Our last redesign was completed in May of 2008 and as nice as it was, it was definitely time for a fresh look. The new design adds the Seattle skyline to the header, signifying our recent move.

We have also added some additional information about the products we have released over the past year, including Affiliate Theme (launched in March of 2009), Squeeze Theme (November 2009) and Sales Page Theme (February 2010).

A new eBook – Squeeze Pages 101

If you have been following our new theme, Squeeze Theme, then you may be aware of the recent eBook we released – Squeeze Pages 101.

On the homepage, we added a video with an opt-in to download our new eBook.

Squeeze Pages 101 is all about to how marketers use squeeze pages as a tool to increase their customers and prospects. Don’t miss out – this eBook will only be available for a limited time!

You can download the eBook by signing up for the UBD newsletter on this page (at the top of the sidebar under ‘Stay Up To Date’.)

Some new clients in our portfolio

Over the past two years, we have been fortunate to work with a number of well-known companies and people including MySpace, Yahoo!, Nike, and even the personal lifestyle coach, Tony Robbins.

We have updated our portfolio with some of the new designs we have recently completed.

Check out the portfolio to see these new designs.

Social media integration

As Twitter and Facebook become more popular, it made sense to increase our interaction with each service. The obvious thing to do was to add links to Facebook page and Twitter at the top of each page.

Of course, offering exclusive content/information to each community is a great way to incentive joining/following, so please make sure you follow us on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news and exclusive content from UBD.

Most importantly, what do you think of the new design?

Although the UBD team has been on Twitter for quite a while now, we hadn’t setup a company account until now. We have a lot of exciting things planned for 2009 that will definitely surprise you!

In Q1 2009, we have something very special to show you and we will be announcing it first on Twitter. We also plan to use Twitter for exclusive contests, promotions and giveaways.

Our Director of Marketing, Josh Mullineaux, has redesigned and relaunched his personal blog. Josh is one of the co-founders of UBD and a long time friend of Matt and myself.

Josh has been blogging since May of 2007 on the topics of personal finance, business, and personal development. Josh’s previous blog design was one of the very first three-column header layouts (even before John Chow).

Check out Josh Mullineaux dot Com and let him know what you think of his new design and layout!

For the panel, Matt was asked to redesign a British Columbia boating blog, www.boatinginbeautifulbritishcolumbia.com. This blog is owned by Heather, an attendee of IZEA Fest.

What did Heather have to say about Matt’s redesign?

My blog had been chosen to receive a makeover, along with 2 others. Matt Blancarte from Unique Blog Designs (UBD) designed a new logo for me, he cleaned up the sidebars, adjusted colors and uncluttered the site. I love the new design and he will be in touch to discuss further information once he is back in the office. I CAN’T WAIT!!! It looked fabulous and the comments from the ustream discussion board were very favourable and complimentary. [...]

You can read more on Heather’s blog, here.

The design isn’t live yet, but we are in the coding process and it should be available shortly.

You can watch the entire panel discussion below. Congratulations to Matt and the other panelists for an insightful look into the world of strategic and purposeful blog design.

Online video chat by Ustream

We first redesigned John’s blog back in August of 2007, which was also the launch of our brand. We are happy that John chose us to redesign his blog again this year.

Some of the highlights of the new design:

Less Scrolling Required
One of the biggest complaint about the old theme came from readers who run low resolution displays. When viewed on a 1024×768 screen, very little of the post was viewable without scrolling down. We’ve fixed this problem by moving the content way up. You can see the different in the comparison screen shot.

New Photo Gallery
John Chow dot Com Version 3 features a photo gallery where you will be able to view my photos. I have tons of photos from my travels that never get published because of space limitation. Right now, the gallery only have a few car and food pics. However, I’ll be loading it up with photos from trade shows and other stuff that you may find interesting.

You can read about the blog design here.

We look forward to seeing John in person this weekend at IZEA Fest!

Special thanks to Brian D. Armstrong who linked us in the post, “How To Communicate Design Decisions To Clients.” It is a great read, if you haven’t checked it out already. We have always admired Smashing Magazine for their insightful articles on design and web development, so it is quite an honor to have been linked to by them.

We are Hiring!

We would like to let all of our visitors from Smashing Magazine know that our company is growing very quickly, having recently worked with several Top 100 Bloggers. We are looking for talented freelance web developers to work with us on a variety of internal web and blog development projects, specifically the creation of WordPress themes for niche markets. Working with us could potentially lead to a full-time position in the near future.

Please feel free to submit your contact information with links to your portfolio and resume. We will review your details and contact you within the next couple of days. Thank you!

To submit your contact information, email: jobs [at] uniqueblogdesigns [dot] com

Matt has been blogging since July of 2007, and he has been working with UBD since its August 2007 inception. Matt’s blog focuses mostly on design, business, and personal development. He just published a detailed post on the thought process and features that went into his new redesign.

In addition to being a blogger, UBD’s lead designer and a professional nice guy, Matt will be speaking on the “Blog Design panel” this year at IZEA Fest, a conference for bloggers and new media enthusiasts. IZEA Fest is being held September 11-13, 2008 in Orlando, Florida. In addition to speaking, UBD will also be exhibiting at the event.

Head on over to Matt’s blog and let him know what you think of his new design. Congratulations on the new redesign, Matt!