Testimonials and blog layout

Hi
I am trying to change the way my testimonials are layed out on the page and I am haing difficulty with the author image – for some reason it is now distorting the images. Also in the dashboard for the testimonials the featured image no longer shows (but does if I go into that post)
I would also like to adjust the layout for my blog list – I would like to have the image to the left of the description, with the next post underneath. Currently I have a very large image with the description underneath. How do i adjust this please i have looked and looked and can not find!
Ps i have never done anything with code before!