9. Classmate Blog Critique

Classmate Blog Critique

My classmates gave me a hard time trying to decide which one of them I wanted to choose for the classmate critique assignment. I’ve spent the semester learning and absorbing what they had to say constantly deepening my intellectual well. After long and hard deliberation, I decided to choose not just one of my classmates but two. The lucky winners are Morgan McDaniel and Abby Johnson. I chose them both for different reasons, but to me, these were the two websites I caught myself going to when looking for inspiration and ideas to expand on for my own work. 

First I am going to focus on Morgan’s website. Morgan had a very unique approach when it comes to design and layout. That was something that instantly stood out to me. It looks professional, when I saw Morgan’s I genuinely felt like I had to step my game up visually. I was that impressed. Also, I want to note that her toolbar has links that take you to her other class blogs. Design-wise, I think Morgan sets the standard for the blogs. 

Moving onto Morgan’s content, all of her work is very informative. Going back to her first blog post, Personal Video Habits, viewers can instantly see her style of writing. The way she organizes her content is very impressive and aesthetically pleasing. She separates each section with a header and a subheading. 

Her 6th blog was one that particularly stood out to me, Analog Horror: The Latest Trend in Web Horror, and not only because the cover photo is creepy eyes staring into my soul. The topic of analog horror is really interesting and not something I would have thought of on my own, but alas it is very fascinating. The Local 58 TV channel is something I had heard of before, but it was cool to learn a little more about it other than that it is unsettling. I also appreciated Morgan’s Warning caption. I personally am easily spooked, but that did not stop me from watching the video.

Proceeding to the other blog, Abby Johnson’s, aesthetically when you click onto the blog you see the light Scandinavian colors and design. It is very simple and minimalistic, which is one of my favorite things about it. She features a little biography about herself. I think this is a nice little addition because it adds some of Abby’s personality to the page. 

One of my favorite articles from Abby is her programming trends blog, Fire TV & Competitors. The content is obviously great, I have yet to see a blog from Abby that isn't filled with informational substance. One thing that stands out to me in this article is the matching pictures. Below is a screenshot of the pictures used in her blog. I imagine they came from the same source, but the way she used them in relation to the text around it makes it nice to follow. Abby also does a good job of incorporating links, embedded tiktoks, and tweets.