Tag Archives: Peer Review

Final blog

Saying goodbye is never an easy thing to do. It can be an emotional and difficult experience, whether you’re saying goodbye to a friend, a family member, a place, or a phase of your life. But as much as we might want to avoid it, saying goodbye is an inevitable part of life. In fact, it’s often necessary for us to grow, change, and move forward.

One thing that can make saying goodbye easier is to focus on the positive memories and experiences that you’ve had with the person, place, or thing that you’re saying goodbye to. Remembering the good times can help to ease the pain of the goodbye and leave you with a sense of gratitude for what you’ve had.

Another thing that can help is to take the time to say a proper goodbye. Whether that means having a heartfelt conversation, writing a letter, or simply taking a moment to reflect and say goodbye in your own way, it’s important to acknowledge the significance of what you’re leaving behind.

Of course, saying goodbye can also be an opportunity for growth and new beginnings. Sometimes, saying goodbye to one thing means saying hello to something else that’s even better. By embracing change and the unknown, you can open yourself up to new experiences, new relationships, and new opportunities.

In the end, saying goodbye is a natural part of life. It’s a reminder that nothing is permanent and that everything is always changing. But while saying goodbye may be difficult, it’s also a chance to reflect, to grow, and to move forward. So embrace it, appreciate it, and say goodbye with grace and gratitude.

Peer Review #3 – Spilling the Royaltea

a screenshot of the homepage for the website "spilling-the-royaltea.com".
A screenshot of Olivia’s homepage.

This week I’ve been tasked with reviewing the website of a classmate, Olivia. Olivia’s blog is named Spilling the Royaltea and focuses on hot topics involving the British royal family, whether positive or negative, mundane or sensational.

Her blog posts are separated into three main categories: hot takes, ranked, and news. Hot takes refers to drama involving various members of the family, ranked pits endearing moments and fashion choices against one another, and news involves reporting the latest updates relating to the royal family.


From a marketability standpoint, Olivia’s blog seems to cater towards a unique audience. Since Olivia stays impartial in her overall opinion on the royal family, she can create content pertaining to both fans and critics alike. This offers her more flexibility when creating blog posts, which she takes advantage of.

This can also give rise to pushback from either community, as Bryce Renninger (2015) points out in his writing on counterpublics. Renninger states that “…counterpublic communication online is often tenuous, at risk of being disrupted, ridiculed, dismissed, or ignored…”; fortunately, Olivia doesn’t seem to have this problem.

Despite my negative stance towards the royal family, I still found myself fascinated by Olivia’s analysis of fashion, controversy, and press releases that I would not have otherwise seeked out. I’m glad to have been paired up with this website, as I don’t often think about the royal family and was surprised at what kind of news was prevalent in the community.

Each of Olivia’s mini assignments fit perfectly within her blog subject, and range from the playful teasing of Prince Harry’s memoir to a thoughtful critique of wealth disparity in the UK. I enjoy the headings found in each post, as they help break up longer pieces of writing with proper context and make it easier to skim posts if needed. Overall, Olivia’s content is deliberate and appropriately matched to the website’s design, which I will cover next.


Olivia immediately showcases the subject of her blog through a well-organized collage of photos placed front and centre on the website’s homepage. Together with the site’s name, Spilling the Royaltea’s subject matter is easily discernable to most people on a first visit.

If I was creating this blog from scratch, I would probably take inspiration from magazines articles, which Travis Gertz (2015) points to as a prime example of more visually interesting design. Gertz posits this in his article Design Machines, with the question “how do magazines achieve rich reactions and connections, and how do we translate those approaches to the screen?”

News about the royal family has usually been relegated to these methods of communication, and I admit that I have a certain nostalgia for these publications as well. However, despite Gertz’s caution towards pre-built and uniform blog themes, I believe that Theme Fourteen Blog is very fitting for Olivia’s content.

The minimalistic and clean layout pairs well with the aesthetics of the royal family, and the typography lends itself well to both serious and more playful topics. Olivia uses Josefin Sans for titles, Lora for accents, and the popular Open Sans for paragraphs. 

Oliva’s blog is a delightful read, with blog posts that a wide variety of people can enjoy. I especially like her posts ranking different fashion styles, as that is another interest of mine. Spilling the Royaltea has certainly grown on me as I’ve explored the website, and I’ll definitely be returning to see what Olivia posts next!

References

Gertz, T. (2015, July 10). Design Machines: How to sur­vive the dig­i­tal apocalypse. Louder Than Ten. https://louderthanten.com/coax/design-machines

Renninger, B. J. (2015). “Where I can be myself…where I can speak my mind”: Networked counterpublics in a polymedia environment. New Media & Society, 17(9), 1513–1529. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444814530095

Peer Review #3 – Jellylift

For this peer review, I was delighted to find out I would be looking at Antalya’s blog, cleverly called Jellylift, for a couple reasons: 1) I’ve worked with Antalya in previous courses– she’s lovely!, and 2) I am also a hardcore Jellycat fanatic. I mean, what better way to spend (way too much of) your adult money on stuffed animals? (See my prized possession on the Indigo website.) So, when prompted about how Jellylift markets to their intended audience, I immediately think “well… that’s me!” Before getting into the marketability portion of this peer review, I’m first going to dig further into Antalya’s intended audience.

Who (else) Is the Intended Audience?

From the name “Jellylift” and also the About page, it is very clear that this blog is dedicated to two things and two things only: weightlifting and Jellycats. Side note: I have to add to the pre-existing compliment pile for this super awesome juxtaposition– it’s super awesome. Individually, both weightlifting and Jellycats have their own passionate counterpublics, a term discussed by Michael Warner. So, it seems that these groups make up Antalya’s intended audience. 

I know that the gym community, both online and in real life spheres, is quite a tight-knit and supportive counterpublic, usually circulating discourse around tips on form, advice on the best pre-workouts, flexing their personal bests, etc. (Is it painfully obvious that I’m absolutely NOT a member of this counterpublic?) On the other hand, the Jellycat counterpublic is bonded through obsessing over and collecting the cutest, softest plushes on the planet. Check out the Jellycat website to see for yourself.

So, Jellylift is clearly a hub for members of both of these counterpublics to enjoy. However, by combining the two comically different interests, Antalya may be single-handedly creating a whole third counterpublic through Jellylift– a counterpublic consisting of those who love to sweat and pump major iron AND embrace their inner child with cuddly toys. 

I’ve talked a lot about these people who surely would love Jellylift, but how exactly does Jellylift market to them to solidify this love?

Marketability Through Content and Design

I have determined that both the weightlifting and Jellycat counterpublics are part of Antalya’s intended audience, but this is not to say that you have to be a part of both / Antalya’s up-and-coming third counterpublic to be a Jellylift enjoyer. Take me, for example, who a) would rather die than step into a public gym, but b) has no problem dropping $40 on a hand-sized stuffed cauliflower with legs, and c) loves Jellylift. Antalya does a great job of balancing content about both interests– check out her content categories for Lifting and Jellycats– while keeping them separate enough for pure lifters and Jellycat lovers to enjoy one and not the other. This is important as it opens the door for more (regular) site visitors– I’m not sure the same effect would be achieved if Antalya’s content posts each featured an integration of both interests. 

Additionally, the overall ironic and casual tone used across Jellylift makes the content clearly suitable for Antalya’s audience, or at least a subsection of them. She talks about how Jellycat lovers and weightlifters could be generalized into a “youth” demographic in her process post Knock Knock… Who’s There? Antalya’s style of writing definitely sells to this demographic perfectly, as the language she uses is very Gen-Z-friendly, with dry humour, lowercase titles, and expletives used (tastefully and quirkily) in every post.

Jellylift’s blog design also contributes to supporting its marketability to these intended audiences. At first glance, the pastel text against the rich chocolate brown background is definitely not a conventional website colour palette, but it is undeniably aesthetically pleasing to the youthful eye. Jellylift is also very easy to navigate with the clearly-labelled menu, systematically organized and categorized posts, and use of tags. Although Antalya loves to use a fun title for her posts– such as “What the F**k is Content?”– all her posts can easily be located, and are additionally very readable and scannable due to her use of headers and links. All of these elements, according to our PUB 101 Week 10 lecture material, are ingredients for good SEO. And, according to Sam Hollingsworth, having a good SEO is extremely beneficial for marketability. He further explains how site performance suffers if these elements are missing, but Antalya’s got it covered.

Summing Up

Overall, Antalya’s content and design of Jellylift is all noticeably intentional and carefully executed, which evidently pays off in its marketability as well as user-satisfaction (cite: me). I can’t wait to keep up with Jellylift and see what Antalya has up her sleeve for the rest of the semester!

Bonus Content: A Short Response to Antalya’s Peer Review

If you aren’t Antalya, this peer review post ends here. Thanks for reading! If you ARE Antalya, keep scrolling.

Hi Antalya! I enjoyed your peer review for my blog so much I just had to respond to it here. Thank you for the kind words, I truly am so flattered that someone I admire so much academically and personally likes melatonin gone missing! I am obsessed with the justgirlythings posts you pulled for me, truly thank you so much. melatonin gone missing feels so seen. Keep your eyes peeled for when those make their appearance on the blog.

Me and you after our peer reviews:

Two buff guys, with their arms around each other, flexing for the camera at the gym.
Source: https://becomingajock.tumblr.com/post/145458793098/roided-as-fuck-bros-posing-for-a-gym-pic-yeah

References:

Hollingsworth, S. (2021, August 9). 15 reasons why your business absolutely needs seo. Search Engine Journal. Retrieved March 29, 2023, from https://www.searchenginejournal.com/why-seo-is-important-for-business/248101/#close

Norman, S. (2023). Data and SEO [PowerPoint Slides]. Department of Publishing, Simon Fraser University.

Warner, M. (2002). Publics and Counterpublics (abbreviated version). Quarterly Journal of Speech, 88(4), 413-425. 

PEER REVIEW #3

Shannon’s blog : https://littlefeatheradventures.com/

For my third peer review, I was assigned to review Shannon’s website.

When I clicked on Shannon’s website, I was captivated by her theme. “Little Feather Adventures” made me think that her life was full of stories. I guessed correctly that Shannon mentioned in her profile that she is a traveler and loves to explore. I was driven by Shannon’s description to explore the beauty of nature.

Shannon’s website as a whole looks clean and neat. In particular, I think the logo designed by Shannon is very interesting. And the site has a pleasant color scheme and an easy-to-navigate layout. The header image is compelling and gives visitors an idea of what the blog is about.

I noticed that Shannon has a back to home button in the middle or top left of each post, which provides a lot of convenience for readers.

I saw the video of Shannon’s design with DALL-E in Mini Assignment #4. It made me marvel again at how powerful it is and how great the color scheme is.

But as I clicked on Shannon’s post, I saw text filling the screen, and I suggested trying to change the font, or the layout structure of the text.

But Shannon’s content is more worthy of my attention, as mentioned in the article “How to Survive the Digital Apocalypse”, “The content should speak to the few The content should speak to the few people who can identify with this personality because this is the only audience that matters.” I agree with this statement, and Shannon does the same thing in her content posts. For example, by doing her research and then popularizing some of the knowledge and things that we don’t commonly see. I think that’s great content.

In Shannon’s process post 5, she says, “In my own digital garden, I want a sense of “daring to wonder about nature” and “finding joy in the wonder that surrounds you. ” I’d say you’ve done a great job of creating your own garden and keeping it all in order. The article “digital garden” says everyone is doing their own weird thing, and yes, we don’t follow the rules, we just want to focus on what we want to cultivate.

All in all, I love what Shannons has done with the site and I hope to see more of her content.

This review is for content posted before March 28, 2023.

References:

Gertz, T. (2015, July 10). How to Survive the Digital Apocalypse. Louder Than Ten. https://louderthanten.com/coax/design-machines

The post PEER REVIEW #3 first appeared on My blog.

Peer Review 3: The Fashion Daily

The Fashion Daily is run by Megan, who passionately creates content about finding her personal style, curating a wardrobe, and being inspired by recent events in the fashion industry. On her About page, she expresses hope that The Fashion Daily becomes a place where readers might be interested or find out new things in fashion.

Assumed Audience

After combing through her content and About page, I made the assumption that Megan’s intended audience members include both fashion newbies who might be interested in finding their personal style and fashion hobbyists who enjoy staying up-to-date on the world of fashion. This assumption is founded on the type of content she has put out, as well as what I have found that she hopes her blog space will serve as.

Content & Design

The Fashion Daily has 4 main content categories: Weekly Inspiration, Exploring Style, What’s New?, and Just For Fun. The first three categories are centred around a mix of personal style inspiration and tips, while the last category allows Megan to express other interests in her life.

Through her blog posts, I find a sense of care and enthusiasm in the tone of voice. For example, in the post “Enhancing Your Eye Color Through Clothing Choices,” Megan is both encouraging and informative by providing a personal anecdote surrounding her curiosity of which colours wear well on her, before outlining the conventionally best-suited colours by eye colour. By starting with a personal experience, she is also able to transition to informative content by framing eye colour as a fun way to experiment, instead of making it seem like necessary rules to follow.

In “How to Survive the Digital Apocalypse,” it is mentioned that blogs are maintained by businesses to sell ads instead of providing real, genuine value to consumers (Gertz, 2015). I think that the written content reflected on the blog, as well as Megan’s Just For Fun category, bring her personality into The Fashion Daily, which makes the content she publishes feel genuine. As well, she only links out to other websites to provide further reading on the topic she is focused on, rather than trying to sell particular products or services.

In terms of the website’s visual design choices, the colourful images used throughout add pops of colour to what otherwise would be a bland website. Additionally, I like how the serif typeface used for headings and the website title make me think of newspapers, which might be why the blog is named as is: The Fashion Daily might come across as a source of fashion news and information by name alone. To juxtapose this, I think the rounded sans-serif typeface matches the tone Megan chooses to write in, which overall creates a welcoming feeling across the blog for her audience.

I think the tone of voice used, as well as style experimentation tips, are the strongest variables in capturing the attention of Megan’s assumed audience. I believe these factors, in combination with the website’s visual design choices, are what can build trust with her audience and make her blog a safe, encouraging space to go to when one’s spark is set off to experiment with style.

References

Gertz, T. (2015, July 10). How to Survive the Digital Apocalypse. Louder Than Ten. Retrieved March 27, 2023, from https://louderthanten.com/coax/design-machines

peer review 3: the watcher 657

For this peer review, I looked at Anya’s website, The Watcher 657. This is a blog about movie and TV show reviews, and I learned on her “about page that she calls herself “The Watcher” because of a notorious mystery case involving a stalker with the same moniker. I think it’s a very cool name. Makes me very curious to keep watching her blog.

When I go to Anya’s home page, I can see at the top a very clear navigation that lists the different sections of her blog, which are  “home,” “about,” “reviews,” “process posts,” “mini assignments,” “peer review.” and”Essay.”

I think her site is very navigable, more specifically, it lets visitors know exactly where to find each article, and the categories are obvious. When I read her reviews, she clearly tells the reader what she liked and didn’t like about the movie, and ends with a rating for the movie, though her paragraphs are a bit long, and I would suggest that there could be some spacing that would give the reader a better visual view.

I think her site is very design driven and reminds me of Campbell explaining that this is crucial when building a personal web infrastructure because it allows students to creatively control their digital lives. The complete lack of any templates is really great and has me in awe of having her own design style.

She has set up movie reviews for her website so that more visitors can get a lot out of her reviews, and I was one of them when I went to see one of the movies he thought was the best《 Prisoners》.which I watched on Netflix.

Prisoners is a gritty, incredibly well-acted, suspenseful, thought-provoking crime drama thriller. The film mainly focus on the choices taken and the consequences faced by the characters when worst things happen to them.The film’s atmosphere, heavy rains, stormy days and icy cold winter managed to create a dark, dreadful environment to make up the dreary and haunting mood in the film. Every violent action taken by the characters are acts of desperation given that they are running out of time.However, the film is not perfect. Despite some plot problems from the various twists and turns shown in the film, the superb performances from the casts was sufficient enough to make the story succeed and believable.

In her process posts7 she talks about the “How Parents Of Child Influencers Package Their Kids’ Lives For Instagram”,The belief that parents should not post information about their children until their children have the mental capacity to understand the consequences of the internet and agree to post it online. I couldn’t agree more, and like Anya‘s said, once information is posted online, it’s there forever. Because children are not mentally capable of taking on this information on the internet.

All in all

I appreciate the specificity of all Anya’s blog posts and reviews of films, which keep the reader engaged and free of grammatical errors. My suggestion would be to add topics to the home page, such as “films and reviews”, to make it clearer to visitors what your blog is about, not just a picture. Maybe that’s just my suggestion, but overall I really enjoy Anya’s blog and I’m looking forward to what she posts next and the films she recommends!

Peer Review #3: Stop by ‘Angie in Canada’

This week, I visited lifestyle and travel blog, Angie in Canada. So, keep reading to find out more about this week’s blog!

Angie in Canada / Home page

This is Angie and her blog, ‘Angie in Canada’

Angie in Canada is a lifestyle and travel blog created by Angie, an exchange student from Hong Kong. Her journey in Canada began two years ago. Ever since touching down, she has had the opportunity to visit some great places, eat delicious foods, and try new seasonal activities in Vancouver, BC—all of which you can read more about on her blog.

All in all, Angie hopes to share her experiences in Canada—particularly in Vancouver and at SFU—with her audience, taking them along on her personal journey.

Imagining Angie’s audience

Angie in Canada / Hello everyone!

Just from reading Angie’s introductory post titled, ‘Hello everyone!’, I’m immediately drawn into who Angie is and who her audience is: university and other exchange students alike who are exploring Canada one day at a time. Though I will say, seeing that this is a lifestyle and travel blog, I wouldn’t limit her audience to that specific demographic just yet. Rather, this blog would be great for lifestyle and travel enthusiasts like Angie. But anyway, let’s take a closer look at Angie in Canada.

Content—a casual and colloquial conversation

Something I noticed in each and every blog post on Angie in Canada is the casual and colloquial writing style used by Angie. I appreciate that as a reader because not only did the topics in each post intrigue me, but I felt like part of the author’s thoughts and conversations.

This writing technique reminds me of Suler’s ‘online disinhibition effect’—that feeling we have in cyberspace where we say, act, and do as if nobody is watching—in that what Angie has written thus far is a reflection of her personal values.

The UX (User Experience)

The UX—user experience—of a website covers functional aspects.

The theme and design of Angie in Canada tie everything together. Right when you land on Angie’s website, you’re greeted with a personalized heading and clean design.

Angie in Canada website header and navigation bar

The navigation bar is tidy and categorized by topic. However, I think the link to Angie’s ‘About’ page could be moved from the top-right corner of the screen to the navigation bar so that all her pages are all in one place.

Other than that, I appreciate the addition of photos in each post to compliment the text content. For instance, in Angie’s ‘VanDusen Botanical Garden’ travel post, the text content is followed by a photo gallery that provides us a visualizer of her experiences.

Angie in Canada / VanDusen Botanical Garden

One more little detail that caught my attention and gives Angie’s website more personality is the integration of a Spotify badge in the right-hand-side menu. The badge features Spotify’s ‘Chill Hits’ playlist and updates regularly with tunes that you can listen to while reading Angie in Canada. It not only encourages interactions on her site, but it makes for a great reading experience.

Angie in Canada Spotify playlist integration

If Angie hasn’t had a chance already, I’d recommend looking into how else she can boost her SEO. Having a good SEO is great for builds user engagement, site credibility and trust, and user experience. Hollingsworth covers this in more detail in his 2021 article, ’15 Reasons Why Your Business Absolutely Needs SEO.’

The UI (User Interface)

On the other hand, the UI—user interface—of a website highlights visual aspects.  

Something that stood out to me was the use of negative, or white, space. While sometimes white space can be too overwhelming and other times nonexistent on websites, Angie in Canada gives us an easy-to-read and easy-to-navigate design with an even balance between text and image content and negative space.

Even more so, the font colour contrast against the white space plus the sans-serif typography used across Angie in Canada allows for an easy reading experience on the eyes.

When you take all these different elements into account, you get a good sense of the image and brand that Angie is promoting—her brand. As Gertz (2015) notes, the pattern that these elements forms becomes its own “trademark.”

My final thoughts on Angie in Canada

In terms of overall marketability, I feel that Angie definitely knows her audience and has done an exceptional job at catering her content to them. Like a performer has a crowd of fans at their show, Angie has her own public made up of individuals who share similar interests as her and as each other.

Each post is consistent with the theme of her blog—travel and lifestyle—and doesn’t fail to engage her readers with curated photo galleries for each of her experiences shared. I think Angie has done an amazing job building her personal cyberinfrastructure, and she has lots of room to continue developing it through her blog.

So excited to continue reading Angie’s content, and I encourage you to check out Angie in Canada as well!

References

Gertz, T. (2015, July 10). How to survive the digital Apocalypse. Louder Than Ten. https://louderthanten.com/coax/design-machines

Peer Review 3: MindMediaRes

For my final peer review, I looked at Mercy’s blog, MindMediaRes, which is a website that analyzes media through personality theory, as stated in the tagline. In his about page, he explains that he’s been interested in psychology his whole life, and when he got into personality theory, he found the competitiveness of the community extremely toxic. Therefore, with his blog, he wants to create a space where he can safely write about his opinions and invite others to share theirs too.

Who is the Target Audience?

Through exploring Mercy’s content, it becomes clear that his target audience is composed of personality theory enthusiasts, or more specifically, personality theory enthusiasts who are interested in how it manifests itself in media.

Fattal explains that counterpublics are publics who oppose dominant discourses, and I think that Mercy’s target audience fits this explanation perfectly. Personality theory is a way of explaining the mind that isn’t rooted in science, which is the dominant discourse in our society in terms of psychology. By catering to this audience, (or counterpublic) of personality theory enthusiasts, Mercy successfully creates a public and generates discourse in a welcoming environment.

At the same time, Mercy makes it obvious that his intended audience is also himself. Basu explains that the creation of digital gardens is different than simply making a blog because it involves talking about niche interests and focuses on learning and growth, instead of growing large audiences.

In alignment with the concept of a digital garden, Mercy creates an environment dedicated to growth and the telling of his own thoughts and ideas, explained on his about page. He states that “this blog is based on my own thoughts, feelings, and ideas” and also emphasizes that he’s trying to learn more and is open to hearing other people’s opinions too. So with the digital garden in mind, he’s also marketing to himself, but for the purpose of this review, I’ll be focusing on the marketability of the counterpublic of personality theory enthusiasts (which he is a part of anyways).

MindMediaRes's "about page," showing his construction of a digital garden
Mercy’s “about” page, detailing the construction of his digital garden

Writing for an Audience

Looking at the content on Mercy’s blog, it becomes obvious that his content posts specifically cater to his target audience of personality theory enthusiasts who also enjoy media. Each content post focuses on an aspect of personality theory, either cognitive functions or the enneagram. Using these aspects of personality theory, Mercy analyzes different media, such as movies and shows. For example, his most recent content post surrounds the character, Trina from the 1992 musical, Falsettos. He analyzes Trina’s enneagram type through the songs she sings throughout the musical.

Mercy’s content also caters to all levels of personality theory enthusiasts, from beginners to experts, which increases the marketability of his website to a wider audience. This is evident through Mercy’s first two content posts, where he explains the two aspects of personality theory he tackles in his blog: cognitive functions and the enneagram. These explanations provide a solid framework from which beginner personality theory enthusiasts can start building their knowledge.  

It is also obvious that Mercy’s blog content is more intellectually advanced. This is not only shown through the blog’s subject matter, but in the way the posts are written. The academic tone of the blog makes the content more exclusive, but I don’t think this is a bad thing at all. Hollenbaugh explains that when creating content, writers need to present themselves based on their imagined audiences. In this case, the imagined audience would be personality theory enthusiasts, who are assumed to be more intellectually inclined in the first place, just based on the academic subject matter. Take the first sentence in Mercy’s post, “Untangling Morality in Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along” Blog as an example:

“Character archetypes have a fairly predictable lifespan of solidifying themselves in pop culture, going through subversions, and subsequently creating new archetypes based on those subversions over the course of many years.”

The vocabulary used in this sentence makes the blog content more exclusive in nature, making it difficult for a younger audience of children, per se, to understand the posts. Nonetheless, the language caters well to the target audience, who, judging by their interest in personality theory, is already intellectually advanced and can understand the vocabulary used in the blog.

Diving into Design

Judging by the blog’s target audience of personality theory enthusiasts and the content in each of the posts, I think that in terms of design, this makes for a more intellectual, serious, straightforward feel to the blog. Mercy uses elements that help maintain this aesthetic that align well with Mauvé Page’s suggestions for blog design. For example, the typeface personality works well with the more serious, intellectual aesthetic of the blog. It is clean, simple, and legible, and makes sure the g’s and q’s don’t mix up, and all those kinds of things.

Excerpt of a post from MindMediaRes, showing effective use of typography to convey the blog's aesthetic
Excerpt of a post from MindMediaRes, showing effective use of typography to convey the blog’s aesthetic

More generally, some other effective design elements include the fact that there is a good contrast between the black and white shades, making the writing clear and legible and adding to the “seriousness” of the blog aesthetic. The design is also very cohesive, with a limited amount of colour and one consistent font used throughout the blog.

Mercy’s website is also accessible, which makes it inclusive to everyone within his target audience. In alignment with Gaines’s explanation of the four principles of accessibility, Mercy’s blog is particularly perceivable. For example, he includes an accessibility plug in and all his hyperlinks are underlined, making them different from the rest of the content and reducing the need to look for them.

Design Suggestions

Mercy uses a theme from Alx for his blog. While this template is effective in organizing his posts and laying out all the content in a logical way, Gertz warns against using templates because they are often standardized and can take the personality away from websites. Therefore, I would suggest that Mercy thinks about building his website from scratch so that it reflects him and his audience better.

But if straying from a template is too much at the moment (which I completely understand as it’s also the reason why I’m still using one), I would suggest that Mercy creates a consistent identity and brand for his blog that caters well to his target audience of personality theory enthusiasts. This might be the “serious, intellectual, straightforward” feel that I talked about earlier, or any other kind of mood Mercy wants to create.

Subtle customizations that reflect aspects related to personality theory might be a good idea. For example, this might include creating a homepage, that, instead of simply featuring previews of posts, hosts a post carousel with pictures related to the content featuring aspects of personality theory. It might also involve playing around with more colours to convey a certain aesthetic if he sees fit.

Branding the site a little more strategically through design elements would create a clear mood and atmosphere for the audience, which, aside from the content, pulls viewers into the experience and shows them what the blog is about even before they read any of the posts.

Overall

All in all, I really appreciate the passion that Mercy puts into his blog. It’s clear that aside from being a school assignment, personality theory is something that he is truly interested in. His posts go above and beyond the course requirements and include in-depth, comprehensive explanations, thorough application of theory to case studies, and even several sources for readers to learn more. Because of this and so much more, I really hope that he continues working on this blog after the course is over and I will definitely stay updated so I can keep learning about personality theory!

References:

Basu, T. (2020, September 5). Digital gardens let you cultivate your own little bit of the internet. MIT Technology Review. https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/09/03/1007716/digital-gardens-let-you-cultivate-your-own-little-bit-of-the-internet/

Fattal, A. (2018). Encyclopedia entry — Counterpublic. UC San Diego. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/73t260cm

Gaines, H. [UXDX]. (2022, January 27). The four principles of accessibility [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUxx_sq2QdY

Gertz, T. (2015, July 10). How to sur­vive the dig­i­tal apocalypse. Louder Than Ten. https://louderthanten.com/coax/design-machines

Hollenbaugh, E. E. (2021). Self-presentation in social media: Review and research opportunities. Review of Communication Research9, 80–98. https://doi.org/10.12840/ISSN.2255-4165.027

La Bossiere, M. (2023). About. MindMediaRes. https://mindmediares.com/about/

La Bossiere, M. (2023, January 24). The cognitive functions explained. MindMediaRes. https://mindmediares.com/the-cognitive-functions-explained/

La Bossiere, M. (2023, January 30). The enneagram explained. MindMediaRes. https://mindmediares.com/the-enneagram-explained-introduction/

La Bossiere, M. (2023, March 32). Untangling morality in Dr. Horrible’s sing-along blog. MediaMediaRes. https://mindmediares.com/untangling-morality-in-dr-horribles-sing-along-blog/

La Bossiere, M. (2023, March 22). Trina from Falsettos (2016) is a clear 6w7. MindMediaRes. https://mindmediares.com/trina-from-falsettos-2016-is-a-clear-6w7/

Peer Review #3 Thebaristababe

First Impressions

Friendly Recommendations:
I love the fun visuals you have added, but they may take up too much space where the reader might not realize you have put an intended about section below the visuals since it takes up the whole screen page. Likewise, the search bar is not as easily accessible if you do not scroll down to the entire page on mobile, which is essential as the data.ai findings showcase Gen Z being a mobile-first generation. Speaking of accessibility, you have yet to download the accessibility plug from WordPress which can prevent users from engaging with your site.

Content

I was unsure about what the section “Daily Doses of Caffeine” was about until I saw you explain it in your process post #3: “where I post all things coffee. Whatever is on my mind during the day or a random coffee thought that pops into my head, this is where it will get posted”. I enjoyed reading this section of your blog, and I loved the cute visuals you added. They also follow uniformity in formatting and are easy to follow with the break up of white space and text.

Friendly Recommendation:
It would be beneficial if you had a subheading under the title “Daily Doses of Caffeine” explaining what the section is about because readers might not stumble across your process post like I did to understand the section.

As a reader, it can be hard to discern where one post ends and where a new one starts, and It could be helpful to break up the text by adding visuals, increasing the font size for headings, etc. Everything looks like a uniform long text, which can be hard to read.

As Hollingsworth (2021) states, “establishing a brand as an authority takes patience, effort, and commitment and relies on offering a valuable, quality product or service that allows customers to trust a brand”. Your coffee reviews consist of 5 main factors: the coffee shop, drink, ingredients, rating, and extra note that adds a nice touch of personalization. Further, I love the intimate visuals you choose to accompany your reviews, but apart from the visuals, it can be hard to discern where one review ends and starts, similar to your process post page.

Friendly Recommendation:
The visuals do not align with the text correctly, so it can be hard to tell which visual matches the review. I’m unsure if it’s a template issue, but adding space between each post and emphasizing the size or bolding the text can create better fluidity, cohesiveness, and cleanliness.

Overall, Kristie has an intended audience targeted towards coffee drinkers and lovers; since her blog is intimate and personal, I am unsure of whether she wants to monetize her content. However, if she does, I have a few suggestions for revamping her site through a new rating system and social media interventions. Coffee rating reviews can be more concise with comments on coffee profiles such as acidity, bitterness, sweetness, sourness, and the overall body of the coffee. She can also link the social media handles to the coffee shop and create a google map of all the coffee shops you have reviewed for readers to have the ultimate coffee shop experience, boosting engagement and connectivity. Moreover, adding your social handles can create a closer connection to readers, and she can add a page on her blog dedicated to reader-suggested coffee shops that you go to and review.

References:
Hollingsworth, S. (2021, August 6). 15 Reasons Why Your Business Absolutely Needs SEO. Search Engine Journal. https://www.searchenginejournal.com/why-seo-is-important-for-business/248101/#close

Peer Review #3

For the third and final peer review of the semester, I was assigned to review Roland’s website; however, due to Roland’s website being incomplete as well as lacking content, I randomized another person and am now going to peer review Emerson’s website. This was finalized on Saturday, March 25, 2023, anything posted after this date were not included.

Roland’s website: http://gallifreyanbro.com/ 

Emerson’s website: https://dripowensonline.net/ 

At first glance, Emerson’s website can be seen as a dark hole, a bit bland with nothing behind the surface, but then you would be quite wrong. The first thing I checked out was the “About” tab on the menu, it was only then was I able to understand what I was getting into. Emerson’s creative take on creating your website was shown, and I started to believe that I was able to get away from it all with dripowensonline.

Emerson’s audience is himself, and he doesn’t sugarcoat it. He states it in “Process Post #5”, “I don’t expect others to find it”. Rather than trying to state that their audience is whoever comes upon it, Emerson admits that they are writing to themselves and does not need to adapt to anyone’s comfort levels as it all depends on what he believes is true. Since his website audience is so small, relative to who Emerson lets into his digital garden, it allows it to be comfortable and welcoming. The minimalistic-ness of the “Home” page allows for a personal aroma for the user and reader.

I like to take a look at what other people are doing in class. I check out the google sheets page with all the websites and inquire what people are writing about or posting. Having looked at Emerson’s website I can say that I haven’t seen anything like it. In the recommended reading “How to Survive the Digital Apocalypse” by Travis Gertz, he talks about copycat culture and how companies are looking at the most successful websites and copying what they are doing. “When another company achieves success, there’s a lot of pressure to investigate what they did right and apply that to our own organizations” (Gertz, 2015). Looking at all the different websites in the class, I can say without a doubt, I haven’t seen something like Emerson’s. As I mentioned previously, his audience is himself, and because of that, he doesn’t need to copy others because he doesn’t have the same audience.

As a reader, of course, my perspective on Emerson’s website is going to be different than his perspective or even someone else’s. Because of this, it’s hard to say what I would think needs changing on his website. I am not his intended audience so of course, I am going to think of things differently than he would or he would want to. I would say, if it was my website, I would change the titles of my process posts. I like to make my posts engaging, even if it’s just for myself, so possibly changing the titles of your process posts could make your website just a little more interesting.

Altogether, I enjoyed Emerson’s website immensely and look forward to seeing more interesting and creative photos in his “Archive”.

References:

Gertz, T. (2015, July 10). How to Survive the Digital Apocalypse. Louder Than Ten. https://louderthanten.com/coax/design-machines 

Peer Review #3 – Kashish Shodwani

Website being reviewed: http://kashishshodwani.com/

For this third and final peer review of this class of PUB 101, I was assigned to review another blogger’s website. For this peer review, I am told to observe the website’s marketability to an intended audience group. I was paired up with a student named Kashish Shodwani, and her website is called “BRAINY BLOG” I think this was one interesting website to look into. For starters, some may notice that there is an eye-catching title to the website, there is this picture of a plastic brain and huge text stating “Unlocking the secrets of the brain.” As for her about page, she starts by greeting the viewers of her website by saying “Hello psychology geeks…” Which can give a big hint of what she had imagined her audience to be. As for the about page, she said that she is a major in Psychology. She said she hopes to grow by learning better about her life by understanding how she and others work; Hearing this reminded me of an article called “How To Talk to Stranger” which goes into how to be a more friendly persona and how to talk to strangers out in the world (Hamblin, 2016).

As for the design and aesthetic of the website, I noticed it has a very similar colour background and formatting to the POSIEL website which is our home site for this class. I feel that this design, intentional or not makes a sense of familiarity within the site since most of the returning audiences may be students in the same class of PUB 101. For the marketability of this website, I believe the top of the page is a great eye-catcher, it has a bright orange brain picture on the right, and Big bold text stating “A dive into how to use psychological concepts in everyday life: Tips, Tricks and Insights.” Which may make the reader interested to read more about psychology. The big bold text can make an easy marketing strategy for her viewers, which can make the difference for people stay on her site or not. The typing style used in blogs on this website is very formal with proper punctuation and grammar. This typing style can give the feeling that the author makes blogs for people who are more sophisticated in reading longer blogs and readings.

One of her blogs called “Fight the Stress” this blog goes on about how stress is very draining to almost everyone and how we should control it. I feel that Shodwani’s public audience in mind was other people who are interested in Psychology. For example, Shodwani stated in her introduction sentence saying “Hello psychology geeks…” which is a massive giveaway to Shodwani’s idea of what her public was going to be on. According to an article called “Publics and Counterpublics” by Michael Warner, Warner stated that “A public is a space of discourse organized by nothing other than discourse itself.” (Warner, 2002).

Bibliography:

Hamblin, J. (2016, August 25). How to talk to Strangers Irl. The Atlantic. Retrieved March 23, 2023, from https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/08/civil-inattention/497183/

Warner, M. (2002). Frontpage. Public. Retrieved March 23, 2023, from http://knowledgepublic.pbworks.com/

Peer Review 1 – Spinning Stufful

Spinning Stufful is an adventure log that stores the adventures Becca goes on as she transits to other places while spinning poke stops and catching Pokemon.

A really simple design with just three colors—white, yellow, and grey—welcomes me as soon as I approach the website. I am immediately drawn to the yellow text that directs me to what Becca’s blog is about and what content her blog features. As someone who is not too familiar with Pokemon, I would love to see some colours that correlate to Becca’s adventures or related to Pokemon to link the game to her blog. However, I appreciate Becca’s current theme since it draws my attention to the first thing I would want my reader to read, which is what the site is about.

Spinning Stufful Homepage

Exploring Spining Stufful gives me a sense of who Becca is. However, because her blog is still in its early phases, it is not fully developed. I’d like to learn more about her adventures and get a feel of who Becca is, as well as her relationship with Pokemon, as I’m sure her love for this game stemmed from a certain moment in her life.

As well as, Becca can do some very creative things with her blog and generate a community of Pokemon players to relate to her adventures and she begins to do so by inviting her readers to become friends with her on Pokemon Go.

Spinnning Stufful’s Pokemon Invitation

I love the intention of this but I do find that this method is inconvient to the reader because they essentially need to go out of their way to message and wait for a reponse. This method can lose potential readers who would like an additional friend on Pokemon Go. I think a way to help attract more readers to befriend Becca on Pokemon Go is inserting a QR code or inserting an image of Becca’s trainer code.

In conclusion, Spinning Stufful is off to a great start and I believe that Becca can have so much fun with her blog in some really cool and unique ways. I’m excited to see how Becca level’s up Spinning Stuffuls.

Peer Review 1

I was requested to evaluate Lily’s blog, Knitting After Hours. I was astounded by how well-designed the website appeared when I initially clicked the link to it. Lily’s website is well-organized and put together, while we have just begun developing our website.

During the day, Lily studies, and at night, she knits. She intends to highlight her accomplishments and successful ventures. She discusses twist socks in the part on her knitting endeavours. I had the impression that I was speaking with Lily directly while reading the post. Even though I’ve never been interested in knitting socks, it was interesting, hilarious, and engaging enough to have me wanting to learn more.

Going through Lily’s website made me immediately take note of the images she included to each post. Since I like to see things visually versus mentally picturing them, I am a huge photo enthusiast. When I clicked on the post because there was an image, I instantly felt as though I understood everything Lily was saying. I loved that there was an image and a brief description of the post before you read it. I really appreciated how she combined visuals and links to the topics she was discussing.

In between the white and black on Lily’s site, there is this lovely yellow colour. The colour palette she is utilising, in my opinion, has a strong knitting connection. It is quite relaxing and does not overwhelm. Because of all the categories she has established, I had no trouble finding her posts. She has developed links to the knitting patterns she uses in her work.

I immediately recognise what Lily is attempting to advertise when I visit her website. She wants to share her experience with each project because she is so passionate about knitting. Regarding the goals she has for her website, I had no questions. Lily strikes me as funny and as someone who is well-versed in website editing.

I’ll sum up my evaluation by saying that she’s organised and can knit. She did mention that she would be include food and playlists in her “about me” section. Because I adore food, I can’t wait to see her prepare recipes. Her website will have content that goes beyond knitting, which is incredibly interesting. Additionally, I really appreciate how she’ll be sharing her own playlist. If she included a category of projects, she’s interested in trying, I think it would be interesting. Additionally, she might mention where she gets the yarn or give advice for it. It’s interesting to hear about what she does, but to keep people interested, she should provide more advice. I’d love to learn how to knit, so I’ll be sure to visit her page more frequently.

Lily’s website is knittingafterhours.com.

Peer Review #3: Examining Abysmal Guides

Peer Review #3: Examining Abysmal Guides

Context

This website was created for a class at Simon Fraser University titled Publication of Self in Everyday Life. In this class, we are developing our own digital identities and assisting our classmates in doing the same. This is the third and final of these reviews. 

In this review, I will provide my evaluation of the site AbysmalGuides.com in regard to its intended target audience.

The Target Audience and Content Strategy of Abysmal Guides

The author of Absymal Guides provides a description of their target audience and content strategy in their post titled My Ideal Audience

In this post, they describe their ideal audience and the content they are creating targeted at this audience. Their ideal audience is beginners or new players of the game Genshin Impact. They then go on to explain that they will be creating posts that help introduce players to the game, as well as some posts describing some deeper nuances which will require the basic information knowledge they provide in their other posts.

Abysmal Guides has developed a clear and concise target audience and an appropriate content strategy to approach this audience. 

While this target audience is concise, I do believe that it would be worthwhile for the author to further empathize with their target audience. With this information, they could further explore the demographics, psychographics, and behaviours they believe this group has to better create content suited to this audience. It is worth noting, that this is an analysis they may have done but not published on their site.

Examining the Content of Abysmal Guides

Abysmal Guides’ Landing Page

When an individual arrives at Abysmal Guides, they are greeted by text explaining the site’s purpose and a background image from the game Genshin Impact. 

The text that immediately grabs the audience’s attention is a large “Welcome to Abysmal Guides”, after viewing this text the audience likely then goes on to view a caption saying “Just another blog about Genshin Impact guides”.  I love the large welcome as it does make me feel welcome, but am a bit thrown off by the caption as it does not assert that this site is the place I need to be. I believe that using stronger language and saying something like “The Genshin Impact Blog for Beginners”, would confirm for the audience that they are on the correct website would improve the site.

The landing page then goes on to explain the two purposes of the site, the fact that it exists as a guide for Genshin Impact beginners and that it was created for a class. This context is something I am sure the audience appreciates as it depicts transparency and lends credibility to the site’s information.

Following this, the audience can then see a few recent posts on the site with clear categories above titles ensuring the audience viewing the site can get to the posts they need to see.

Posts

In examining the content of AbysmalGuides.com, I began by viewing the post Things to Know Before Starting Genshin Impact. This post is well-structured and easy to read, very appropriate for this site’s target audience. Reading it gave me a good overview of the game and has enabled me to an understanding that I did not previously have.

Next, I wanted to view a character page as the author described these types of posts as ones that could be viewed and understood only after gaining a basic understanding of the game, so I viewed the post Venti Character Build. This post is again well structured, providing an overview of the character then diving in to specific attributes of the character.

Conclusion Regarding Content

Abysmal Guides is well written. The content fits the audience very well, and the author has accomplished what they set out to do in their initial post. I am greatly appreciative of this and enjoyed viewing the site.

Affordances on Abysmal Guides

Affordances are defined as action possibilities provided to the actor by the environment. They are critical to making the uses of an item immediately obvious (Kaptelinin, n.d.). In evaluating Abysmal Guides’ design I examined the site through the lens of affordances.

Affordances That Make Sense

  • The menu bar on the top, provides an immediate easy way for users who know what they are looking for on the site to find what they are looking for.
  • The sidebar on the side of the screen has many good elements which make navigation of the site much easier.
  • The headers found on public posts make Abysmal Guides, guides easy to navigate. This is greatly appreciated and useful for the users as it minimizes the amount of time they need to spend on the page to find what they are looking for.

Affordances That Could Be Improved

  • Author title – Currently, all the posts are authored by “Admin”, changing the name of this poster might be worth exploring, though the title Admin does lend the posts some credibility.
  • Category colours – The categories above the post titles are coloured which makes the site much more visually intriguing, but these colours do not mean anything as they are randomly assigned which makes them confusing. If different colours went with different types of categories, it would be useful and intuitive.

Affordances That Could Be Added

  • An easy way to access the post Things to Know Before Starting Genshin Impact, immediately after arriving on the site would be a nice touch and fitting for the site’s target audience.
  • Headers could be added to the posts created for the course. They are currently on the posts for Genshin Impact which makes them easily navigable and it would be nice if the author carried these ideas over to their other posts.

Conclusion – Abysmal Guides Successfully Targets a Niche

Abysmal Guides does a fantastic job targeting their content at a niche. The site is functional and easy to use, providing users with a positive experience.

In the article Embracing the Power of Niches, Steve Pratt (2020) explains that targeting a niche can allow a content creator to reach audiences that others have not yet realized, and I believe that this site has done a fantastic job implementing this principle. This is evident in the fact that several of the posts on the site have comments from users thanking the author for the information they provide (for example, on the post Things to Know Before Starting Genshin Impact).

I greatly look forward to seeing what Abysmal Guide develops into in the future and thoroughly enjoyed evaluating the site.

References

Kaptelinin, V. (n.d.). Affordances. The Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction, Chapter 44. Interaction Design Foundation. ​​https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/book/the-encyclopedia-of-human-computer-interaction-2nd-ed/affordances 

Pratt, S. (2022). Embracing the power of niches. The Creativity Business. https://creativitybusiness.substack.com/p/embracing-the-power-of-niches 

PR #3: A Sustainable Fashion Blog

(Week 11)

Wow. Dressing sustainably (DS). I know this peer review post is supposed to be about analyzing your audience and marketability and this may tie into it… but damn, the optics (in a good way)!

Snapshot of the welcome banner on http://dressingsustainably.ca/ that outlines the site is about dressing sustainably as well as an ethical fashion blog

The layout, the topography, the framing, the contrast with the colour pops and the neutrals. Your site looks very clean, approachable, and professional.

How your site presents itself/your brand/the way you market yourself, sets an idea of what kind of audience you have and could potentially attract.

Who I believe your audience may be

The proof is in the pudding, and the pudding has dropped and smeared on the ground in front of you. Albeit not the best visual, it’s more of a metaphor for how apparent the topic of your site is. Your site is about sustainable fashion and it’s obvious. That obviousness is great as it allows those who stumble across your site the directness they need to either stay or leave, because why stay if you don’t care for the content? The fact that you allow the experience for your audience to be an obvious one, builds a more niche audience while strengthening their alliance with your brand. Those who are looking for a sustainable fashion alternative, those whose default is to shop sustainably for anything, those who love fashion, and those that care about the planet, are your audience. Taking a look at these possible audiences, these counterpublics range from small to large audiences. In that regard, I don’t believe numbers will be an issue for you to grow your brand and your audience and this can be quite powerful. How do you harness this power in numbers? Marketing.

Some points on marketing

You have the material, and you have the vibe, but you need to work on marketability.

I’ve pointed this out in every peer review, and yours, regrettably, is no exception. I’m noticing that your images do not have alt text. I cannot claim to be an expert in any regard towards the shrouded mystery that is Google’s search algorithms, but I know one of the many data points are the content you have going on in the background, in the code. Alternative/alt text is not just some fictional topic that Lauren and Suzanne are trying to convince you is real. It exists, and it exists here:

Snapshot of a blogpost image on http://dressingsustainably.ca/ that shows the image beside an open console showcasing there is not alternative text.

Now, why is this important? HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is a programming language that is used to build the structure of a web application or component. In this day and age, we use HTML5 which is semantic. This means, the code that we developers use has meaning, it’s not just a waterfall of <divs> anymore, it’s a grouping of relative content tagged with semantic tags.

Again, why is this important? Giving meaning to code allows that code to be categorized more easily. Alt text lives in the <img> tag as a property. It is meant to give an alternative definition to the image source for those that may need or choose to use it. It is also used as a data point for Google’s search algorithms to categorize your site and content and allow those that are searching for sustainable fashion to find sites and information that are related to sustainable fashion. Yes, alt text is important for accessibility, but it is also important for boosting your site in relevancy for Google aka boosting your marketing. So, more of that.

Aside from boosting your marketability via alt text. What I found interesting about your blog posts was the form at the bottom of the posts that allows your audience to sign up for emails on comment updates! This is great. It allows those who are interacting with your site to multiply their interactions with your site and drive up your page viewings, and time spent on that page while lowering the page bounce rate.

Snapshot on http://dressingsustainably.ca/ that shows the form at the end of a blog posts that allows users to sign up their email to follow up on comments they have made.

Take it or leave it – Some Advice

What do people like about fashion? How it looks, how it makes you feel, and how it may inspire others. This is great, however, if we cannot see fashion, is fashion really there?

Tree falling in the woods aside, I feel that you could attract your audience more if you use more images. Fashion is huge on sight and how what they see makes them feel, so it feels like fashion and images of fashion should go hand and hand. I would suggest including more images on your main blog post page as well as just adding more images on the individual posts themselves, for example:

Screenshot of a blog post on http://dressingsustainably.ca to showcase that there are no images on the blog post.

It would be cool if there were some screenshots/images of the banners of these sites so that your audience doesn’t need to read a whole paragraph to get a feel of the site you are recommending. Linking and backlinking are great for SEO and increase your marketability.

I mentioned numbers and how you have them, but I believe that the numbers you may have may be underutilized if you do not ensure smooth, usable interfaces for ALL devices. Your desktop site is tops, but the responsiveness of your site’s home page for mobile users is (I’m sorry) horrendous:

Screenshot of what a mobile device would see on the home screen of dressingsustainably.ca. It is all squished together.

Being accommodating to as much of your audience as possible right off the bat will only help you in keeping new visitors and growing your numbers.

I also mentioned how I think it is great to ask your audience to further interact with your site by sending them emails for responses to their comments. Perhaps just adding a general email list that allows your audience to sign up for new post updates will help with your marketability and deepen your fan base.

Overall

I think you are doing a great job. Great aesthetic, great concept, good content. There are just a few suggestions I believe would take your site to the next level in terms of growing your audience and adding more marketability.


Hope this was helpful in some way! Bye for now!

Week 11. Peer Review 3

My peer I’m going to review today is Aliya Hussain, the publisher of “Archived By: Khrshd“. The blog topic is fashion and I was worried that it could be a rather difficult topic for me, who is not very interested in clothes other than my favorite outfit style which is just dress. Nevertheless, she organized it neatly through various photo examples, making it possible to see fashion illiterates like me at a glance.

Author’s point of view

She created a black and white blog like me and is supposed to be pursuing minimalism. The reason why I assumed is that her font and design are very simple, for example she used only one type of fonts and she used two colours on the blog. She used many images to fit the visual theme of fashion, which makes it easier for her to guide her fashion to readers. I uploaded all the pictures one by one with big size because there were a lot of informational articles. However, in her case, the big difference from me is that she posted nine photo forms, which are mood board-like Instagram styles with small size, so that people can see what kind of feeling she is pursuing briefly.

The reader’s point of view

If we look at her About column, you can guess that she will write a post about “silhouette and various color palettes.” However, there was no explanation for the blog name KHRSHD, so I felt it was lacking of information. (Maybe I was not able to find the information but there’s no mention about name on her About section which is it supposed to described it in.) For reader’s side, the blog is well organized in a neat image. However, if there is anything to be desired, some posts on her menus are not well linked. For example, if you look at peer reviews, nothing is posted on her post. But in fact, when I searched up the post with the key word “peer review”, she has already written two peer reviews. It means that she already uploaded the assignment but just forgot to connect with the correct menu. The blog is very user-intuitive and offers an easy-to-use design, but I dare advise her that she didn’t accidentally place some posts under the right menu and explain about the blog title’s meaning.

Anyone who are interested in fashion industry or influencer, I recommend you to take a look this blog! I had to find her shortcomings for the assignment, but in fact her blog is more than enough to inspire fashion.

Peer Review 3

For this last peer review of PUB201, I would like to discuss Gracie’s website, “Sincerely, Gracie“. First of all, from the web title, I assumed her blog would be where she shares her journals and stories, as it gives off a friendly and warm vibe. With her tagline as “My Photos & My Thoughts”, it proves that my guess was close. From what she wrote on the front page, it appears that she is a writer and photographer from Vancouver, BC.

Gracie’s home page. Source: http://sincerelygracie.com/

The Content

There are five main pages featured on her home page menu: Amusing, Photo Diary, Digital Portfolio, PUB 201, and Contact. I find the Musings page quite interesting. It is not a bad idea to have a separate page for the comment section since the audience may share their thoughts on more general inquiries than the fixed topics within her content. So far, all of her content is in the form of images, and they are all gathered in the Digital portfolio section.

The Design and Layout

The website’s theme is a bit plain with the two main colours of blue and mostly white. So far, this choice of design and layout has yet to convincingly represent her branding as a writer and photographer. The layout leaves too much white space on her pages. I really like that she made good use of her photographs. However, more description is needed to connect with the audience, and I would absolutely love to read more about her story.

Suggestions

As for Gracie’s home page, I think that she should write more about her brand’s story, how she found her passion for photography, and maybe talk a little about her plan to develop the website. Throughout the course, Gracie shared that her brand’s mission is “To convey inspiring stories, experiences, and messages through photographs”. However, with a lack of information on her brand’s backstory, this mission may not be fully conveyed to the audience. It would be better for her brand if she included the statement at the end of her about section. Also, instead of having a separate page for contact information, she could create a sidebar widget that includes links to her social media. This not only gives the audience a broader view of her social platforms but also acts as a filler for white spaces on her site.

A website with a unique layout and colour palette is very important to make your brand stand out and reach more viewers. What Gracie could do to improve her visual presentation is reflect on her brand to find a suitable yet outstanding theme and try out different colour combinations that catch people’s eyes. One more thing I would like to suggest to improve her portfolio is that she can sort her work into different sections. From what I see, her portfolio now looks like a photo dumpster with no specifications. I think maybe adding titles and descriptions to each group of images would be a good way to communicate with the audience.

Conclusion

Overall, I like the branding idea of “Sincerely, Gracie”. It would be perfect if Gracie spent more time exploring some of the plugins to upgrade the web design. That way, her brand would attract more viewers. I hope to see more written content on her website soon, as I am curious about her as a writer.

Good luck Gracie!

The post Peer Review 3 appeared first on Chii’s Sweet Home.

Peer Review #3

Week 9: Peer Review #3

Screenshot of Alyssa’s website.

This week I will be reviewing Alyssa’s site, Loafs by Lyss. First, I will look at design and then content. Alyssa’s website is clear and the user immediately knows that this is a blog about making sourdough. I like that she has chosen to display her recent posts on her home page, because it gives the user more information about the website. I also think this is a good way to grab the user’s attention and interest.

I like that she has created customized images for her process posts. However, on her home page I would suggest to make the process posts smaller, but I also understand this could be different among users as some screens are more zoomed in than others. I would also recommend moving the Instagram icon she has on the top left side of her homepage, as it sits alone in the corner and might not be seen by users.

As I continued to scroll down the homepage, I liked that she had attached her Instagram page. Her Instagram page is also about sourdough and this is a great way to market as she links out to other platforms and also uses other platforms to share her baking. I noticed that Alyssa linked out to other sources in her post titled Painting my Sourdough, and this is great way to connect your website to other sources.

In terms of her content, I like how she discusses a variety of topics. She discusses recipes, health benefits, schedules and more. Her content is clear and organized. However, I was wondering if in some posts she could expand a bit more. For example, with Coping with Sourdough Fails, she discusses how making sourdough may not always go as planned, and discusses that she has learned from her experiences and how to improve. I was wondering if she could expand more on the specific things she has learned and list mistakes that she has made to help the user understand what not to do.

Looking back at an earlier reading in this semester titled, A Personal Cyberinfrastructure by Gardner Campbell. The article discusses that it is important for students to learn and create while using digital mediums because it gives them technical skills and allows them to engage in all sorts of works (Gardner Campbell, 2009, para.7). The article discusses that the students should be able to curate and share their own engagement and knowledge in learning environments and online (Gardner Campbell, 2009, para.7). I see this importance through Alyssa’s site and her work because she is able to share a passion of hers, while engaging online in a learning environment. In classes one does not get to share their passions and often assignments are disregarded after they are marked, but Alyssa’s website is a portfolio of both her assignments and passions that she can use for further engagement.

Overall I think her website is great, checkout Alyssa’s site to learn how to make sourdough bread!

Link to Gardner Campbell’s article: https://er.educause.edu/articles/2009/9/a-personal-cyberinfrastructure

Peer Review 2

Self-illustration of Kelly on the “About” page

Hi, everyone. Today I would like to discuss my peer Kelly’s blog, “Kelly in Saturn.” Looking at the home page, I could feel a very calming vibe. The description of the blog is placed in a block on the sidebar. It states clearly that her blog focuses on her daily self-care routine.

Description of the blog

The content

After browsing the website, I got some main points about “Kelly in Saturn”.

Her blog was created last month, which was at the beginning of this semester, so there are only a few posts. However, she is doing really well in building her online self. It seems that her content is not just about self-care; it is also about personal opinions on social issues, mental health issues, and updates on daily activities.

Storytelling is crucial to a brand’s image. Sometimes, stories can make a brand venerable. Hence, if it is interpreted in the right way, it reflects the background story of the brand, represents the brand and inspires the audience. By engaging the audience with her own stories, using universal language and a neutral tone, the brand’s backstory is subconsciously shaped in the minds of the readers. At the same time, it encourages the readers to take care of their lifestyle by showing empathy through Kelly’s daily life stories. In one of her posts, I like how she uses the lunar new year as a bridge to discuss Asian hate crime in New York, which has been aching on social media a lot recently.

An illustration from Kelly’s post about Asian hate crimes

The five main pages are organized on the menu bar: About, Blog, Resources, Personal Projects, and Pub 201. On the “About” page, Kelly explains the reason behind her brand name and briefly introduces the blog to establish a standard foundation relationship with the audience. The “Resources” section really impressed me with how she managed to make connections for her brand in the early days. To me, as a reader, it’s interesting to be able to quickly find her other works in the “Personal Project” section.

The design and layout

The main colours of the website, which are marigold, midnight blue, and off yellow, harmonize well together. With her art as most of the illustrations, it does mark the brand’s existence, making it stand out and unique. The layout of the website is not too dense but also not too loose, leaving enough blank space to ease the eyes of readers.

Conclusion

Overall, I think Kelly has built her brand really well, especially in terms of storytelling. Although the website is new, it has a lot of potential. I would like to thank Kelly for creating such a fascinating website to spread positive energy to everyone. It is exciting to see how the brand will grow in the future.

Good luck, Kelly!

Reference

Suzanne Norman. “Week Six-PUB 201 Brand Storytelling” PowerPoint slides.

PUB 101 Peer Review #3 — The Power of Painting

For my final peer review, I had the pleasure of reviewing Carissa’s blog — The Power of Painting. As a 4th-year Communications Student, minoring in Publishing and Digital print, her website focuses on documenting her creative journey with painting!

Right off the bat, I was impressed with the simple yet stylistic choice of her theme and colour palette. The relaxing hues of pastels and neutrals contrasted really well with the overall white background of her website. Her content focuses on all things painting while describing her various experiences, techniques and ideas learned throughout. I would argue that her intended audience demographic would range between the 16-24 age group. Carissa is very vibrant and youthful in her writing and I think it would attract those who are similar!

In terms of organization, I really appreciated how her content was categorized in their respective sub-headers. At the top of her website, there is a dropdown menu that separates both blog posts and PUB 101 content, showing her eye for detail and functionality for users.

In Travis Gertz‘s reading by “Design Machines” (2015), he explains the impact design has to make or break a brand. I think Carissa did a great job at evaluating a website theme that would promote a relaxing and easy-to-navigate page. Her website is purely one the represents herself through her art/blog posts and puts the notion of “connecting the content to the medium” into action (Gertz, 2015).

One of my favourite parts of Carissa’s website, was the Gallery feature. In this particular section she displays a collage that showcases some of the past art pieces she has painted for herself, friends and family! I would argue that Carissa has created her own digital garden where she has cultivated her own little piece of the internet. In Tanya Basu‘s article she defines a digital garden as a space that “explore[s] a wide variety of topics and are frequently adjusted and changed to show growth and learning, particularly among people with niche interests” (Basu, 2020). I hope Carissa chooses to continue posting on her website as well as her instagram account so others can see her amazing work!

Possible Opportunity for Monetization!

After seeing this gallery, I couldn’t help but think about the opportunity it gives Carissa to monetize and gain revenue through her art (only if she wants to of course). In our lecture with guest speaker, Trevor Battye, he explains how success comes from a combination of one or more of these features:

  • A niche tribe which you lead
  • A voice that a brand can attach itself to, to speak to a tribe
  • A monetizing action, for your audience to respond to

Ultimately, I believe that Carissa’s website has what it takes to gain profit from what she creates. If I were to make any suggestions I would advise her to move the left and right navigation buttons to the bottom of the page instead of the middle. I found myself getting distracted a bit while reading a few of her blog/process posts.

Conclusions

Overall, I really enjoyed seeing the progress that Carissa has made with her blog and brand as an artist. The image to the left represents a bit of what has happened since she began her journey as a painter at the start of quarantine. I find it very encouraging to see a visual representation of what hard work and dedication can do. It’s great to see her using her extra time

Please make sure to check out Carissa and her wonderful website at — www.powerofpainting.com and her some love. I hope you continue painting after this pandemic is over & consider selling/commissioning your artwork online. Best of luck! 🙂

The post PUB 101 Peer Review #3 — The Power of Painting appeared first on Marylou Villegas.