Blogging platform for interaction/identity designer think tank.
November 6, 2015 12:45 PM Subscribe
What blogging platform should a design research group use?
A bunch of designers, including myself, are getting together to start a study group / think tank / club of some sort, mainly to think, publish and consult about interaction and identity design. We want to create a blog to publish think pieces, takedowns of bad design and other random musings. What platform should we use?
I'm a web developer, so I could roll my own, but I don't really want to, I'd rather use something that works and has a bit of cachet. It should be simple enough for non-techies to use, stylish and have a certain something that maybe makes you think we are a) sort of cool and b) actually know what we're talking about.
We're also thinking of having some sort of Wiki where we could develop a sort of lexicon of identity design, so it'd be great if that could be integrated with the blogging.
Impact is important. Style is important. Reach is important. Free is nice, though we could pay if it was really worth it. I'm open to self-hosting if it makes sense.
A bunch of designers, including myself, are getting together to start a study group / think tank / club of some sort, mainly to think, publish and consult about interaction and identity design. We want to create a blog to publish think pieces, takedowns of bad design and other random musings. What platform should we use?
I'm a web developer, so I could roll my own, but I don't really want to, I'd rather use something that works and has a bit of cachet. It should be simple enough for non-techies to use, stylish and have a certain something that maybe makes you think we are a) sort of cool and b) actually know what we're talking about.
We're also thinking of having some sort of Wiki where we could develop a sort of lexicon of identity design, so it'd be great if that could be integrated with the blogging.
Impact is important. Style is important. Reach is important. Free is nice, though we could pay if it was really worth it. I'm open to self-hosting if it makes sense.
Definitely use Wordpress if you want to work in isolation as a group, and just be read amongst yourselves.
But... if you want to be read, why not start a collection at Medium? It'll do a lot of what you want, and you'll gain in reach and audience and unexpected interaction what you sacrifice in a visual identity. It's also pretty much zero-barrier for everyone. (Disclosure: I do business with them.)
posted by RJ Reynolds at 1:57 PM on November 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
But... if you want to be read, why not start a collection at Medium? It'll do a lot of what you want, and you'll gain in reach and audience and unexpected interaction what you sacrifice in a visual identity. It's also pretty much zero-barrier for everyone. (Disclosure: I do business with them.)
posted by RJ Reynolds at 1:57 PM on November 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
I use SquareSpace for my personal professional site and while they do have gorgeous, easy templates, they are a PAIN if you plan to have a lot of varied graphics embedded in your posts. I have spent entirely too much time futzing with resizing an image that looked fine in the edit mode but wonky when published.
posted by smirkette at 3:47 PM on November 6, 2015
posted by smirkette at 3:47 PM on November 6, 2015
Response by poster: RJ Reynolds: exposure is definitely a main concern. Do you know if it's possible to have a 'corporate presence', ie. a bunch of authors under a common brand? Can you use your own URL?
posted by signal at 4:35 PM on November 6, 2015
posted by signal at 4:35 PM on November 6, 2015
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There are several visual design plugins for Wordpress. Doing that will give you a fresh look and unique look, always important for designers.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:44 PM on November 6, 2015