{ Hold that thought while I run out the door, jump around in the yard wave my arms in the air and scream for joy }

Back!

We’ve all be to the over-decorated websites. You know, the ones people make themselves and just keep adding stuff till their site looks like it belongs in a Dr. Sues book? Yeah. Color everywhere, wonky flashing stuff, glitter, and my worst pet peeve of all – more than three font types. {choking just thinking about it}

One of the panelists for the Design as a Core Component of Your Brand and Identity track at the Mom 2.0 Summit conference said this:

Design and Decoration are not the same thing.

WOW.

I wanted to hug this person and shout their name from the rooftops.

I’m a minimalist. Growing up in a home with seven siblings meant constant clutter and chaos. Now, I’ve probably gone overboard the other direction… most of my walls don’t even have pictures on them. But, my home reflects who I am… it’s light, with a few bold colors and I like it that way. One of the big things I wanted for my new site design was to rid the site of clutter. Most of it was just decoration… stuff that didn’t explain who I am and what I do.

My friend, Robert Bravery, says it this way:

Decorations are the elements or objects used in a particular thing to make it look attractive. Design is arranging those objects so that they make attractive sense, so that they complement each other and add harmony.

Here’s what I think…

Designs should be simple

• No more than two font types needed, three max.
• Two main colors, three max. Use different shades for accents.
• Logo should look good in color, or black and white, online and on paper.

Decorations should be limited

• Photos or graphics within a post
• A few buttons or banners in the sidebar or footer

What do you think?

• What are your design pet peeves?
• What areas of your site are over decorated?