Brand Your WordPress Admin Area (Ideal For Multi-Author Sites)
I love WordPress.
I love the freedom it gives a blogger, how easy it is for the non-techie to play around with, and most of all, I love the creative community of Theme designers and plugin creators that are always working to improve the WP user experience .
The only thing I would change is the admin branding.
I want my site to carry our branding, especially since we allow users to register to become guest bloggers.
Fortunately, I came across a handy little plugin that makes branding real easy.
WordPress Custom Admin Branding
I found the WordPress Custom Admin Branding Plugin and after installation, followed the steps that allowed me to brand the following areas.
Now instead of seeing the WordPress Logo you will see:

The log-in panel (the registration panel looks the same).
This is the header section with our branding (company logo).

Our branded footer logo.
To do the same for your website, simply download the plugin from RedLetterStudio.com and then follow the instructions you will find on the website.
Under settings, you will see the Custom Admin Branding tab, click this and you will be presented with the following screen.

As you can see, you’ll have access to a variety of customisation features.
If you are not fortunate enough to have Adobe Photoshop to create your logo then you can always use the free alternative, GIMP.
Is this something you would use?
Do you think multi-author site branding is important?
Happy branding,
Karl Foxley
17 Comments
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I had always been wondering about ways of branding the admin panel for my WordPress blog. It looks so common that a branding was desperately required in order to create a uniqueness to it.
There is another plugin called fluency admin which you can find at http://deanjrobinson.com/projects/fluency-admin/, which is also a way of changing the look and feel of your admin panel.
.-= R kumar´s amazing last blog ..The BUZZ is on – Google Buzz! Is it a threat to Twitter? =-.
I own one, large group blog. This is something I will look into in the next month as I revamp it.
.-= Alison Moore Smith´s amazing last blog ..Pretty Link Pro is My Favorite WordPress Plugin =-.
That’s cool Alison. You’ll have to tell me more about your group blog (my interest is getting the better of me
).
It is a great way to brand your blog. Another way you can do for your multiuser wordpress blog is use sidewide login plugin which make users do not need go to admin page while login.
.-= Dana @ Blogging Update´s amazing last blog ..Is Google Buzz competitor of Facebook and Twitter? =-.
That sounds cool Dana, I’ll have to look into that one.
This is a great idea! Thanks for an informative post.
If you are planning a follow-up post on what makes a killer logo, I’d love to read it.
.-= Samantha´s amazing last blog ..Xomba: Nada for Pay, Not Bad for Promotion =-.
Thank you Samantha and it’s great having you drop in. I hope to see you here again.
Karl
That sounds like an interesting plugin, but I really don’t want to brand the admin area of my blog, but if I am going to employ any person then I am sure this plugin will come in to place, also I can use it on my client blogs.
Thanks for pointing out this one.
regards
.-= chakkravarthi´s amazing last blog ..Spamming Search Engines Without Your Knowledge =-.
Hey Chakkravarthi, it is great for creating branding across client sites (great for web designers).
You can code it yourself but the plugin just makes it all that bit quicker and easier.
Awesome find, thanks for that.
I remember when my designer was originally creating for me she asked if I wanted to pretty up the admin login for myself; I thought that was a little weird. lol
I would definitely use it for multi authors though.
I really like it Dennis, looking at my own logo when I log-in probably feeds in to my ego.
I say wow! This is one cool plugin here. Even if my site, at the moment, is not multi-author, I still would love to be presented with something very personal and professional.
I’ve recently taken interest in Illustrator (and Photoshop) and been learning from online tutorials. I think I’m going to apply what I’ve learned so far into designing some admin splash for my site.
One thing though, is this plugin safe? You know, it’s here where we input our username and password.
.-= James M.´s amazing last blog ..Free Printable Math Worksheets =-.
@Ileane
It would make a big difference. I often have quite a few sites open at once so having them branded makes it easier to recognise instantly what site I’m working on.
@James
I do not know of any vulnerabilities other than those associate with plugins in general (the need to add a blank index.html file and make sure permissions are set correctly).
Karl, I would love to have this plugin. It’s ideal for someone like me that has multiple blogs and also guest blogs at another WordPress blog – Blazing Minds. When I see the WordPress login screen, I often say to myself, now where the heck am I and which login do I need to use now? LOL
This is a great plugin, I need to talk to Brian and Karen about getting it.
Thanks!
@Ileane
.-= Ileane´s amazing last blog ..Branding The Podcast Blog =-.
@Keith
I’ll get the links sorted this weekend Keith and I’ll make sure that I grab your feed so I can stay up-to-date with what you are doing over there.
@John
That’s exactly how I feel about it. Even if it was just me writing for this site I’d like to log-in and have ‘my’ logo staring back at me.
At first glance I really thought I wouldn’t have a reason to use this, I don’t really have that many Guest Posts coming through except for every once and a while.
Then I looked at it again and thought, who cares. I like it for branding to myself, it looks good. Certainly better than the crappy default login.
.-= Extreme John´s amazing last blog ..What is One Thing You HATE about this Place? =-.
Hey Karl, just wanted to stop by and let you know that I am live on HotBlogTips now, I am re-purposing some of the articles I have already written and moving them over this week as well as adding new content. I tripled the amount of subscribers in the first day! (yesterday).
If you need to change any links, they should point there.
Thanks for all your support and help!
.-= Keith´s amazing last blog ..Article Promotion =-.