Kirsten Lifts has got to be one of the most impressive websites within the sample size of Pub 101 students embarking on our individual website blogging journeys. Upon landing on their homepage, you are greeted with an extremely professional level of presentation in both layout and format. At the top left of the page, you can see a Kristen Lifts’ logo which showcases the effort the creator put into the branding behind their personal cyber infrastructure. The top right-hand side is populated with four categories: Home, About, Blog Posts, and Contact. I find these to be very cleanly placed. The background image highlights the overall theme of the website, which is “the life of a university student embarking a new fitness journey” (Kristen Lifts, n.d.). Scrolling down showcases the seamless navigation present on the page transitioning between three layers. The first layer has the aforementioned background image with buttons prompting readers to their Blog Post category and their About Me category. The second layer features a My Story blurb. And the third layer serves as an invitation for readers to keep reading on the website. Overall, the execution of this website is very thoughtfully done. Regarding a few technical aspects of the website, overall, the blog posts are typo free and very clearly written. I enjoy the personal and raw approach to blogging the creator takes. It makes it feel like the blogger is talking to both the reader and themselves. The overall branding with its green and white colour scheme, san serif fonts, and logos really highlights the great effort put into crafting this creator’s digital garden.
When reading the blog posts found on the page, I find myself thinking of a quote from Tom Critchlow, as cited by Tanya Basu which states that: “with blogging, you’re talking to a large audience,” he says. “With digital gardening, you’re talking to yourself. You focus on what you want to cultivate over time” (Basu, 2020). I think the creator behind Kristen Lifts best exemplifies this in their blog post Back To Square One where they express dissatisfaction with certain aspects of their fitness journey and Rough Start where they try to come to terms with certain shortcomings they have encountered. They appear to be mainly speaking to themselves as opposed to an audience. They try to encourage themselves to work harder and by highlighting where they were, hopefully it will make them strive more to achieve their goals. This perfectly reflects the Critchlow quote on digital gardening and how that can help develop aspects of yourself. These raw features found on the Kristen Lifts blog greatly develop the online self by offering a window into the digital garden the creator is fostering.
Overall, the time I spent peer reviewing Kristen Lifts was illuminating. It greatly exemplifies a personal and raw approach that I wish to replicate in my website. I cannot wait to see what this website evolves into and will be checking back weekly to see every new development.
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Basu, T. (2020). Digital gardens let you cultivate your own little bit of the internet. MIT Technology Review. Retrieved from https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/09/03/1007716/digital-gardens-let-you-cultivate-your-own-little-bit-of-the-internet/
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