I am not shy about admitting that I LOVE to create author sites.
A) I love to read, and am amazed by the ability to weave words, whether for a toddler, a teen, or an old coot like me, and
B) it is so much fun to create a design that captures an author’s personality and appeals to their audience.
2014 was therefore an awesome year here in Websyland! I had the great pleasure of creating TWELVE author sites! That’s enough for a whole Websy Author Calendar!
SO now let’s travel back over the past year and visit the first four Websy Authors of 2014!
K.A. Holt
Kari is the author of some of the MOST unique and amazing books for young readers you will ever find. A book about zombies written entirely in Haiku? Come on! Kari also has a thing for typewriters. She really really likes old typewriters. She is even a founding member of the amazing Typewriter Rodeo! So really, using a typewriter in the design was a no brainer (sorry, zombies!). Also, those cute little doodles in the frames around the typewriter? The unicorn, brain, and spaceship were doodled by Kari herself. The Evil Mom was drawn by her son . . .
Jennifer Wolf Kam
Jennifer Wolf Kam is the author of Devin Rhodes is Dead, a Young Adult book about the aftermath of the death of a friend, and the mystery surrounding it. It is a suspenseful, haunting story, and we wanted the site to match that tone while still using lots of color … and I love the color scheme on this site! The bright colors combined with the smoky grey, all distressed to give it a little more mood, plus the mixing of handwriting and bold fonts, give this site a unique look worthy of a great book!
Dianne White
Dianne White is the Arizona-based author of an absolutely lovely picture book named Blue on Blue, illustrated by Caldecott medal-winning illustrator Beth Krommes. I wish I still had little ones at home so I could read this book to them! We came up with a sweet, whimsical design that “goes” with her book, but is not exclusive to it, as there are certain to be more wonderful books to come! Brilliantly colored poppies, happy birds, and friendly typefaces welcome the visitor to sit and stay a while.
Lindsey Lane
Lindsey lane is an Austin, Texas based author with two very different books (so far!). The first was Snuggle Mountain, an adorable picture book about a girl intent on a pancake breakfast (I know how she feels). However, her latest book, Evidence of Things Not Seen, is a mystery for the young adult reader, and throughout the book, clues are dropped about a missing boy through his own scribbled notes, interviews with the people he knew, and the things he left behind. On the home page, we drop a few clues ourselves; if you click on the photos, you will see little excerpts from the book, teasing you to want to read more. We used the beautiful cover art as inspiration for the design’s colors and tone, and I love the font we used for her name and titles. It’s a unique look for a very unique book!
See Part Two here and Part Three here! Did you know it is also Websy Daisy’s TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY? I am running some special promotions to celebrate!
