right? Persephone imagery is a favorite of mine and I think it invokes what I’m trying to accomplish with the blog. Showing both dark and light sides of fiction.

About the Blog:
Parajunkee’s View, started in August of 2009, primarily focuses on books, fiction genre books to be specific. But, over time the blog has morphed into a community outlet for much more, including movies (usually based on books), television shows and other entertaining, artistic outlets. The blog also features tutorials for other bloggers on how to improve their own blogs, and memes that target improving page views and networking.

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