Parajunkee Design: Interview & Giveaway!

Have you checked out the awesomeness that is Parajunkee Design?! If not, what are you waiting for?  In case you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t noticed, Rachel of Parajunkee Design revamps websites and runs several book blogs including: Parajunkee’s Views, Anya’s Room, and Blog with Bite.

Luckily, I was able to get Rachel over here to answer a few questions about website design and book blogging.

Why did you decide to start Parajunkee Design?
I’ve actually owned a freelance firm before, called Apercu Media, but when Katrina hit I had to let it go and get a “real” job because the clients weren’t there anymore. When I started parajunkee.com the templates weren’t good enough for me, so I used my skills as a web designer, picked up blogger CSS and designed my own template. I got so many compliments on it and inquiries on who designed it that I practiced and did a few free blogger templates for book bloggers. Because parajunkee.com was not a good place to feature these templates, I did another blog called Parajunkee Design and put the free templates there. After that requests began coming in for designs. It all took me by surprise actually.

What are some important design elements to keep in mind when starting a blog?
You want your design to convey the feel of your blog. So the overall look should show off your blog personality. If you like to review romance and chick-lit go for a romantic feel, Urban Fantasy, sport the high-intensity dark colors and sexiness that is prevalent in that genre. The design is the first thing people see before they read a word…you have about 3 seconds to make a good impression. Keep the clutter down so the page loads quickly. Prominently display the name of your blog. Have a hierarchy of information, the most important information on top, the less important things on bottom. Try to use easy to view colors — colors that don’t hurt the eyes or are too bright. Use a larger font for ease of reading, also make sure the font color is in contrast to the background color so it stands out instead of blending in.

Aside from designing blogs, you also run several book blogs. On Parajunkee’s View you have a feature called Book Blogging 101, which is a tool for new book bloggers, providing them with helpful information about book blogging. What kind of response have you had from that feature?
I get more responses from my BB101 posts than I do my reviews. I use it as a platform to send out and actually receive information about the book bloggyverse. I want to know what people think on certain subjects and I think it helps new bloggers and even experienced book bloggers test the waters regarding certain subjects. People love chiming in about what they think and it is an outlet and a way to get their opinions known because of the popularity of the post. I really hope it is helping people…and not just stirring up controversy, or at least a little bit of both

Thanks Rachel! Those are some very wise words of wisdom from the Junkee!

Here is your chance to win a $20 Gift Certificate to use at Parajunkee Design. Perfect to use for an a la carte item like a meme badge/button or toward the purchase of a blog design package! Check out Parajunkee’s complete list of prices and packages here! She also offers a 20% discount to book blogger and authors!  

To enter a drawing for your chance to win a $20 gift certificate to Parajunkee Design, fill out the form below.

Open to anyone!

Extra entries like tweeting, following, or posting are appreciated but not required. Winner announced on Monday, Sept. 13th.

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Did you enter my The Iron Fey series giveaway? If not, click here to enter! I have another BlogFest 2010 giveaway planned for Sunday, so be sure to check back! Now, hop on to the next giveaway at Tynga’s Reviews.

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Posted at 5:00 am  •  Labels: 2010, giveaway