When you’re looking for the next leader in web 2.0 blog design, Hicks starts to look a little too plain, Santa Maria wicked-worn out, and Zeldman like something you might print out, not read online. Where are the leaders of modern blog design? The particular platform (WP, Moveable Type, Typepad, Handcoded) doesn’t matter. It’s what you do with it that counts. This isn’t about prettiest blog, or the best written blog. This is a list of the most groundbreaking, cutting edge blogs out there. You see these blogs and cry, because they’re creatures of fierce untameable beauty. #1) Ordered List Besides his Tiger Admin plugin for the WP administrative interface, Steve Smith’s blog invented the wide-horizontal look. Black, green, and blue, with bigger fonts than most blogs, it’s both plain and subtle at the same time. Check out the careful use of icons everywhere, tagging and related links, and comments. Because he uses more color than images, the pages are light and fast to load. They’re also very uncluttered. #2) Superfluous Banter Dan Rubin’s blog flows sideways, left-to-right instead of up and down. The clever interlocking columns draw your attention to the comments on each post, and the date they were posted. He’s designed the official blogger template, used by millions of bloggers around the world, and invented a clever CSS button technique. While the two columns to the right are hard to read, their lack of strong contrast challenges the reader to explore them–but only when he has the time. #3) Odds and Ends It’s true that a lot of photoblogs follow the one-photo format for their blogs, but Lim Zhi Xin’s has a stunning vertical format, excellent typography, and no-nonsense navigation. Every photo is detailed with descriptive text on the permanent page, and contains a technical description of the photograph and the equipment used to take it. His archives take the same style, showing the last few photos as thumbnails, with navigation in a thin bar to the left. #4) Joshua Ink Although John says that being a webdesigner is “this hair brained scheme,” one look at his site tells us differently. Clearly he’s hit something right, with flowers cascading down all sides, elements of photoshop guidelines present on top of the design to highlight intellectual designer power, and a footer that wakes up when you poke it. While the use of white spaces could be improved, John will be a player in the blog-design category for a long time to come. #5) The Big Noob Neubix Studios is a design firm of four, and addicted to the color blue. Their site takes the one-column layout to a new high, going from a wide, tall banner to a highlighted story, then breaking into three columns. However, there are nice graphical touches everywhere, from the portrait images to subtle shadowing. A random quote highlights the top, and links are scattered in the far right column. The length of the three-column section needs improvement, and the colors could be improved as you move from top to bottom. However, it’s a great source of inspiration in the little things it does well. #6) Avalonstar Why don’t designers ever give their full names on their about pages? Bryan is actually Bryan Veloso. He loves 800×600, doesn’t like LinkedIN, and seems to favour fuzzy-blue. Check out what he’s worked on and you’ll be amazed. This is the next generation of designer, the guy that will work on web 3.0 applications before the web 2.0 craze is over. #7) Simple Bits Dan Cederholm isn’t like the rest of the famous designers. His blog is fresh, modern, and continuously updated with new graphic design ideas. He redesigns incrementally, which means that his blog is always on the cutting edge. He’s worked with Google and ESPN. Ladies and Gentlemen, let me present Simplebits! #8) Emotions by Mike Mike is a freelance designer, and Emotions is his portfolio. It’s not a blog, but it easily could be. The green gradients, the three dimensional look of the header into the background, and the round shadows are graphic elements I haven’t seen elsewhere. If nothing else, this site should be unique and inspiring to you. #9) Jonathan Snook Snook’s blog uses four columns in a combination of fixed and floating elements. You go to submit a comment, and no matter where you are, you can use the comment box in the third column. His style could be called severe because of its choice of green, grey, and white, but the shapes he uses to delineate sections more than make up for it. Even more, he can take on complicated Web 2.0 issues with a blink and a few keystrokes. #10) Binary Bonsai Famous for creating Wordpress’ default theme, Michael Heilemann is the most famous designer in that circle, but is probably not well known on other platforms. His site is the definition of AJAX, from a javascript archives browser, to strange dynamic comments, to his very own livesearch. And, with little graphical pizzaz, it’s a great model for a minimalist design. In conclusion, I believe that if you go check out these 10 blogs, you’ll find enough juicy design ideas to overfill your head. There’s enough inspiration in these 10 best-designed blogs to fuel web 3.0. And, if you think there’s some totally awesome blog that I’ve forgotten about, leave me a note in the comments.