Oh, you guys,
You may notice I haven't been writing a ton of long form posts the past few weeks (or at least a lot of long form posts for *me* with my chattery chattery nature). That's NOT because I don't love you all, or because I'm not thinking of Team Practical... it's because I have a crazy amount of balls in the air behind the scenes, trying to get a million (ok, two, but it totally feels like a million) APW projects up and running. My dear friend Cara wrote the sweetest post on Friday about my manic energy levels (though she used much nicer words than manic)... and whew... this time I'm even doing myself in.
So. I wanted to take a moment to talk to you about behind the scenes project #1 - the blog re-design (ahhh!) There are so many times when blogs I love have relaunched... and then totally lost their soul. Like, the bottom fell out, and the blog was unrecognizable. And I wanted to let you know THAT IS NOT THE PLAN. In my design contract, I swear to god one of the clauses is "Design must have soul." And the content isn't going to *change* after the re-launch either, other than in the ways it constantly changes and grows.
So, blah, blah, blah, you want to hear about the design itself, right? Welllllll..... I'm working with a married designer/coder team that used APW during their wedding planning last year, and are just launching their own business full time (how perfect is that?) You can see their mini site here, and you will clap your hands with joy. We spend a lot of time talking about how to make the new APW um, FUNCTIONAL (wouldn't it be nice if you could find things when you wanted them?), and pretty (quirky-Meg-pretty, not generic-wedding-website-pretty), but still make it feel PERSONAL. Because no, I don't want it to feel like you're visiting some big-corporate-wedding-website when you come here. I want it to feel a little messy and a lot real. I want it to feel like the magic community making space that it is.
It's been an interesting process, emotionally. Sometimes I get asked if I feel all fancy doing this (achem, and sometimes I get asked another much meaner version of that question). The answer is *no* I don't feel all fancy. I feel a lot like, "Oh dear god, this is a big responsibility, I don't want to screw it up," and "Ahhhhhh! How did I get put in CHARGE?!?!?" I've never felt that attached to this physical (virtual?) site... it was always sort of 'the best we could do with blogger' and then blogger tried to take it away, and I felt much less attached to this blogger-hosted site (to say the least). But letting go of it is proving to be tough. This is scrappy-little-APW, this is the place I wrote all about my wedding planning... and while new-slightly-shinier-APW is going to have all the same moxie and all the same scrappy-ness... I'll miss it here a little.
And you can miss it too. That's ok. But hopefully, hopefully, in 1.5 months, we'll all be very happy with the new home that we're working so hard to build.
(Next up.... I want your feedback).
Smooches,
Meg
PS Every single comment ever made is coming with us, don't worry.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Their minisite looks fantastic. So excited for the re-design!
One thing I like about APW is that it loads quickly on my crummy work computer! please dont put too many graphics in so I can keep sneaking past :)
Personally, I'm pretty sure I'll love APW whether it's on this site, a fancy one, or something that looks like a cardboard box. Though I can't speak for everyone, for me, the advice, support and community is what keeps bringing me back. That being said, I love pretty things, so I'm super excited to see what you guys have cooked up!
I am really super excited for the redesign, because I trust Meg. I know she didn't sign up to be the spokesperson for being the go-to-person for practicality in wedding planning/creating a marriage. But she speaks with such authority, humor, and intelligence that it is natural we have all gravitated to this site. I can't wait for the things to come. Rock on Meg!
Your new site will rock because you're still the voice with the values behind the blog machine. Many sites are pretty, but I can just scroll through those pictures without bothering to read the content. I want to read this blog months and months after my wedding because you have something to say. When the background changes, it won't change your message.
i don't think you should worry that people will think the content won't be as "real" if the site is fancier/prettier... in some ways, it's kind of like the wedding day itself: we may get dressed up in pretty, fancy dresses and wear makeup and get our hair done on that day - but that doesn't mean that we aren't (and can't be) sassy, independent, fierce women underneath!
Post a Comment