A Pipdig Makeover.

If you're a regular round these parts, then you might have noticed something a little different on Monday. Yes, LydiaLulu has had a much needed overhaul. A movie montage makeover a la Tai in Clueless if you will. Except for the part where Cher and Dionne eradicate her identity and turn her into a clone of the stereotypical High School 'popular kid'. Imagine if Tai had had her makeover and stayed true to her grunge music side - that's what I imagined when my new blog design went live on Monday. And sorry if the Clueless reference was lost on you, use it as inspiration to watch one of the greatest chick flicks of all time.

I'd been feeling a bit 'meh' about my blog for quite some time. Of course content comes first when it comes to writing a blog, but it's easy to underestimate the importance of a good design. I just feel like I outgrew my last one. LydiaLulu started as a 'bit of everything' kind of blog but it naturally progressed into something more beauty and fashion orientated. I wanted a design that reflected my new direction, a bit of my personality, while also remaining easy to navigate. 

Pipdig designs have been popping up all over the bloggersphere the past few months. So naturally when I made the decision to invest in a new design, they were my first port of call. From their testimonial page, I had a stalk of some the bloggers who have worked with them and was quickly sold. Their beautiful designs spoke for themselves and I didn't take much convincing! I filled out my wishlist, sent an email to ask about the waiting time , and Phil, Pipdig's Creative Director, got back to me within half an hour and answered all my queries. Safe to say, I secured my spot on their Waiting List a couple days later. Simply because their designs are so stylish and the Pipdig banner appears on most blogs I visit these days, there was a six week wait before things could get started. It meant I had to reign in the excitement and focus on exactly what I wanted out the design. I started to engage more with the bloggersphere as I explored what I really liked in other blogger's templates.

Before:

 After:

It's quite a change, right? I love the trademark Pipdig navigation bar that follows you down the page and clearly separates my posts into categories (of course it was always going to be pink).  My Instagram feed is also at the top of the home page but relocates to the bottom when you click on a post which makes for a convenient way of including my social media into more aspects of my blog. Plus, the integration of my Pinterest feed has inspired me to get pinning again. If you follow me on Twitter, then you may have noticed that I've been a hell of a lot more active the past couple of weeks. I never really 'got' Twitter before - I thought it was all just glorified Facebook statuses. I found it all a little intimidating but forced myself face my fears this month. And now I understand the craze, Twitter is addictive! As a beauty/fashion blogger, I'm really kicking myself for not using it properly before - I've discovered so many wonderful blogs in such a short space of time and Twitter chats are so lovely and chilled. I've fast become an addict, constantly checking for updates, so I asked Phil to incorporate my feed into the design just so readers can see what I'm up to on an everyday basis ... usually it's to do with beauty (obvs), Pop Tarts, or cats.
Most importantly, things are just looking more swish and organised - for a neat-freak like me, this really is the dream. You can also read LydiaLulu on the go via a rather cool mobile-browsing feature or subscribe to a mailing list and get a notification every I time I publish a post. Pretty cool, huh?
Other than just rambling about how much I love my new design, I really wanted to write this post to thank Phil from Pipdig - he's done such a great job and I so appreciate all the hard work he put into turning LydiaLulu into exactly what I envisioned. And for just generally putting up with me and my waffly, technophobe emails. If you're ever in need of a redesign, he's your guy.

With my sparkling new template and a four month Summer break looming on the horizon (after I hand in my five final essays of course), I have some really exciting things lined up for LydiaLulu including a couple of new series and maybe even some videos. This redesign has left me feeling incredibly inspired and excited for the future of my little blog which started off as a pass-time and fast become my passion.

P. S. How cute is the signature?