Blog Critiques: What it Takes to Keep Readers Coming Back

            When we first started this class and found out we had to produce a blog for our final assignment, I cannot speak for my classmates, but I was very apprehensive.  By looking at my classmates’ blogs and reading their comments, it seems like I was not the only one wading into unfamiliar territory.  The purpose of this paper is to provide valuable advice and information on how we can all improve our blogs.  As I look at each of my classmates’ blogs and evaluate their work, and point out the good points as well as what needs improvement, it will also help me see if those same problems are present in my own blog and how I can incorporate those changes to mine as well.

              The research that I did about what makes an effective blog will enable me to observe whether each blog clearly illustrates the purpose, whether the content is well written with no spelling or punctuation errors, and the design and content appropriate for the intended audience.  Most importantly the area that can either draw people to the blog or turn them away is the design.  In order to be appealing to the intended audience the design has to have structure, balance, appropriate color, attention to small details, clarity and emphasis, remarkability, and functionality (Martin, n.d.).  I will critique each student using the criteria needed to produce a blog that will be effective and hopefully get a good grade.

Jen Barkowitz, Jennie Levenwood, Elizabeth Roll, Shannon St.Clair

·         Purpose – The material posted to the Blog clearly illustrates that the purpose is to demonstrate the student’s proficiency in the field of Communication Studies.

            Jen Barkowitz posted some of her more recent work very well, now it just needs more of her past work from other classes to give the reader a more diverse example of her writing skills.  The purpose of the blog is to showcase what she has learned in her communication studies and this purpose should be verbalized somewhere on the blog, either in her introduction or at least the title. 

            Jennie Levengood’s title “Stairway to the Future” gives a hint of what her blog is about.  There could be more images that would illustrate what her purpose for the blog is.

            Elizabeth Roll’s blog shows nothing that would make clear what the purpose of her blog is.  The information about the importance of communication is a start by telling what her area of study is but does not share how the blog is related to communication studies.  There is not enough material posted on her blog to illustrate any of her writing skills and strengths.  By adding more posts and information of what the blog is about in the introduction the purpose will be clearer.

            Shannon St.Clair’s blog has changed a lot since the last critique but I cannot say that the changes have improved it, especially when it comes to showing the purpose of the blog.  There is nothing on the blog that tells me why the blog was produced.  By adding images and pertinent information that emphasizes the purpose would be very helpful.     

·         Design – The blog should be designed using the following elements: Structure, balance, color, small details, clarity and emphasis, remarkability, and functionality.

            As Friedman (2007) pointed out using a grid based structure provides the writer with more flexibility and the reader a better visual experience.

             Jen’s blog is aligned well so the reader can move around the blog easily, and she will be able to add new posts without much difficulty.  One of the small details that was recently improved on is the personal photograph, it is a more professional photo for potential employers to see.  She has good use of gadgets to make it easy to locate personal information about herself and her family.

            Jennie has a structure that is easy to read and follow as it is aligned appropriately, although the one small detail that I see is that her personal photograph is not very professional looking and it looks like she is bored with the whole thing so this may cause her readers to be bored with her blog also. Another suggestion would be to use different font for her posts. That type of font is difficult to read as it all blends together.  Her use and placement of gadgets was very helpful in getting around her blog easily.

            Elizabeth’s structure looks very professional but again she only has one post so it is difficult to say if the other posts will look as professional.  There are minimal amount of gadgets used but the photo is very professional and friendly looking.  This will help future employers have a more positive feeling about her. 

            Shannon has good alignment but there is nothing on the blog to keep the reader’s attention.  When they talk about using whitespace I do not think this is what they had in mind.  There are no small details that make this blog stand out and keep the reader’s attention.  Very few gadgets are used limiting where the reader can visit.

            Colors used could be more appealing if as Martin (n.d.) suggests, they produce visual harmony.  A way to do that would be to pick a color scheme using a 12 part color wheel.  You could pick three colors side by side on the wheel which are analogous colors, complementary colors which are two colors directly opposite each other, for instance red and green, or a color scheme based on the colors of nature.

            Jen’s color scheme does not use any of these methods, which if used would create the needed harmony to engage the viewer and it create an inner sense of order and a balance in the visual experience (Martin, n.d.). 

            Jennie’s use of a red background was fine, but the pattern of the background really did not relate to the purpose of the blog or the title of the blog.  Maybe using a little complementary color would be more attractive and a pattern that related to the purpose of the blog.  A good example is Professor Tinianow’s blog example where he used books as a background visual.

            Elizabeth’s color scheme is very attractive and appealing she used the analogous colors which creates visual harmony, which is very appealing to the reader.

            Shannon’s blog has no color scheme so my advice to her would be to read about how to select the right color scheme that Martin (n.d.) shared with us in his article “The Seven Elements to Make Your Blog Look Good.” 

            .           Even though all four classmates posted some really good information,         unfortunately most readers only want the gist of the points you are trying to make and want to read as little as possible (Martin, n.d.).  To make these points stand out you need        to use techniques that show clarity and emphasis to the information you have shared.             This can be done by using headlines and whitespace.  A good example of that is in      Elizabeth’s post where she used different colored words to highlight specific points she wanted to emphasize.

                        When making a blog you can either go the route of safe or unsafe (Martin, n.d.).    Due to the fact that this is new to most of us I feel myself as well as the rest of the class took the safe route due to inexperience.  It does not mean our blogs will not be good it just means that they will not be great.

·         Content – The content is sufficient (there are samples of media writing, technical writing, and other relevant material) to demonstrate mastery of the coursework in the Communication Studies program. The quality of the material posted represents quality academic work. There are no grammar or punctuation errors.

            All four of the students need to add more samples in order to demonstrate the quality of their work to their readers such as technical and organizational writing samples, etc.  In all of the blogs the only punctuation and grammatical problems I see are in-text citing and the punctuation used with them.  There was very little problem with spelling errors that I noticed.

·         Audience – the blog is designed and contains content that reach the intended audience.    With some of the changes suggested these blogs will be ready to share with future employers, and anyone else interested in looking at the skill’s these communication studies students have acquired through their education at Ashford University.  None of the blogs including mine are at that point right now.

My Own Blog Critique

            My blog is located at http://www.joyofcommunication and after critiquing the blogs that my fellow classmates produced, I discovered that I too had to make a lot of changes to my blog before it will be ready for any future employers and especially for a final grade that will be given at the end of this class. The biggest area I have to work on is my design, especially the suggestions that Martin (n.d.) made about clarity and emphasis.  I am going to see what important points each post is making and be sure to have those points stand out so the reader does not miss them.  Another important task I need to do is to recheck my content for grammatical and punctuation errors, especially in-text citations and the common mistake of using there instead of their.  This assignment has shown me how much attention to detail needs to be made when writing a blog.  It is definitely not just writing a bunch of words and ideas down on a computer site.  This experience of writing a blog for our final assignment is just the beginning of learning a challenging but exciting new form of communication.  My education at Ashford may be coming to an end, but my education in the field of communication will continue long after as there is so much more to learn.

References:

Elizabeth Roll’s Blog retrieved from http://lizschoolassignment.blogspot.com/

Frances’s Blog retrieved from http://www.joyofcommunication

Friedman, V. (2007) Designing with Grid-based Approach, retrieved from             http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2007/04/14/designing-with-grid-based-approach/

Jen Barkowitz’s blog retrieved from http://com480capstone.blogspot.com/

Jennie Levengood’s blog retrieved from http://www.lilblackkitten4u.blogspot.com/

Martin, M. (n.d.). 7 Elements to Make your Blog Look Great. Pro Blog Design. Retrieved from             http://www.problogdesign.com/design/7-elements-to-make-your-blog-look-great/