Martin (June 26) describes seven elements that make a blog appealing and look great – structure, balance, color, small details, clarity and emphasis, remarkability, and functionality. To summarize, structure is a key component, and an appealing blog will be well organized and the information will be structured in an ordered and grid-based design. The blog design will be balanced, with sections and elements given equal weight in their size, color, detail, and positioning, making it easy for the eyes to glide naturally over the page (Martin, June 26). Color choices are an important element as they can make or break a blog, and care should be shown when choosing complimentary colors for fonts, back grounds, and graphics. Small details can enhance the overall appearance of one’s blog, and demonstrate the care one has taken in preparing the site for readers. As most readers scan for information they appreciate clarity and emphasis in one’s titles and writing, as well as in design, therefore giving differentiating space between elements is very important in making one’s blog appealing. Remarkability refers to taking a safe blog design and ramping it up a notch to be unique or, in other words, it has something “worth remarking upon” (Martin, June 26). Lastly, a great appearance is not enough to make one’s blog appealing; the functionality of one’s blog, and the ability for a reader to interact with the content, can turn a good blog into an enjoyable experience. These seven elements, when working together, give the reader a great impression of the blogger and not only generate interest, but will go a long way to getting referrals and a wider audience’s attention.
It is best to consider both the design and function as complimentary elements when developing one’s blog. The Blacklight (2012) states, “The better your design, the easier it is for people to access the information they want. And the easier that is, the more often they’ll come back.” The Blacklight also offers 26 tips to ensure one’s blog design is as appealing as possible, with suggestions such as keeping ads to a minimum, choosing and controlling the font style, continuity within colors and fonts within one’s blog, good structure and alignment of our posts and titles, as well as simplicity, to name a few.
On a very practical note, one must not underestimate the power of good grammar, accurate spelling, and the ability to write in an engaging manner, in holding a reader’s attention and attracting a following for one’s blog. Even if all the design and functionality elements were in place, a poorly written blog will destroy a blogger’s credibility and this will be reflected in the site’s lack of popularity. A well written blog description will state its purpose, and the posts will reflect the goal of the blog description. For example, if the blogger’s goal is to promote a clean eating lifestyle, the blog description should reflect that, as should the title and content of each blog post.
For the purposes of COM480’s Week 4 Discussion 1’s prompt, our class was to evaluate three of our fellow student’s blogs. I chose Shaunnette Bright, Enid Nichols, and Maral Haytaian’s blogs. The following is a brief evaluation of their blog sites:
Shaunnette Bright: http://wakeupwithcookie.blogspot.com
Shaunnette displayed remarkability in her blog by projecting her vibrant radio personality in her writing. One of the challenges she faced was in having continuity in her blog title and the main heading. The purpose of the blog was to be a vehicle showcasing our communication skills and acquired knowledge, yet her description differed from that purpose. The colors were not complimentary and distracted from the content, and the fonts should reflect some continuity throughout. If Shaunnette’s blog purpose were to be motivational, addressing some of these design issues would be the key to attracting and maintaining a following.
Enid Nichols: http://andsohereswhatimthinking.blogspot.com.
Enid’s blog was very well written, in an engaging style, and quite structured. The purpose of the blog was apparent, and there was continuity in the blog posts and her profile which reflected that purpose. Enid’s graphics were catchy and relevant, and her font styles were easy on the eyes. However, the salmon color of the titles and profile writing was a little difficult to read clearly in the font text. Blacklight (2012) suggests that “The small details make the overall effect.” The sentence spacing appeared to differ from one post to another. One impressive item was Enid’s use of both hyperlinks within her blog posts, as well as labels at the end which, when searched, would bring up blogs with similar content. With some minor adjustments, Enid’s excellent blog would be elevated even further.
Maral Haytaian: http://booklover1487.blogspot.com.
Maral blog stated its purpose well, and the content reflected that purpose well. The color scheme was pleasant, with easily read fonts; the font size and color differences worked well together. Martin (June 26) states “Structure and grid-based design are the corner-stones of a well laid out blog.” To this effect, the structure had some variances as the format spacing in each blog post appears to be different, with some blog posts single spaced, and some double. It would provide formatting continuity to keep the spacing of the writing uniform. One thing that would be helpful would be to limit the initial viewable portion of each blog to a couple paragraphs, with a “read more” choice, to give the reader the opportunity to choose to continue and to clean up the length of each post. The blog could use some unique elements that inspired interest in the blogger, even something simple such as adding a picture in the profile section.
My own blog URL is: http://theminormajor.blogspot.com/
I intend to review my own blog to ensure the areas in which I critique others are not lacking. There is an issue with formatting line spacing in Blogger and I have attempted several times to correct this, as well as resetting left margins to make the alignment consistent throughout the blog site.
Some of my classmates evaluated my blog for the Week 4 Discussion 1 prompt, and they provided wonderful suggestions for improvements, such as adding information to my profile, and placing hyperlinks and labels in my blog posts. These are definitely items I will be incorporating to make the functionality within the site more interactive for readers. I will also be adding to my blog on a more regular basis to keep the content fresh and growing. Another suggestion was to add the links to my Facebook and LinkedIn accounts so a reader may be able to follow me on more than one medium. One student alerted me to the fact that I did not include references to my sources.
In conclusion, by reviewing other blog sites and receiving feedback on one’s own blog, one can learn how to improve the effective elements of their blog design and, if incorporated effectively, one can take their blah blog and make it better. They can make it remarkable!
References
26 Blog Design Tips for Non-Techies and Non-Designers. (2012). The Blacklight. Retrieved from
http://thebacklight.com/blog-design-tips-for-non-designers/
Martin, M. (June 26). 7 Elements to Make you Blog Look Great. Pro Blog Design. Retrieved from
http://www.problogdesign.com/design/7-elements-to-make-your-blog-look-great/
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