Hi Trisha,

Thanks for asking:)

From a design perspective, #2 stylization with the photo and title treat each story as a unique visual interest point with room to scan in all the white space.

#1 looks resembles the Content page of a book:)

It's organized, with the author's name prominent. The stories get lost due to the underscore. Bullet point might be better so that the eye can scan each title down a list.

It's too bad that the author does not show up in #2. Medium did include it way back and seems to have changed this:(