Amassment Message Board

So I realized that I have a good start on my content for my LttP site but I am still really stuck on the design.

My question is: Do you design layouts differently depending on the subject on your site?

I feel like I am having difficulty with the design because it's for a series and in my mind I keep picturing layouts from popular gaming news sites, and thinking it needs to be like that. I guess I should get those ideas out of my head and just figure out how to show the information! But I realized that I haven't made any progress on my site because I'm so stuck on trying to figure out a good design.

Any suggestions? HALP!

Yes, I actually do! I try to use themes and colors that match the general mood of whatever I'm talking about.

For example:
my Mordecai site uses a lot of brown with a certain font choice because the game takes place in a space far west sort of setting;
the Q3A Quote Database follows the black and red motif of the game, with a few glow effects and a few "futuristic" fonts because of its cyberpunk elements;
my Malice site is black, blue and white like the character's outfit, in muted tones like the game's artwork;

...and I could go on and on because I try to do this for everything I make.

I'm currently working on a series fansite too and I'm making the layout match the general palette of the game, so the only suggestion I could give is that you could try something like that, reminiscent of the mood of the series itself!

I'm in for a duh moment but, what's your subject again?

I do not. I tend to keep my designs all pretty much the same. The only thing that really changes is how I want to do the navigation and content. Like this vs this for example. It really depends on how much I want to write or how I did the layout.

I try to make the content and layout design match most of the time--for instance:

- My City of Heroes website, called "Skies over Atlas," features a sky background and an overall light, hopeful color scheme.
- My Magic: the Gathering/HeroClix website, called "The Gamer's Repose," is designed like an old-school white M:TG card, with a dark brown patterned background similar to the backs of M:TG cards.

Have you tried sketching some designs out on paper? That's worked for me when nothing else would. You can also play around with some wireframing tools to see just bare content/nav design without graphic elements.

I don't code any different, only the colors and art are different, but the styles are similar.