There are generally two schools of thought when it comes to the design of a WordPress blog, paying particular attention to the image that sits on top of each and every page.

On the one hand, you have people who believe that you should have a truly unique header image. This would entail the creation of a banner that stretches all the way across (or almost all the way across) the blog template. The idea here would be similar to what the top of the BlueFur blog looks like. This header image is an amalgamation of a server and the BlueFur mascot. Similarly, Hadouken Online has created a header image that stretches all the way across the template.

On the other hand, you have people who believe that all you need is a well-designed logo. This logo can represent and provide and identity to your blog. Aside from this unique logo, the text at the top of the page can be the same as the rest of the template, actually showing up as text rather than being a part of a larger image file. The exception would be if the text is part of the logo, as is the case with a site like Engadget.

Realistically, most bloggers use some combination of the two. John Chow, for example, has both a logo (a “JC” with the world behind it) and a header image (a sports car).

Which strategy do you prefer and why?