Peer Review #2 – 1794466544

It’s time for another peer review! The subject of this post will be Simona’s website 1794466544, which is titled Outdoor Adventure. From what I can tell, her blog is much like a personal diary, logging her travel plans and interests.

A gorgeous header image, striking uppercase title, and neatly laid out posts intrigued me upon visiting Simona’s website for the first time. These major design choices speak to the adventurous nature of Simona’s posts, as they often leave the reader with the urge to explore the world around them. 

I love the contrast between the white text of each title and Simona’s header images for her home and about pages, though there are some problems with other links. When you locate the Publishing-specific categories under a dropdown menu, the header becomes a white strip which leads to difficulty in reading titles unless you are actively hovering over one.

I also wish the background images for the other pages/categories (blog, contact, etc) fit better with the theme seen on Simona’s homepage. Most of these problems I suspect come from the default settings of this theme, such as the unfunctional “take action” button on the top right of her page. 

I love how she makes use of all-caps text for titles sometimes; I think it would look really cool if used more consistently! Simona used subheadings with bright pink highlighter in her review of Zara, which was a bold decision that I hope might continue in other posts.

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I like Simona’s homepage, which shows the typical blog post excerpts with a rounded edge that works particularly well with her featured images. Simona’s photography and videos are high quality and professional looking, while also showing off everyday parts of life like studying, eating with friends, and her adorable puppy Dilei.

My favourite video of Simona’s was the short vlog shown in her third mini assignment; I’m so jealous of all the fun places her and her friends visited! She clearly has experience with filming, judging by the clean cuts and precisely lined up music.

In terms of issues, Simona sometimes uses different styles (bold, font sizes, etc) without much reason, which could easily be fixed by making regular text more uniform. As well, there are many spelling and grammar mistakes but I understand that English isn’t Simona’s first language and it doesn’t detract from the meaning behind each post.

Otherwise, her writing is highly descriptive, seamlessly blending casual language with prose (maybe purposefully, maybe just how she writes?) which I find very enjoyable to read. 

One line that stuck with me upon reading her process post for reading week was her mention of how “Sometimes I don’t choose to take pictures to record my life. I think it’s just a moment, and many beautiful things are just a moment.” I appreciate this sentiment, as I often fall victim to taking too many photos and missing out on memories because of it. 

Simona’s website is overall very well-designed and responsive, despite a few nitpicks here and there. I look forward to browsing her website more in the coming weeks!

☆.