Good/Bad Website Smackdown: Tyler School of Art & Architecture and Yale School of Art
My Smackdown:
I chose two websites representing schools of art, to compare how their features and choices make differences for the viewer's experience. Tyler School of Art & Architecture is my example of a good website, using consistent legible fonts, clear color choices, and interesting graphics and titles. It was also very easy to navigate with clear categories and a search function. In comparison, the Yale website is designed by various people, allowing for students to edit. This can create a more jarring design, being less aesthetically pleasing to many. There were several fonts, many colors, and large boxes of text that were more difficult to read. It was fairly easy to navigate, but there was no advertising pull to look further into the website, which I did find on Tyler's website.
Overall, I would say what makes a good website can be very opinion based, but from a pure software perspective, both can be considered well done without many programming issues. My choices were based mostly off of aesthetics that are considered good and bad for graphic design and chose two art schools since they apply well to my major as an artist. Comparing two websites for schools of art also allows viewers to see what is prioritized in their website design, as the Yale School of Art encouraging creative liberty for students, while the Tyler School focuses on standard ideas of good website design.
Hi Melanie! I can see the stark contrast between the two websites you chose. I was shocked that Yale was the bad website, considering their reputation as a school. However, it is clear that Tyler School of Art is much neater and nicer to look at!
ReplyDeleteHi Melanie, I like how you compared Tyler and Yale and focused on how design choices affect the viewer’s experience. Your points about fonts, colors, and navigation really show why Tyler’s site feels more polished. I also thought it was interesting how you noted Yale allows creative freedom.
ReplyDeleteThis was really interesting for you to bring to light, as you would think an Ivy League school would put the effort into their site to showcase their professionalism. The Tyler site seems much easier on the eyes and more accessible. I understand Yale was encouraging creative freedom for students, but it was not executed well.
ReplyDeleteHi Melanie!
ReplyDeleteI like how you chose to compare two art-related websites, rather than fashion, news, home decor, etc. The way you presented your websites through screen recordings was very informative and engaging too, rather than showing photographs. I agree that the Yale website is very cluttered and distracting, even though it is very colorful. The Tyler School of Art is very modern and sleek, and appears very easy to use. Great Job!
I like how you compared the two art school websites from both a design and user-experience angle. Your point about Yale’s creative freedom versus Tyler’s cleaner, more consistent layout was really interesting. It shows how different design priorities can completely change how a site feels.
ReplyDeleteHi Melanie, your Smackdown was very thoughtful and detailed. The way you presented Tyler’s School of Art and Architecture with consistent fonts, clear colors, and easy navigation made it really clear why it feels like a good website. I was also quite surprised by the fact that Yale allows students to edit the site. Even though I like the idea of unleashing students’ creativity, however, it can also make the site look disorganized or overwhelming, which is the case in Yale’s website. I also like how you acknowledge that a “good website” is often subjective while still explaining the design principles behind your opinion.
ReplyDelete