In the Footsteps of the Famous

"This used to be called mommy blogging. But then they started calling it Influencer Marketing: hashtag ad, hashtag sponsored, hashtag you know you want me to slap your product on my kid and exploit her for millions and millions of dollars." - Heather B. Armstrong

The colorful pictures pasted upon a plain background and the simplistic layout of Armstrong's blog page makes her website, dooce, a visual delight. All of the external links to her Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media are neatly tucked to the side so that any user could easily forget about them should they be engrossed in one of Armstrong's personal and heartfelt blogs. Important internal links are listed in the top right and again in a larger drop down menu in the top left.

Although at first, the main page main be a little much to grapple with, it is very organized and serves as an overview of the many different types of creative genres that are displayed on her web page. Advertising is kept to a minimum with small ads appearing at the bottom of the screen what appears to be some form of patterned advertising tastefully displayed at the bottom of each page just above links to the privacy policy and the terms of service. 

A variety of text fonts and minimalist graphics keeps her page playful and fun. Although I can't recall a time when blogs were ever popular with my generation, it is easy to see why The Guardian listed dooce as the fifth most powerful blog in the world back in 2008. I can only hope that one day Heather B. Armstrong might blog about my website under the title "The Reason Toilet Paper Was Invented."

TechCrunch keeps there website very simple. If you're looking for more informative blogs just keep scrolling down. Everything else that the web page offers can be categorized into one of the of the titles in the list on the left. The hooks are big and bold and the text is a gradient of colors. Advertising is large although it is kept to the right and does not change position or interfere with the legibility of the site.

If you're looking for articles about "art, technology, science, visual culture, design, music, cities, food, architecture, sports, endless nonsense, and carefully curated current events" which are accompanied by large almost screen-sized images then Kottke.org might be for you. You arrive to colorful heading to what is a list of images, videos, and excerpts. Similar to dooce, links to social media platforms are small yet distinguishable, and the internal links remain at the top.