This has been quite the week. Just after I finished my keynote at WDS, I started getting emails from French people in Montreal. Quite a few French people in Montreal. It turned out that La Presse, a big French language paper in Canada, had profiled Legal Nomads just as I was getting onstage. It’s a great pleasure to welcome new Facebook fans and blog readers from my hometown, and my high school French teacher, Mme Benyekhlef, wrote to say hello. And to round out a terrific week, the blog redesign I’ve been working on for months is finally ready. Welcome to the new Legal Nomads!
There are quite a few changes.
I did like the Arras theme but it’s quite boxy and didn’t focus sufficiently on my photography, which has become more and more important as I continued with my travels. Though I love narrative writing and truly enjoy sharing all the stories and fun, quirky moments that make travel so fascinating, photos speak for themselves and I’ve been using more of them as the years have passed.
The design came about haphazardly. I was looking to redo the site for quite some time and had very specific ideas of what I wanted. However, I’m not a website designer or developer, so how to implement them? Enter Brian and Bridgid, a lovely couple from Seattle who I met in Chiang Mai and who happened to be available for a new project. I think they’ve done a fantastic job and I would highly recommend them to anyone, though I know they’ve got a full plate for the next few months.
New Logo, New Slogan
The old site had no logo, but it did have a slogan: proving that even lawyers can have fun. While I truly believe that’s the case (just ask my Thrillable Hours interviewees!), it did not represent what I look for in my wanderings, nor what I truly love to learn about. The new slogan – where culture, food and travel intersect – is how I see Legal Nomads (minus the birdcrap of course) and how I see my focus when I travel.
Handnails!
Thumbnails, the smaller-sized photos that we use to identify a post or a category, are just fine. But why use thumbnails when you can use handnails? This is a made-up word (my friends have rolled their eyes at my enthusiasm for handnails), but I love them. Wider, bolder photos to accompany the post. When it’s a featured image, it should be featured, no? So: the new Legal Nomads has lots of handnails.
Color Scheme
As I said when I announced this upcoming redesign, I was wistful for a Middle Eastern or Mediterranean colour scheme, with contrasts of bright colours. The blue, saffron, black and white was exactly the scheme I had in mind, and when I was in Jordan in early May I saw a plate of delicious knafe that put all those colours in practice. The blue in the new site is darker than on the plate below, but the colour scheme is the same, and it’s precisely what I wanted.
Categories on the Sidebar
Instead of a tag cloud, I’ve now got categories on the sidebar, as well as a destinations list as a dropdown menu below them. The highlighted categories are ones that are near and dear to me, encapsulating the chaos of what makes my travels in Asia and elsewhere so much fun. Adventures in transportation and food each figure prominently in my wanderings, and now have their very own categories. I’ve added ‘personal musings’ as a category as well, since I’ve moved away from the pure destination-posts and also interspersed some general thoughts on what travel does for me (and what it doesn’t do). And in the spirit of trying to become a better photographer, I’ve started a photography category, linking to the longer form photo stories I’ve posted here.
The icons use my photos and Lobster Font, with mouseover effect. Definitely a fan of Lobster Font.
Shiny Connect with Me Buttons
I love shiny buttons. My new shiny buttons not only have the colours I wanted, but the ones on the sidebar have a mouseover. In Lobster Font. Buttons + Lobster Font = WIN.
Photo View and Text View
One of the more exciting aspects of the new design is the ability to toggle between photo view and text view. As you can see in the screenshot below, the photo view sets out the handnails in a graph form, with a lovely mouseover with the meta information from each post. We’ve put in “click here for photo view/text view” icons, but the food and photoessay categories will go straight to handnail-form because the focus is photography for each.
New Share Buttons
In lieu of the Shareaholic toolbar, there’s a big “share” (in Lobster font, no less) and the basics of Facebook, Stumble, Twitter and the +1 button from the Google.
Hope you enjoy the new Legal Nomads as much as I do!
-Jodi
Congrats! Very nice :)
The new site looks great, Jodi. Congratulations!
It looks great, Jodi! Congratulations!
Looks great! Knafe looks a lot like Turkish kunefe, does it also involve wheat, cheese, and sweetness? Yum. Sexy logos!
Beautiful, love it!
Congratulations! Looks great and very slick indeed! :)
I love it, Jodi. Clean, tidy, easy to navigate, but with bold images. Thumbs up!
so pretty and love the new tagline, congrats jodi
It looks lovely! Well done.
Very nice as is expected from you!
Good going Jodi. The design is crisp, classy and easy to navigate. I love it.
Looks like this was a perfect time for the re branding of the site, to go along with all the other cool things happening in your life. Ahhhh serendipity :)
See you soon!
I really love your new design, Jodi – lots of nice features and it looks fantastic! Congrats to you and Brian/Bridgid for doing such a great job!
See you in Vancouver very soon :)
Nice! Except for that piece of…pizza? It looks a piece of toast that was dropped on my living room rug. Bet it tasted good though.
congrats — looks very clean and organized. Well done!
Looks really cool! But I don’t see the blue from the plate anywhere. Is that just my browser? Or did I misunderstand? Either way, I like it :)
If you click through to the mail page (click on the logo, top left) you’ll see the blue accents. :)
New site looks great Jodi! Congrats! I like the clean look from a design standpoint. Hope it’s well received by all!
Awesome new look – quite fancy! Definitely like the new features, photos, and design. I didn’t know hands had nails though! :)
100% class, Jodi. Way to make lobsters work for YOU!
Like I told you on Facebook, I just found out about your blog today so I’ve never seen the old design! Love the feel of this one though, and I love your blog posts as well. Keep it up!
Love the new look Jodi! Can’t wait to catch up at tbex!
Nice! I agree…love the fresh, clean look! I too have been putting off a redesign for about a year now…got distracted designing a whole new business/site (just launched this week!). I have a list of designers but will check out Brian & Brigid! Thanks!
Very nice, Jodi. I look forward to your posts!
Thanks for the mention, Jodi! It’s been so wonderful working with you. You are officially the first client who has liked my buttons enough to want to lick them. (WIN!) Nothing like enthusiasm to make a design project more fun. :)
Very shiny Jo. Looks especially wonderful on my iPad. Mmm… iPad….
Sorry. Any ideas on making “mouseovers” work in tablet/iPhone type devices?
Hi Cale. Mouseover effects don’t really work on touchscreen devices like the iPad. But these effects are just eye candy and won’t prevent you from navigating and experiencing the site. Bridgid and I love to hear feedback from everyone, especially those using devices like the iPad!
Thanks everyone! Love the way it looks too.
Hey Jodi,
Dig it!!! Love the text/photo toggle, don’t think I’ve ever seen that before. What a great idea! Also like the colors and typography. Lobster font was a good choice!
B well,
Phil
Looks terrific! Great stuff.
First class redesign, Jodi! I like the handnail category images in the right column, they give a great overview of what the site is all about. Nice favicon as well – it stands out beautifully in my browser tabs.
The new design looks fabulous Jody – nice and clean, and every photo crisp and bright. Nicely done!
Really feeling it!! I love the simple design and the combo of colors.. well done! :-)
Love, love, love, my roomie. So shiny and pretty and as classy as the legal nomad herself :)
great new design – love it!
Wow, you’ve really put a lot of thought into this; very impressed, but I wouldn’t expect anything less from you.
Your photography has been my favorite part of your blog, in particular… all the wonderful food.
Have a wonderful summer!
Un abrazo fuerte,
Claudia
ps: where can I get my hands on those blue/white plates?!?!? Loving it!
Hey Claudia! The plates were from Jordan (Armenian ceramics, from Beit Sitti cooking school) but I’m sure they’re available somewhere in NY. Will find out for you.
This is so elegant. When you talked about the colors before I thought it was going to be quite jazzy, which somehow didn’t sound like you, and I love this. It’s also intelligent and friendly. Love it.
I dunno, I would have gone with the term “fist nails”. Sounds so much more…powerful. Look at my fist nails, people!
In any case, it’s a nice, new look and it’s all yours!
Love the new look and logo! Really like the new slogan as well. I think handnails should completely replace thumbnails.
Very shiny!
love the new design, and yes to HANDNAILS! :P
I like the change you made. I do love your new design.
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