USI website

I think that the USI website gets a lot of negative comments, but overall isn't that bad. The basic navigation of the site is pretty easy to follow. I always have a harder time once I'm in the "my USI" section of the site. I believe that the "my USI" area needs a clearer navigation structure.

On the "academics" page, it has one image to the right side, then blank space for the rest of the scroll down. Although I don't feel that area needs to be busy, some non-disruptive visual elements might be nice, even if it's just a color bar to sandwich in the information.

As a student, I have never looked to be "entertained" by a college site. I am looking for information, such as class listings and descriptions, and degree requirements. I feel that the USI website makes this information pretty easy to find and navigate through. I do wish that they would update when the classes are offered more often. I'm not sure about the other departments, but I have anticipated taking courses that say they are offered in the Spring or the Fall, only to find that during registration, that information is not correct. This makes long term schedule planning impossible and is one of my biggest pet peeves about the site.

Navigation in the "my USI" section gets tricky. We need a clear indication of how to manuever back and forth from that area back into the normal USI area. Also, we do not need two different mail links.

The "athletics" page is very eye catching and dynamic, and I wish that we could have the same eyecatching elements on our "art" page. The page is bland. The page for our gallery draws the eye to the far right, making the viewer skip over the text entirely.

I believe the Seattle University site http://www.seattleu.edu does a very nice job with navigation, and is visually appealing. Their fine arts page works nicely. Even though they use images on the right as well, they don't take over the text. The strong art banner as the top is a strong element drawing the eye in and then done towards the text.

Overall, I believe our site is pretty user friendly compared to a few other univeristy sites that I have looked at. For example, I have jumped through hoops trying to find the class information that I am looking for on the Indiana University site.

Web site reviews

Redblaze4080 : I thought that your site came together beautifully. The images were very crisp and clear. You did a nice good of including photos as part of the link without making the page seem too busy. Navigation seems good. The only suggestion I have is to maybe move the text box on the "Holidays" page down a little so that the heading isn't going into it.

MelissaSybert: This seems like an elegant site. I enjoy the quotes that go along with each page's theme. I also like the big block letter headings which give each page a bold look.
The overall appearance is a little dark though, and I would keep the links in a consistant order even if means providing a link to the page that you are on.

Lawn art assignment

In this assignment, I tied the pages together with a grassy background, as well as a white border around the second tier pictures. I added drop shadows to give the pictures a photographic appearance. I used a darker green box to set my text in to make it readable.

Since the eye comes in from the left side, I made the photograph on the left the largest. The grass background was to vibrant at first and was competing with my other images, so I added a dark green layer & turned the opacity level up on the grass so that was visible but not overpowering.

I also tied the pages together with yellow text for the headline and the links.

Art Club Website Critiques

/rmilligan.willyworld.org - I like how the wooden model is serving as a sort of narrator & inviting us in. The biggest draw seems to be the mystery of the corn. People might think "what does corn have to do with art", & this might peak their curiousity enough to come to a meeting just to find out. The only suggestion would be to find a way to fit the painting into the overall composition more naturally.

wmayer.willyworld.org/ - I think that the illustrations were done quite well especially the corn kernals. Although I was confused by the drips, was this butter? paint? Overall the composition flows well & the nice blue background gives it a simple, eye catching base.

kleisman.willyworld.org - I like the graphic elements used in the background, and the textures, but I find my eye gets wrapped up in looking at all the cool effects & doesn't get drawn to the text at all, other than the central "USI Art Club" part, which might be enough to draw someone closer. I do really like the colors used & the textural effects are amazing.

Art Club Layout

I wanted to create a layout with a wooden model. After I found out that we couldn't use images from the web, I looked through my supplies to provide an appropriate background.
The image:
I used the wooden model that I have at home & photographed it in a running position. I then mirrored the image. I used my new box of pastels & my oil paints as a background. I adjusted the opacity so that both showed through but did not interfere with my wooden models. I used the heart shape tool & put my text inside of it. I kept the heart as white so that the text would be easy to read. I also added a gradient to give the center a glow.
The concept:
When I mirrored my running model, and set the two images on the page, it gave me the impression of two lovers running across a field towards each other. This gave me the inspiration to present the layout like a personal ad with the USI Art Club seeking art lovers. I wrote the text like it was a personal post with Chuck Armstrong & Virginia Poston as the matchmakers. I thought this was an original unique angle. It provides the information but also gives it a clever storyline.