Merry Christmas to All!
Thursday · Dec 24 · 2009 | 9:01 PM PSTWelcome to the improved Icethetics! It's been a long time coming but I'm excited to once again get back into the swing of things.
The New Look
The first thing you've noticed is the brand new layout. I'm always excited to be able to improve upon the look of Icethetics and I'm very happy with this one. It's an ever-changing beast and while I don't think I'll ever be satisfied with my own work, I think each iteration has been an improvement over the last.
The biggest change beyond the extra 120 pixels in width is the primary font — which has been Trebuchet since I launched the blog in 2007 — to Georgia, which is easier to read. Trebuchet is still sticking around, however, for headings and other elements. Plus, the new banner at the top of the page now includes the .info domain.
More Concept Art!
Of course the new look is not the best news of the night. What I'm really excited about is the implementation of a new approach to concept art. It's a process that will make it easier for me to offer more frequent updates. Rather than going for a week or more between posts, you'll be finding something new every day or two. The idea being to keep you guys coming back for new concepts on a regular basis.
In fact, tomorrow morning you'll find brand new concept art — and it's NOT the fourth installment of the Strauss NHL Rebrand (that will come later this weekend). More good news. By popular request, there will be new concept art auto-posted every day while I'm off in Las Vegas getting married in January. Details to come.
New Sweater Gallery
The best news of the night — a brand new hockey sweater image gallery like no other available on the web. I've always tried to make Icethetics a place for content that's hard to come by or found nowhere else — a tradition I intend on continuing in 2010.
My resolution is to make more of an effort to keep Icethetics fresh and new every day in the new year. I miss that and I know many of you do as well. There will be plenty of jersey news to follow in the coming year as well as loads of awesome concept art and new logo and uniform tournaments!
But enough talk from me. You've heard it all before. Keep checking back for the proof!
By the way, I'm open to any and all suggestions for making Icethetics more awesome than ever. Just drop me a line by email or in the comments. And while you're at it, let me know what you think of the new design.
Merry Christmas to all!
Reader Comments (21)
LOVE the new look and the new ideas! so excited and i cant wait! MERRY CHRISTMAS to all and GO SABRES!!!
Another redesign? And one of your changes wasn't removing comment moderation? I can see that there will be no discussion at all while you're away, reducing the average visitation time on icethetics to roughly 10 seconds a day. This place becomes more like ESPN every week, constant shameless self-promotion and a sense people will always be back no matter how far from the original intent you are. Joy.
I LOOOOOOVE YOUUUUUUUUUUU
Hockey Week, you say that, yet here you are! And you always have something to add — for better or worse. That's why I'm here. (And sorry about the comment moderation. Goes with the territory.) Have a wonderful holiday man!
hey, first off, congrats on the marriage thing. i just proposed to my girl tonight and we'll be doing the vegas thing in august. fun times.
anyway, nice job on the site. looking forward to the frequent updates!
merry christmas.
Been a long time reader of the blog and have continued to be impressed with the constant improvements and ideas coming to the site. Given that this is a hobby site and not a professional paid development is thoroughly impressive.
Continue the great work and have a great holiday season.
PS.
Congratulations on the wedding!
Still Christmas Eve here in Canada but Merry Christmas!
I honestly don't care what you do with the site and I understand Hockey Week's point but he's been a loyal follower of this site for a while so I doubt he's going anywhere.
Chris, all I want to know is where is the uniform news you promised on the Canucks and the Senators lst week. Thanks in advance man.
Merry Christmas again.
I'm really surprised to see my comment made it through, last time I had my comment about comment moderation edited out. Is there really that big of a need for it? Are there that many slap fights?
This place used to be a hub of design discussion, and I wish it would return to that. You're a busy man, I can't expect you to be constantly approving comments...but that feature completely kills any conversation. considering that there'll be a new post every day, how could things even have time to get out of hand?
This place used to be better than UniWatchBlog, multiple posts a day, quality content, running series, and discussion. I know that has had to be scaled back, we all have lives, but even in the longest of periods between posts, there were still comments to read, reasons to keep coming back longer than to just see that there were no new posts.
Is it really that necessary? Could an image-decipher be used to keep bots out like on Puckdrawn? Again, I complain because I care.
Congrats to both you and Johnny Griswold, and Merry Christmas!
It's okay. I liked the old one better.
been here since NHLTOL days, and I hate no updates! I mean that in the best way because I love the updates ha. It only sucks to come here 4 times a day and only get an update a week, but ill still keep coming back, theres no blog like this one.
The best idea I have heard was to maybe have someone else do the posting of the tons of concept work and reserve yourself for real news and content, since only so much news can come. But whatever you do ill still be here!
I'm very excited to hear this news. I've been following this site ever since the beginning of the .blogspot site. This site quickly became my favourite blog on the internet, and I'm very pleased that it's about to get even better.
Merry Christmas, Chris.
It's hard to say what I think of this new look (ha, I thought it was going to be a new look for the blog) I was so accustomed to the last one and the one before that...and the one before that and so-on. It'll take some adjustment, but I like the look, I'm already starting to grow on it. Only thing I think I'd change is the banner width, but I'm getting used to that too. Otherwise everything looks amazing.
I like the overall look of the site, but the gray text on gray background is kind of bothering my eyes. Maybe it's just me.
Merry Christmas Chris ! I liked the old design better as it was easier to read but as far as the colors go, I like them a lot. Actually I like the dark look the other had and the look this one has. It's cool switching between designs. Just make it easier to read please, the old one worked better with that.
Merry Christmas once again and this truly is a great blog.
Merry Christmas and I love this gift! :)
I'm looking forward to the sweater gallery and this layout is stupendous!
How about more logo tournaments, like NCAA D1 logos is one you've never done and NHL mascots. Also how about bringing back the IceHL and wtf ever happened to ghettofarmboy or something with his Blues rebrand it's been over like a year we have been waiting for it (so either he's gone or it's the most spectacular rebrand ever).
Great new idea of capturing the jersey in a more real life setting. All you need to do now is somehow create a Goalie Mask Gallery and I think you'll be set!
Not a fan of the new look.
Ian, why don't you email Chris on ways to improve the site then? I'm sure he would appreciate your input.
The new look is not an improvement over the previous one. To me, you've lost a lot of the beauty of the previous look. How long was that one up for anyway, a year? Can you please keep a layout and colour scheme that lasts longer than a Carolina Hurricanes' winning streak?
Myself, I like these new graphics. Those old ones were definitely the best out of all the site designs that hit our favorite blog since the NHLTOL days, but I have to admit, that graphic got very boring after a while and unlike UHB, I like the changes made to this site every now and then. :)