Changes

If you regularly view my blog on a computer browser, you may have noticed that my blog graphics look a little bit different. For starters, I made a new logo for my month in reviews (and a matching one for discussion posts), as well as made clickable images to my social media sites on my sidebar. I wanted to remove the original clunkiness of the sidebar, so I took out some filler gadgets that I didn't think were necessary. I am here to make a post of explanation of the changes, as there is a reasoning/some reflection behind the changes! So, let's talk about change: 

As some of you may know, I am embarking on some academic adventures in September. A large focus of my program in university will be on English studies and young adult fiction, which is a key focus of my blog. As such, I wanted to make my blog a bit more of a hub where colleagues, students, and friends could look for content that may at times overlap with the work I'm doing in school. I will sometimes cite my blog or put it on my resume, but I haven't really centered it fully in my academic studies before. However, after having some discussions with academics who work on young adult fiction content, I figured I could find a way to integrate my passion for blogging with my schoolwork. And thus, I had some cleaning up to do. 

My old graphics and logo were created by yours truly in Grade 10 photoshop class. They were cute at the time and served their purpose. I have mentioned before how I don't focus on graphic design a whole lot in my blog as I'm not good at it. That part of me hasn't changed. However, I did want to make my graphics appear a bit more mature to reflect my content a bit better. I don't just blog about YA anymore and I thought my blog looked a bit childish. So with the help of Canva and my cousin who created a header for me a while ago, I was able to tweak around with some new logos. It was a process, as I needed to get the sizing and blur just right. But I am proud of myself that I stuck with it even though graphics scare the hell out of me. 

I thought graphics in my social media sidebar may look cleaner than just having links, so I entered the world of coding to get that looking right. With the help of my dad and a lot of trial and error we were able to figure it out, but again, that was a whole lot of techy stuff that I had never tried before. You really do learn something new everyday! I can now say that I have a few graphics that I think look pretty and a bit more polished, and I'm very proud of that. 

Last but not least, a word about content. This will never be a blog about university life. I merely wanted to tweak a few things that would make me feel comfortable and proud to show my blog to ppl within my university life. Even my Twitter took on a bit of a makeover, as I know more people do use Twitter for networking and I wanted to make sure I had a clean slate on social media so that I wouldn't run into any trouble in the future. 

All of this is to say, I'm still here, this blog is still Paperback Princess, and I will continue writing about books, life stuff, and discussion posts along the way. I don't intend to leave my blog friends behind in search of another image, I just took my new life changes as an opportunity to spruce things up around here a little bit. It was a struggle, but I do hope these graphics look good to a secondary viewer. And as always, if you have any graphic design words of wisdom, they are always so welcome! Blogging is always a learning curve, and I'm grateful to be learning every day. 

Have you ever put your blog/social media through an upgrade? Do you suck at graphic design like me?

Emily @ Paperback Princess