Green spring review: layout 1
Effective:
Navigation bar towards the top: black bolded ink is easy to see
Love the logo. Something about it’s simplicity is nice and calming
Submission Guidelines are up there with the navigation bar which promotes people to submit
Search bar being in the top right is easily accessible and gets readers to reach their goal faster
Lots of whitespace: doesn’t feel overcrowded with content
Not effective:
“Welcome to The Greenspring Review” ink is so light I can barely see it
The spring 2020 issue button is so small that I completely missed it and had to look a second time
Books on either side are distracting, although I like the home-y feel. I have more interest in looking at all the books at first
Under Issues, the way “spring 2020” and “fall 2020” is displayed is rather unprofessional. It feels out of place and I feel pressured to click it
Maybe it would be helpful to have a list of authors with several published works here where someone could just click it? I don’t think outsiders know off hand of a couple authors to search up in the first place
Greenspring review: layout 2
Effective:
Having an actual place on the website to submit more work encourages people to submit. If it’s easy and accessible, there is no need for an extra step and this eliminates them.
There is an efficient use of white space. It creates for perfect balance
It’s simple; yet elegant and sophisticated.
The font is interesting and keeps me engaged. It’s different, but not too different to where it is distracting.
I like how the editors chose quotes instead of putting their own bios. It makes it more interesting and unique and maybe they could go somewhere with that; make a quote of the week would be pretty cool
Not effective:
I feel like the ___ is too much. It takes up too much space when the site is first open. Kind of confusing as to what to do / where to go next
The navigation bar is so small at the bottom and it should be placed at the top, because it is important and you want people to click there
The articles on the featured issues page are not hyperlinked. You cannot click it to read more, rather you have to go to the general topic to learn more which is definitely aggravating (for me)
Issues are the only thing with a drop down menu. It doesn’t make much sense to have a dropdown menu for issues if there is none for any of the others.
The header is cropped when click on other parts of the navigational bar. You only see “review” and letters are chopped off at the bottom
Greenspring review: layout 3
Effective:
Design is sleek, draws my attention to where it needs to be and isn’t too distracting
Creates a nice vibe. It feels current and inviting as well
The blue text here and there really makes it for me. It is appropriate and certainly a nice touch
The navigation bar is clear and easy to see, and spatially is placed perfectly. It fits so well where it is
Love the use of pictures when you look under “issues” for the spring and fall. It’s a nice touch and adds another element
Not effective:
Under issues when you have the choice of spring or fall, I wanted to click on the words themselves to go there but instead it was just the picture. This was a bit confusing: maybe link both?
Where it says “Follow my blog” and ask for an email submission, what / who’s blog is it? Should maybe be more specific
On the right side, the feature bar is at the bottom to where one sees the Facebook posts first. I had to scroll down to look for it, and by having it toward the top, it could become more effective and help people achieve their goal
On the submission page, the guidelines are below where you submit it, so you would submit it first maybe before looking for the guidelines. They aren’t organized in an easy fashion either.
Game Jam is the first thing I see on the website. It would be nice to see the featured articles or something, moreso what it actually is instead of advertising for something else