Geek to chic: Confessions of a Design Geek relaunches

However, as it has got older, the blog has been looking a bit raggy around the edges and in need of a spruce-up. Katie enlisted Venn Creative to give her labour of love a makeover, introducing a raft of new features befitting its broadening scope. The new site is now up, and it’s looking rather lovely. We caught up with Katie for the lowdown on what’s changed…

Confessions of a Design Geek hasn't been redesigned for over five years! It's a credit to Venn Creative who designed the last version how long it lasted, but it was time for a refresh. A lot has changed in the last five years, so it was high time the website reflected that. 

Design Geek was launched as my personal blog in 2010 and it's grown into much more than that. It's now the UK's leading product and furniture design blog – with a special emphasis on new designers. The new site remains true to the to brand’s core mission – to discover, champion and inspire new designers – with editorial content remaining focused on product and furniture design from emerging talent. But it was time to recognise the fact it has grown – so you might notice the new logo emphasises ‘Design Geek’ rather than ‘Confessions of a’ because it's no longer just my confessions! The new site is a bespoke design for our content, with lots of nerdy little details that we've got very excited about – and, crucially, enables our contributors to have their own profiles. 

Can I have two? When you scroll down any page, the logo transforms into a smaller version of itself and then comes back to its full version when you scroll back up again. It's super cute! And in our interviews, you get a little photo of the interviewer and the interviewee at the top, and then a tiny little Design Geek logo when we're speaking and a little black bullet point when they're speaking! I love it! Venn Creative really put a lot of effort into making the whole site work functionally, but also into little visual details like these that just make me smile. Hopefully our readers will love them – after all, they're a bunch of design geeks too! 


The key changes are a new Resources section – a ‘how to’ for new designers, where industry experts share their knowledge and insight every week; a new home for the Design Book Club – a tweet chat via the hashtag where we discuss a different design book every month; we're taking advertising for the first time; and we've launched the Design Geek Jobs Board. 

You've never carried advertising before – why the change of heart? 


We have worked really hard to maintain the integrity of the site and ensure it continues to be a vital resource for both new designers and those looking for new design – while balancing that with the need for the financial sustainability that will enable us to discover, champion and inspire even more new designers. We'll only be taking advertising from brands that can offer real value to our readers, and will be keeping advertising completely separate from editorial – that's something that's really important to me.  

You're right; they do! But from the people we've spoken to there seemed to be several gaps in the market that we felt Design Geek was perfectly placed to address. Dezeen is fantastic for architecture jobs and likewise It's Nice That is absolutely spot on for graphic design and illustration jobs. The Design Geek Jobs Board specialises in product and furniture design jobs, genuine opportunities for new designers, and the jobs that surround design, such as editorial or sales jobs. Our job ads are priced very competitively (from just £40) and, because we're aware that we're offering a new service, if your position isn't filled within the 28 days of the first listing, we'll re-list it for free. I have found my dream job in design and I hope we can help lots more people do the same.  

Yes, I'm excited about that. I spend a lot of time talking to design graduates and there often seem to be big gaps in their knowledge coming out of university. There is so much more to running a successful design business than brilliant design, so each week we ask an industry expert to share their insight in the form of a 'how-to' for new designers, covering everything they need to know. So far, we've had Yeshen Venema on 'How to photograph your products,' Emily Quinton on 'How to grow your business using Instagram,' and Adam Thow on 'How to approach retail buyers' – and lots more. Check them out!