My blog is KINDA like Emma Stone’s face. Stay with me. Remember how we all used to like Emma Stone when she looked like this:
Cute, sweet, but totally underwhelming. Then one day she dyed her hair, whitened her teeth, and she looked like this:
And we were all … Hmmm. I can guess I can get behind that … She looks good, right? Well, at least better … right?
But she doesn’t really look good or right or like herself. She looks way more commercial. Am I wrong?
Then one day she came out looking like Emma Stone really should look:
Yes. That’s her. Sure she’s been a bit “Hollywood-ized, ” but as much as we want to say that she was super cute before and that we loved her just as much, she undoubtedly looks better and more like HER now.
That’s how I feel about my blog. The first one I designed and it was called ‘The Brass Petal”:
I have such nostalgia for this post and blog. It really was when I decided to make sh*t happen. Three months later, I was on “DesignStar” and then you all know the story after that. But this blog was mine. I had no idea what the hell I was doing, as you’ll see by one of the titles of a post (to the right) being “Art I Want to Make Sweet Love To, ” which I love, but obviously wasn’t exactly going after any SEO strategy.
But I loved (love) brass and flowers so much, so it was appropriate. And the idea of calling something my name seemed so god damn self-important.
So a year later, Squarespace approached me and asked if they could redesign my blog if I’d switch to their platform. At the time they had some great bloggers moving to them so I figured, sure.
A few weeks later it turned into this:
Better, certainly. But still not right. I was so excited to have a facelift that I didn’t really think about whether or not it was “me” — or maybe I did, but I was too busy … I don’t know. Looking at it now (and the past few months), it just feels in a way too “corporate, ” but also not nearly serious enough.
So Bri (Designlovefest) and I orchestrated a trade; I design her living/dining room and she redesign my blog. Excellent. My goals for the blog were to look fun, but professional. Vintage, but not old fashion. On trend, but still with a classic element. As much as I love trends, there is something very old-school about me, and my style and my personality. I don’t wear those weird awesome architectural dresses with neon color patches. I wear vintage princess sleeved shirts, high-waisted wide legs, strange equestrian gear, and a lot of worn leather. I do modern, but with a serious vintage bent.
PLUS my name is a bitch.
“Emily Henderson” does not lend itself well to a lot of logos and fonts. It’s just long and fluid and tricky. So simplicity is where Bri knew we had to go.
So here we are folks; my new blog and therefore a new ME. And I feel like it finally fits. It’s vintage, yet modern; graphic yet romantic. Happy, yet not annoying.
Me, yet me.
Thank you so much Bri for designing this wonderful site, Zoe for coding it and Alexis for helping with the whole process. Moving on up, hopefully with you in tow. Thank you everybody for following along the last few years. I can’t possibly express how much I appreciate you. You are the tits.
What do you think?