Peer review #2

Peer Review #2

This week I had the pleasure of completing a peer review on my classmate Marilyn’s website. The name of the site is Marilyn Brimacombe and the content revolves around “The ultimate guide to beauty and wellness”. To start, I must say I was very impressed. It is evident that there is true passion behind the content she is producing and distributing.

Firstly, reflecting on the chosen theme I feel the choice was great. It is a simple white background with flavorful images at the homepage to showcase more taste and excitement. The initial feeling when landing on her page is calming and easy to grasp. When it came to the layout of her website, there is five categories to navigate from the homepage which I believe is a perfect amount considering you do not wish to overwhelm your audience, especially with regards to site navigation.

Assessing the chosen typography, I found that it fits the writing and theme well, it is important to not include too many fonts and ensure they are a suitable reflection of the content you are discussing and in the case of Marilyn’s website she did a good job doing this.

As for the social media integration, the site contains all relevant links and considering she is an influencer, the goal is to grow as many of your platforms as possible- translation across them all is best case. I have one suggestion regarding this that I will refer to later in review…

Moving along to the site structure and usability, as I stated earlier, I found that it is very functional and straight forward. She has included her categories via images at the bottom of the home page as well as the main header which I believe was a great addition because this can angle users into browsing more of her site if they may not be interested in looking through specific categories on the top page.

All in all, I found her site engaging and informational. Referring to James Bridle, in his writing “Something is wrong with the internet”, the question he asks is whether he feels as though he would be content with his kids having access to the internet we have today. If I were to ask this question in relation to Marilyn’s site, I believe it showcases the happier, more positive side of what we can consume online. Topics of health and beauty can be a difficult task to find with regards to reliability and healthy information (follow RADCAB if needing help disguising) so for Marilyn to post ethical and positive content is great.

Now this is still review and of course there is always alterations and updates that can be made. In my opinion, I would begin by adding the social channels to the bottom of all categories (or pages). It is a small addition, yet I believe if the goal is to grow your following on the platforms you provided on the home page it would be beneficial for newcomers to always have immediate access to alternative socials. This may be perceived as a negative to veer people away from your website but in my opinion, you are posting much more on your Insta/TikTok/YouTube. Therefore, if you are going to be putting more time and effort into content there, then ideally those that move to other platforms will continue to return to your website in the long run.

The other suggestion I would make is to hone-in more on your tone, it is still early, and I can grasp it well but consider when writing if you are aiming to follow a more “speaking” tone or writing. The writing is very engaging, though I found there were some instances with run on sentences. It is a decision for the writer which style they wish to approach but I think it is important to stay consistent across the site or at least the categories.

In total, Marilyn’s site is great, and I think she has done a very good job organizing and creating an engaging experience for her readers. I am excited to see how it looks by end of semester!

If you wish to check out her awesome site, refer to Marilyn Brimacombe

Bridle, J. (2018, June 21). Something is wrong on the internet. Medium. Retrieved October 31, 2022, from https://medium.com/@jamesbridle/something-is-wrong-on-the-internet-c39c471271d2

Mikecaulfield. (2016, December 22). Yes, Digital Literacy. but which one? Hapgood. Retrieved October 31, 2022, from https://hapgood.us/2016/12/19/yes-digital-literacy-but-which-one/