I need to confess something. I've spent more hours choosing blog fonts than writing blog posts. There, I said it. And I know I'm not alone, because every blogging community I'm in has more threads about themes than about writing.
It's a specific kind of procrastination that feels productive. You're working on your blog, right? You're improving the reader experience. You're building your brand. Except you're not, because nobody's reading your blog, because there's nothing on it.
The Design Trap
Here's a question that changed my perspective: have you ever stopped reading a blog because the design wasn't perfect? Not because it was broken or unreadable — because the font wasn't quite right, or the spacing was slightly off, or the color scheme wasn't ideal?
Of course you haven't. Nobody has. When the content is good, design is invisible. When the content is absent, no amount of design can save you.
Paul Graham's essays have been on the same basic layout since approximately forever. Derek Sivers' site looks like a text file. Seth Godin's blog is gloriously minimal. These are some of the most-read blogs on the internet. None of them are winning design awards.
Why We Do This
Tweaking design is comfortable because it has no stakes. Nobody can judge your font choice the way they can judge your writing. Changing a color scheme can't fail. Publishing your thoughts can. Design work gives you the feeling of progress without the vulnerability of putting your ideas out there.
I think that's why the most prolific bloggers I know have all gravitated toward tools that remove design decisions entirely. One friend moved to Substack specifically because there's nothing to customize. Another uses Cloudpad and writes directly in Google Docs — she told me the best part is that there's no theme to change. The blog has a clean look, it works, and there's literally nothing to fiddle with. So she writes instead.
A Practical Prescription
If you recognize yourself in this post (and I recognize myself in it, which is why I'm writing it), try this:
Set a rule: no design changes until you've published 20 posts. Not 5. Not 10. Twenty. By the time you hit 20, you'll know what your blog is actually about. You'll know your voice. You'll know your audience. And then — maybe — you'll have earned the right to think about fonts.
Until then, pick the simplest possible tool. If it looks clean and readable out of the box, it's good enough. If you find yourself browsing themes, close the tab. Open a blank document. Write something. Publish it. Feel the terror and exhilaration of putting your actual thoughts in front of actual humans.
That's blogging. The design was never the point.
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