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This recent question put my mind gears to work. This is just a first approach to see if someone would be interested in a similar idea (not a feature request).

I've been thinking about a GD.SE blog for a while (other SE sites have one, and it's a nice way of creating new content while bringing more people into the site as well). The 'Ultimate guide to Graphic Design' idea would be just impossible to reach, but maybe we could do a simple site containing things like Question of the Week (an a short article about it), articles on things we are working or, or have knowledge of, or just want to share... and in general, information extracted from the site and improved so it brings us more traffic.

What do you think? Is this something where you would be interested in participating? We don't need to create load of content each week, maybe 2 or 3 articles a month is enough.

Some extra details if this is something we are interested in doing. Start by the beginning:

Define the scope and purpose of the blog. Is the blog about the site? Is it about the site’s topic? Is it about the industry around the topic? Keep in mind the audience of your community and their interests. Another generic blog about may not be all that interesting. A community blog should be interesting to both current members and potential new members.

Ideas for articles:

  • Interview top users. Just who is that user who is shooting up the reputation leagues?
  • Highlight top content. What great question was posted on the site recently? Recognize it! Don’t just copy the question and its answers to the blog, blog about the question and its answers. A fine line there, eh? Delve deeper into the question or an answer. Add more context. Compare or analyze answers against each other. There is a lot to work with here.
  • Review a product. Reviews don’t fit the Q&A nature of the sites, but these rules don’t apply on the blog! Between a review written by a random person on the internet and a review written by a user on the site who consistently gets a lot of upvotes, which review would you trust more?
  • Tell us an interesting story. Did you go on an incredible cycling trip? Play a really interesting game? Read a great book on math? All it takes to get started is a set of pictures or screenshots you can share with some narrative stitching it together. So long as it’s topical and you’re excited about it, others in the community would probably enjoy sharing your experience!
  • Explore hot topics. Is there a topic on your site that keeps getting asked about over and over? Maybe some tips or a closer look at the topic would interest the community.
  • Keep up with current events. What is making news for your community? What interests the community?
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Off the cuff response, intended as conversational not judgmental.....

I'm sure many would like it, but it's not something I'd really follow.

  • For articles to really have merit in design, one must understand the writer. I'd easily read anything written by Rand, Glaser, Bass, etc. But I really don't care what Smith, Jones, Doe, and Blow have to say on many topics. Of course, this is my take. I know there are thousands of design blogs out there written by "nobodies" which are read regularly. So, I may be too set in tradition here. A better alternative may be a project "case study". Reading the processes for a design you like is always interesting regardless of who wrote it. If you are engaged in the design you often want to know the processes behind it.

  • Wouldn't Question of the Week and Top Content simply be on the home page of the main site?

  • Product Reviews.... maybe. But other (dedicated) resources will always be better.

  • I don't think too many would be interested in interviews of users here. Most visitors just want issues resolved and don't really care who's helping as long as they are helping.

  • Interesting story.... this would probably be the one that that would cause me to load a blog. If the stories were truly interesting. A guilt pleasure of mine is to hear or read client horror stories. They can be funny, thrilling, and educational all in one. :)

  • Hot topics... also may be of interest depending upon the actual topics. I don't know what is considered "hot"

  • Current events might be okay. But I'm not sure there are many "events" on SE sites are there?

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    I generally agree with everything except the first one: big names don't just appear out of nowhere, and many of the "nobodies" whose blogs are being read today will be tomorrow's influential big names. I'd imagine a blog working for those open-ended discussions that don't quite work as questions: stories of difficult/interesting projects, putting out off-the-wall ideas, debating the merits of trends and styles, etc.
    – user56reinstatemonica8
    Apr 26, 2013 at 10:27
  • I agree. New faces have to come from somewhere. That's why I mention the case study variation. If you see someone's work and are interested in it, then the name carries more weight than a simple byline.
    – Scott
    Apr 27, 2013 at 18:42

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