My blog platform is Wordpress. I researched hundreds of templates and purchased the one you see and customized it to suit my needs. Dawn, my wife does all of our graphics— I’m very lucky to have her! My suggestion to you is know what you want to blog about and research others that are blogging about the same subject. Jot down your likes and dislikes. But most importantly just start! Don’t get caught up in design. There are thousands of great free templates out there. Good luck and let me know where to find your blog.