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Welcome to the New Curbly!

by on Nov 16, 2015

Hey, are you even reading this? A huge number of our readers probably aren’t, because most of you come here from Google or Pinterest searching for one specific thing, and then leave. That’s exactly what we’re trying to change with this redesign. We’re re-branding Curbly in hopes of making it a place you trust to inspire and teach you, every day.

When Curbly launched, nine years ago, these things didn’t exist: iPhones, Pinterest, self-driving cars, and my two children. Curbly was meant to be a social network for people who were into design, decor, and home improvement. And while our mission, “Love Where You Live”, hasn’t changed, just about everything else has.

We’re not a social network.

Yeah, that part didn’t pan out so much. For a while we had lots of users who contributed blog posts, and we even had Clippings (visual bookmarks) years before Pinterest did. But, we have officially become a blog and content library, not a social network. And, we’re cool with that.

We make our own content.

Maybe you didn’t know that? You could be forgiven, since it’s not always super-obvious what we’ve created and what we’ve simply curated. But, we now have an amazing team of really talented people (Alicia, Chris, Brittni, JoAnn, Faith, Lexy, Lidy, Jeran, Jennifer, and Stephanie) who make and photograph original projects that don’t exist anywhere else online. We publish more than 15 posts, with at least five original projects, every week!

If you think of Curbly as a place that just re-posts other bloggers’ content, think again. Here’s a link to all our original stuff.

At Curbly HQ

We’re social. 

When it comes to social media, we were early to some (Pinterest), and late to others (Instagram). But, now we’re firing on all cylinders. Check out our Instagram feed for daily updates and inspiration. Our Pinterest profile is a must-follow (I mean, I’m biased, since my wife runs it … Hi, Alicia!). We have almost 50,000 followers on Facebook, and we love and appreciate every one of them. And, Twitter … umm … yeah, we’re working on that too (did I say all cylinders?). Sorry, I just don’t get Twitter.

Sponsored posts. We do that.

Curbly is a full-time job for three people, and a part-time job for several more. Sponsored posts allow us to pay for the content that we give away every day for free. They also let us rely a little less on annoying banner ads. We work really hard to make our sponsored content as authentic, organic and un-intrusive as possible. We hope you like ’em. Are you a brand looking to work with us? Check out our media kit site

Hey, Thanks!

Here’s my chance to say thanks. To all those readers (more than 51 million since 2006) who have done us the favor of typing in www.curbly.com in a browser, following us on a social media site, telling their friends about us, or leaving nice comments … thank you so much. Blogging can be lonely and anonymous sometimes, but at the end of the day we’re here to connect with our readers, and we’re grateful for your attention.


How the new design came together

Back in January, 2015, we had our big yearly editorial planning call. One of the things that emerged from that was a sense that our existing design and branding didn’t match the direction we wanted to take the site. It wasn’t sophisticated enough; it didn’t present our content in the most beautiful context. And, the brand wasn’t well thought out. Was this the logo?

Old logo

Or this? 

A word is written in white on a green colored card.

Oh, I know, it’s this one:

Black letters written on the side of a wall with yellow and black paint on it.

Very confusion. Such green.

So we hooked up with an amazing local design firm called Studio MPLS, which just happened to be right next door to the amazing Peace Coffee shop so we could get a kick-ass latte before every meeting (not that that had anything to do with it). 

They helped us refine our ideas and decide what Curbly was really about. We call these our brand attributes:

Curbly brand attributes

Then the Studio MPLS folks started brainstorming. Here’s one of the initial inspiration boards we looked at:

Inspiration board for Curbly identity

And, some of the initial logo sketches:

Initial Curbly logo sketches
Thanks to Brent at Studio MPLS for these awesome designs. 

And some more logo refinements:

A green swirl design.
Too curly, not enough Curbly.
The word CURBLY is visible in colorful letters.
Loved this, but ended up being too similar to a few existing logomarks.
A pink rose is within an emblem.
Hi. You look friendly.

After many more lattes, we settled on the version we like to call, officially, “the smiley one”. We agonized over the exact size of the ‘smile’:

Three abstract smiley faces.
Spot the differences?

We eventually settled on the logo you now see throughout the site. It’s awesome. We love him/her/it. It can work in monochrome, in small sizes, with colored and illustrated fills, and with textures. 

Five circles are showing different textures.

We feel like the new logo (and logomark) gives us a really solid, flexible foundation going forward. You’ll be seeing lots of it (…just the right amount, don’t freak out!).

So, here we are. Curbly has gone from this:

Curbly V1
2006

To this (bleagh!):

Pictures and words are showing up on a website.
2008

To this:

Wall hanging ideas with leafs and green theme.
2010

To what you see today. Let me know what you think!

Best,
Bruno

Bruno at Curbly HQ

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24 Comments

  1. Nice! Curbly comes to me everyday through my Feedly. Are page views counted for those who read through rss readers?

  2. @brittany – they don’t get counted in our stats system, but we definitely appreciate them all the same. Thanks for reading!

    @hannah – glad you like it. We are super excited about it too.

  3. Have loved your site since the beginning. Inspiring even if I usually don’t actually MAKE the cool stuff you feature. A girl can dream! Love your new look!

  4. I’ve always loved Curbly, since day one, even during your identity crisis. Loving the new design! 😀

  5. I look at Curbly first thing in the morning with my first up of coffee. And I do use some of your ideas. I am glad you went with a local company (being from your area) instead of outstate sources. Your updated site has a freshness to it that I like, and I enjoy going and finding other DIY sites from your site.

    Thanks! You allow me to start each day with new ideas. Thats a pretty positive way to start the morning!

  6. I love your logo! It also sort of looks like a tiny person hovering a computer at their bed haha. I’m in love with your new layout! Great job!

  7. To be honest (forgive me!) I thought Curbly mostly curated, rather than created. I am still sort of new in the blogging world though. (You are in my Bloglovin’ feed). I’ll be stopping by a lot more 🙂

    It’s tricky sometimes coming up with new ideas – just when you think you have an original light bulb moment, you look around and … it’s been done.

    Love your new logo – clean, yet fun. The older one reminds me of Vitruvian Man – nothing against da Vinci though – he was a master 🙂

  8. Funny fact! I found Curbly while learning web design. One of the “examples” was a link to your website. I ended up browsing your site for hours! I’ve been a fan ever since.

  9. Well done Bruno (and Alicia)! I love the re-design and truly enjoy watching Curbly evolve. 🙂 xo

  10. Wow, 9 years? I’m pretty sure I’ve been following Curbly since it was brand-new, but 9 years? Time flies. Liking the freshen-up! (And you’re right, I totally was not reading the stuff that came in my inbox…)

  11. Yeah, 2008 was rough. But your content has always been above reproach, no matter the design!

  12. I’ve always been a fan of your website, no matter the layout, and will stick around throughout whatever design incarnations manifest in the upcoming years. I’m sure you have many many fans who feel the same way that I do, even if they lack the extra time in their schedule to type a note to you. I read every word of your ‘welcome’ page and really appreciate the heart and soul you pour into this endeavor. Yes, we’re reading!! and yes, we dig you 😉 Thank you very much for enriching my life and the lives of so many others with your outside-of-the-box creative inspiration!

  13. I’m not a blogger or a techy but I have loved your site since I accidentally found it while on Pinterest. I have lost some of my interest in Pinterest (poet?) over time and I think it may be that the simplicity is gone. It (pinterest) has become so “busy”. I don’t know how to explain what I mean but please please stay Curbly!!! I LOVE YOU!

  14. So here are my so very important thoughts. I loved the logo that you said was too much like other logomarks. Love the color and fluid lines. But, I will adjust to the new chosen logo. 🙂 The logo I like might have some self esteem issues about now.

    I love Curbly. You are one of the few emails that I read every time it pops into my inbox. As I go down the list of emails I make myself toughen up and delete many of them so I don’t get stuck in email land. This is hard for me to do because almost every email is something I would like to take the time to read but I’m trying to be, sigh, responsible with my time. But Curbly always wins. Always makes me happy and always encourages me that my creative self is alive and well and that I should take the time to feed it. Thanks for being who you are. Even though I like the other “logo that’s too much like other logomarks” I will still read every email you send.

  15. I used to read Curbly regularly but it seemed to slip out of view. I like this new approach and like your Pinterest boards too.
    I think you will get many more people looking at your site with this new direction. Good luck!

  16. Love the new design! I’m a faithful reader and it just got better….congrats!

  17. Hi Bruno,
    I’ve been around since May or June of ’07, if I’m remembering correctly. I love Curbly as much now as I did then. I look forward to getting the emails or seeing your posts on fb so I can pop over to check out what’s going on.
    I know the white washed look is very popular, but with my light sensitivity it’s very hard on my eyes. It won’t keep me away though, I’ll just keep my sunglasses handy, which I’m wearing now, so when I pop in I won’t be blinded by the white.
    ;^)
    Becky <><

  18. Like others, I have been reading Curbly for many+ years. I like the new look, but I do want to make a request. When I want to make something, I research options, and I often use Curbly as a resource for projects. Could you make it a little easier to browse? Like have more headings besides DIY, Makeovers, etc.? I’m sure there are many people like me! Thanks for all you do.

  19. Thank you Bruno. I’ve enjoyed being here too.
    I’m on a PC. I did a quick look in my settings earlier, but didn’t find anything. I’ll look for a Chrome Extension tomorrow. I was hoping there was be something in the Styles Extension, but no one has written one yet for Curbly and I don’t know how.
    in the mean time my sunglasses will do.

  20. I’m from Costa Rica, and I have followed you guys from the very beginning, even tho I’m a designer and didn’t like the past design that much, it was all about the content! and now this!? its a super plus A+++ lovely, felicidades 🙂

  21. LOVE the new design! I admit that I wasn’t the biggest fan of the previous design / logo 😡 I think the new look and logo are so beautiful and perfect for your new direction.

  22. Thanks for sharing details of your rebranding process! I love to see a design process in progress.