I use repeating patterns for my blog backgrounds. Why? Because my husband, the graphic designer says I should. Also, I think they are fun, original and best of all--THEY'RE FREE! I trust Jeremy implicitly for all my designing needs. He recently made a tutorial for a friend that shows how to incorporate these cool, free backgrounds into your blog.
Here is the place where I get my background patterns:
http://k10k.net/sections/pixelpatterns
Download the pattern you want. To do this, you click on the tile to the right. It shows up in the box on the left. Then right click on the pattern and hit "save as". It's just a little chip. Remember, it is a repeating pattern so it will look seamless in the background. There are a LOT to choose from so download a few. Try a few out. It's like buying paint at the store. It looks different on your walls.
Also, remember that it is a background. Less is more, subtlety is key. You want your blog to be inviting, but most of all readable. Don't let the background be a distraction. Some of those patterns hurt my eyes.
Next, post it somewhere like flicker, where you can get a URL for that specific item. Then copy the URL code and follow the direction in this pdf file my husband made:
http://rm303.com/others/AddingRepeatingPatterns.pdf
Viola! You're a graphic designer!
2 comments:
Help!!! I have been wanting to change my background FOREVER, but couldn't figure out how. I followed your directions, but when I try to save the pattern it turns out as a plain white square (on my desktop), and a plain black square (if I save it to iPhoto). Please help my boring blog.
Sunny!
I'm so sorry. When you go to the web site, click a pattern from the left. It shows up in the box on the right. Then just click on the box. You should see a pop up button with the little chip of pattern in that. You need to right click on the little chip in the pop up and save it to your computer.
I wasn't very clear on that. Call me (or just come over) if it doesn't work. :0
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