at Brooklyn College with Professor Jennifer Ball

Blog Review: Dwell

https://www.dwell.com/

The interior design in buildings and houses is often something that people don’t pay much attention to, but the blog Dwell does just the opposite. As soon as we go onto Dwell’s website, we see a logo that says, “Let’s make design a daily habit.” Dwell’s ultimate goal is to appreciate the simplicity and beauty of places around us, and to continuously optimize the spaces we reside in. Dwell is a magazine that is all about interior design, and they have a blog featuring a collection of their own posts as well as posts written by other interior design lovers.

As soon as we go onto the website, we are introduced to a beautiful web layout design, inviting viewers to stay on the site and explore what is there. I believe that one of the reasons Dwell is so aesthetically pleasing is because of their focus on their photographs. There are numerous beautiful photos on the blog, whether it be the furniture inside a house or the landscape around the area. These photos capture a sense of peace that makes us want to learn more about design and how to obtain that sense of simplicity and happiness. The only advertisements on the blog are posts of design companies promoting their work, but these posts are featured in the same layout as the other posts, so the site has the feel of no advertisements at all. I view the consistency and simplicity of the blog as a major positive.

There is an abundance of posts regarding many different areas of design. There are posts about homes, offices, landscape, architecture, etc. This variety allows Dwell to attract many different types of people who want to learn about various aspects of design. Dwell posts often but they do not date the posts, giving the blog a feel of timelessness, communicating that a certain type of design can never get too old or out of style.

Dwell is a very journalistic type of blog, however we wouldn’t think so when we first view it. At first the site seems completely formal and objective, but once we click on a blog post we enter a world of personal anecdote. Each post includes the story behind why the design is the way it is, and the viewer learns about how that certain design pertains to that certain person. It gives the design a sense of character, allowing it to be relatable to different people.

This blog has the ability to teach the viewer a lot about interior design. We never pay much attention to the tiny details about the things around us, but once we learn how intricate and beautiful our surroundings are, we are able to view the world in a completely different way and appreciate so much more. This site gives us the opportunity to do just that, and it also teaches us how interior design can be whatever we want it to be. Everyone has different tastes and preferences, each one of them being acceptable and unique.

The point of Dwell is to connect interior design lovers and have them collaborate together and discover new things. Dwell’s goal is not to foster a huge audience, but to simply create a platform that allows people to create and discover new ideas. There is a comment section on each post, and the blog encourages people to comment their feedback on the post. Most of the comments that are currently on various posts are praises for the design exemplified in that post, so it is a very encouraging platform. I am so grateful that I came across this blog because interior design is something I genuinely enjoy, and this site gives me the opportunity to connect with others who feel the same way and to discover new ideas and possibilities.

By: Annalissa Thomas

« »