One of the best things about blogging is the fact that it allows strangers to connect with each other and share ideas. From activist organizations spreading their messages to high school girls comparing shopping experiences, blogs of all types stimulate conversation and reflection.
We learned in class that there are at least hundreds of thousands of blogs in existence. Each one of these has its own purpose, content and personality. I took a closer look at a blog called Design Sponge Online to get a better sense of what characteristics make a blog unique.
The presentation of this blog really caught my eye. Dedicated to home and product designing, the site has a layered appearance with textured backgrounds resembling cloth or bits of ribbon and lace. This creates a fresh, artistic look. The appearance alone made me want to start an arts and crafts project. I’m not particularly interested in designing, but the layout drew me in.
I also enjoyed the writing style of this blog. Personal, clever and concise, the writers make their subject interesting and easy to digest. The blog has an editorial team of more than a dozen experienced individuals; the site’s sophistication and amount of content requires a team effort. I also noticed that the writers abandoned capitalization rules, which makes their posts quirky and adds to the overall personality of the blog.
The blog combines photographs of products, rooms and designs with commentary and links. The written content is a mixture of opinion and description, and the main purpose of the posts appears to be inspiring readers and sharing ideas. The intended audience seems to include young designers and those who have a passion for creative designing, but the friendly, simple tone invites anyone to come explore; this is not an elitist blog.
Design Sponge Online resembles a home décor magazine. In fact, according to Merriam Webster, this blog is a magazine: a periodical containing miscellaneous pieces (as articles, stories, poems) and often illustrated. The blog mentions that it does not accept free products in exchange for editorial coverage, which is a very journalistic principle. So can blogs be journalism? The uniqueness of Design Sponge emphasizes the vast range of styles, topics and appearances of sites that appear in the blogosphere. It seems silly to try to label blogging as journalism or non-journalism; as the creators of Design Sponge Online prove, a blog can be anything of your design.
Find your inner designer at: http://www.designspongeonline.com/
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