Longbox Graveyard (Not So) Extreme Makeover Edition!
It’s a small thing but I’m all about the small things, so a recent minor facelift here at Longbox Graveyard earns its own post.
As you will doubtless not remember, Longbox Graveyard used to look like this:
Those of you reading this post on-site may or may not be able to spot the difference … but rather than force you to deploy your All-Seeing Eye of Agamotto, I’ll list them for you.
- Refreshed header design by Farzad Varahramyan, incorporating Glenn J. Smith’s “Happy Moleman” avatar (which has become the unlikely mascot of Longbox Graveyard).
- New background pattern from Farzad — a non-repro blue version of a detail from his header design.
- Subtle, but possibly most important — I moved my sidebar to the right of the page, which I think improves readability.
Longbox Graveyard is well into its third year, but this is the first time I’ve deliberately tinkered with the look of the site. My look has evolved over the years, as I’ve added and subtracted widgets, and generally tried to get as many images as possible in the sidebar, but for the most part, the site has remained unchanged since launch.
Let me know what you think of my new look!
Posted on December 4, 2013, in Announcements and tagged blogging. Bookmark the permalink. 4 Comments.
dangvozden
Paul O'Connor
Kris (not Chris)
markginocchio
miloapama
Dean Compton
Moya
ryanmcswain
Longbox Graveyard 
As a business professor, I heartily approve of the increased presence of Mole Mann as the “brand” of the site — good work!
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Thanks, Prof!
The evolution of Mole Man as personal brand has been a happy accident.
While familiar with Twitter, I originally did not intend to start a Twitter account when founding this blog. Can’t even remember why I did it, now — probably a “what the hell” thing, as I was firing all the guns at once and not sure what to expect from Longbox Graveyard.
Creating a Twitter account, of course, required an avatar. I think I experimented with a piece of my original LBG header but it was too muddy to read at target size. I’d been thinking about Marvel Value Stamps (man, I’m a nerd) and it occurred to me that a stamp would be the right shape, the right subject, offer the proper context, and could also provide a high-contrast image with a good silhouette and “read.”
Not sure why I settled on Mole Man — I have no special affinity for the character, it just seemed to work. And then, one thing leads to another, and that Mole Man is showing up next to my words again and again … and then Glenn lays the “happy” Mole Man on me, to make it just that much more personal. So it sticks, like a nickname. And it works, because Mole Man lives in the dark and I imagine he has kind of a cranky voice and is stuck in the past, etc. etc. Good fit.
Then when I wanted to start a Facebook page for LBG, I had to start a “personal” account to go along with it … and so “Mole Mann” was born.
Pretty soon that Mole Man image is going up everywhere — Google+, Instagram, Tumblr, foursquare … everyplace that requires a profile image.
No problem. It works. Getting Mole Man up on the header only made sense at that point, replacing the caricature Farzad had made of me all these years gone (which did bear an uncanny resemblance to the real me … but the real me isn’t the point, now is it?).
And so here we are, Longbox Graveyard and Mole Man, in a fatal embrace, and for all time! Excelsior!
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Looks great! Love your website!
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Thank you kindly!
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