This will be your final result
1. Create a new document with the dimensions of 1024×998. Of course this may vary depending on big you would like it.
2. Next we want to go ahead and change our background color. So using your Paint Bucket Tool for your tools pallet fill your background layer with #0E1926
3. The first thing we will do is go ahead and work on our top navigation bar. Go ahead and use your Rectangle Marquee Tool and make a selection similar to the following and fill it with #FFFFFF

4. Now right click your newly created layer and insert the following blending options by choosing blending options from the drop down menu
5. Next go ahead and use your text tool to add some links to your navigation menu. For the links I choose to use #FFFFFF and for the RSS I used #F08A13
6. Next, in between our links we want little ‘dividers’. Make a selection similar to the following with your Rectangle Marquee Tool and fill it with #FFFFFF

7. Then copy your divider and place it between each link. It should look something like this
8. Next make a 1px high selection at the base of your navigation that goes from one side of the document to the other. Fill it with #FFFFFF. It should look like this
9. Now change the blending mode to Soft Light
10. The next thing we want to do is create our logo. Using your Rectangle Marquee Tool create a rectangle similar to the following and fill it with #FFFFFF

11. On this newly created layer insert the following blending options
12. Next lets go ahead and add some simple text to our box. I used helvetica for my font, and made a couple little squares for a logo, and this is what I came up with

13. Now we want to go ahead and use our Rectangle Marquee Tool to make a selection similar to the following and fill it with #FFFFFF

14. Now insert the following blending options onto its layer
15. Next we want to go ahead and add a little white line at the bottom of our pink box. Make a 1 pixel high selection and fill it with #FFFFFF
16. Then lower the opactiy to about 57%, and then change the blending mode to Soft Light
17. Now we want to add a little ‘shadow’ line at the bottom of the pink box. Make a selection similar to the following across the bottom of your box and fill it with #000000

18. go ahead and lower the opacity to 20%, and then change its blending mode to Soft Light
19. Now lets go ahead and make our search box. Using your rectangle marquee tool, make a selection similar to the following and fill it with #252B32

20. Now go ahead and use your Polygonal Lasso Tool to make a selection similar to the following to give it a ripped effect

21. After its selected choose EDIT>CLEAR. Then go ahead and put the following blending options onto its layer
22. Now just use your rectangle marquee tool to make a simple input box and a simple search button and you will have something that looks like this

23. For the other space in my header, I chose to have it so there was space for random tutorials to be displayed. Your document will look something like the following
24. Next lets move onto our sidebar. Using your Rectangle Marquee Tool make a selection similar to the following and fill it with #FFFFFF

25. Now insert the following blending options onto its layer
26. Now lets use our Rectangle Marquee Tool yet again to make a selection similar to the following to house our contents header. Fill it with #000000

27. Now insert the following blending options onto its layer
28. Now lets go ahead and use some black text and name our box. For this tutorial, I chose to make a Sponsors box

29. We want to give our text some depth, so add the following blending options to your text layer
30. Go ahead and add some content and it will look something like this

31. Following those same steps I made a Recent Comments box. Your document should look something like this at this point.
32. Now we want to go ahead and show what our posts will look like. Using your Rectangle Marquee tool yet again, make a selection similar to the following and fill it with #FFFFFF.
33. Now insert the following blending options
34. Now just insert some text and a thumbnail preview for your post and thats it! For my footer I just made a simple box filled with #050D15. Your final results should look something like this

Get a commercial/public use licence for this PSD (More info)
Remember if you have any questions or comments about this tutorial to leave your responses in the comments below and we will get back to you very quickly.
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29 Responses
psaddict
Added to http://www.psaddict.com
LD
great tutorial
Murray
Really great tutorial, gives me a few new ideas I’d like to try out
Mike
Very nice, thanks a bunch.
Mikaoru
thanks for the tutorial, you gave me some good ideas
DDamir
Where is the psd for download?
Matthew Heidenreich
thanks for all the comments so far
@DDamir
Forgot to add it, thanks for the heads up!
Azhar
it’s vry good work
thank you
Enk.
Nice Tut, but lets say We’re done designing the layout.. Who the hell is going to XHTML that thing for the blog?
Matthew Heidenreich
@Enk.
Well, i guess whoever really wants to use it as their blog layout
really wouldn’t be to tough to just get someone to do it for you
dzyn
I would like to subscribe to your mailing list. could you please enable your mail subscription. this is a great site and I do not want to miss anything.
thank you
Matthew Heidenreich
thanks Dzyn! Didn’t realize that it wasn’t activated.
ANerveWracking Database
Tutorial was okay, but the end results do not conform to web design standards.
ANerveWracking Database
I’m joking, great tutorial.
Joker
Cool design!Great tutorial.
Byila
thanks, nice tutorial…
Brochures
I’d prefer a different color set. I’m not a really big fan of pink. But it sure does work well with the layout! It’s a standout! Excellent tutorial as always! Keep up the good work!
Ali R Khan
I’ll try it for my New Layout…Really Simplified tutorial.
THanks
CgBaran Tuts
Thanks great tutorial
Blake Reynolds
Very nice tutorial.
I had a try..
http://zoostormhost.co.uk/design/tutorialsite.png
How do you think I did?
Matthew Heidenreich
nice outcome Blake
prashant
No work, good tutorial, thanks for the file. keep sharing.
teuingsaha
Nice !!
Thanks for sharing
Constantin
Real nice tutorial and solution,too! Maybe I’ll try it out!
Chad
Hey man,
This is a very helpful tutorial, very well explained! Thankyou
by the way, take a look: http://www.vismomedia.com and get paid for hosting cool videos in your blogs.
Maya
Hi,
great tutorial. Can you please suggest me some tutorials about how to convert the PSD to wordpress theme? Is there any good website that explains it?
Thank you!
Cmate
Alright. I got it.. but how to I convert it to xml for blogger template layout edit?
Mohinder
Awesome tutorial.
Cmate
Great tutorial… but how do I load it to my blogger then? Cause it’s in xml format.. how do I do that?