Final+Concepts

=Final Concepts= This is a list of the final Visual Arts website concepts created by the students of Design and Systems YSDN 3005 2009/10. The descriptions provide a guide to the working sections as well as a link to each prototype.

**Group 1**
Amy Lin, Rob Wooten, Thushjanthan Sivagurunathan //
 * [|Final Prototype]** //

Events Current Students > Handbook OR Software Discounts OR Facilities Faculty > John Redman OR Rupert Alswet OR Jonathan Edwards Academic Programs > Degree Requirements OR Grading Standards OR Academic Standards Gallery > Photography > Introductory Photography Prospective Students Resources
 * Working Links**

// **Colour Scheme** // The colours used in the design have both aesthetic value, and functional value, serving as an indicator of which section the highlighted piece of information is related to. Moreover the choice of a strong bold colour palette was influenced by the mood and aura of the Visual Arts Department,

This Visual Arts website design is heavy in terms of graphics and visuals. This is a result of our decision to showcase students’ works of all levels and all areas within the department, as well as show our facilities and the teaching staff/students using those facilities. Moreover it was implemented to breach the present Visual Arts website’s inability to give a true sense of the creativity found in the Visual Arts department.
 * Layout**

The student gallery was designed to mimic physical art galleries, with the work being placed front center with primary importance, while the background information (author, course, intent) are placed in secondary importance. Moreover the artwork was organized to maximize the size of the selected work, while integrating thumbnails to promote exploration. **
 * Student Gallery

The navigation bar provides access to all information in the website and is the primary method of accessing information for the Visual Arts Department. Different colours were introduced to separate each section. It should also be noted that these colours are chameleonic, in the sense that they are relative to the information they represent, as displayed in the events flash montage (guest speaker headlines in purple, the assigned colour for events).
 * Navigation Bar**

One of the most significant features in our design is the events montage. Screen real estate is incredibly precious when handling large quantities of information. In order to create a successful design the interface implemented a shuffle feature. As the event photos change, the user is exposed to a range of information at one time. Moreover, as the user hovers over each photograph, a blurb is displayed, along with a link to the complete article.
 * Events Montage**

**Group 2**
Brittany Banman, Dasha Pyatigorsky, Kitty Ma
 * [|Final Prototype]**

=
The goal of this project is to design a user experience for the Department of Visual Arts, York University, website. The client, as represented by Bill Kirby, indicated certain requirements for the new visual arts website. The client indicated that a showcasing of the facilities, classes, workshops, and equipment available in the Visual Arts program, through a variety of media was a key element in a successful website. Another important aspect was that the final solution be useful and functional for existing and prospective students, while also including alumni and faculty. The final interface would ideally be easy to update and maintain, without needing elaborate coding skills.====== Our overall objectives were to design and implement a website for the Department of Visual Arts at York University which reflected the artistic nature of the programs, while providing easy and efficient acces to information. As a group, we focused on the development of the undergraduate student pages, ensuring that the information is easily accessible while visually appealing.

**FUNCTIONAL SECTIONS**

 * All main pages are active
 * **ABOUT, ADMISSIONS, STUDENTS, ALUMNI, FACULTY, EXPLORE**
 * Active secondary pages :
 * ABOUT : **Contact Us**
 * STUDENTS : **Undergraduate** > **Courses, Degree Requirements**
 * FACULTY : **Full-Time, Contract, Emeriti, Adjunct**
 * Active sub-secondary pages :
 * Courses > **Drawing and Sculpture** pages
 * **Faculty Bios** page can be accessed through __**//Michael Davey//**__ links which can be found on the following pages :
 * STUDENTS > Courses > **Sculpture**
 * FACULTY > **Full-Time**
 * Image Banner :
 * you can click on the **rectangular icons** by the 'search bar' to switch images
 * in future development, the images in the banner will be click-able and navigate to their corresponding area of study ie) photography, print-media, drawing etc.
 * Logo : will take you back to home page
 * //none of the side images currently work//

**Group 3**
Melanie Chan, Nicolette Cornibert, Brenda Yip, Wen Ma

**Concept:**
The old Visual Arts website was nested within the Fine Arts website and lacked its own personality. In an attempt to better represent the Department that embodies creativity within the university, we have provided a solution that is both visually engaging while retaining a professional academic look.

We want our users to easily navigate their information. We did this by: • Using irregular shapes and bold text to draw the eye to the headers • Reorganizing and putting information into a clearer hierarchy • Keeping the navigation constant throughout the pages The experience of “moving through space” is shown in the panorama. As one shifts to different section of the main navigation, there is shift or change indicating the user is changing from one phase to another. While working on the panorama, we noticed the beauty and harmonic colours of the Fine Arts building. Therefore, we wanted to implement those colours into our website.

All information is categorized under sections and then further broken down with clear labels, headings and subheadings. The navigation system is simple to use as they are grouped together on the upper left side and repeated at the bottom of each page for convenience. The art gallery, being a page frequently visited, is in the hotlinks and can therefore be visited from any page. The old problem of going back and forth between Visual Arts and Fine Arts pages is no longer an issue. We also realized the importance of having the News & Events on the Home page, as this information is relevant to all of the users (Future Students, Current Students, Faculty, and Alumni). Finally, the added panorama effect in both the main and inner pages is an interesting interaction for users.

**Group 4**
Alexandra Bain, Yvonne Ho, Rachel Little, Stephanie Po
 * Noteworthy Aspects:**
 * the website runs in both Safari and Firefox Internet browsers
 * the main navigation is expandable to easily accommodate more sub-sections
 * the background is adjustable: the window can be expanded and contracted and the background will move with it while keeping the content centrered
 * the Course Map section is made with lightbox and be adjusted to easily include images from the different VISA courses when the photos are made available
 * Course Map sorting code can be added to - it can include many different categories for any sorting students might need
 * Entire site is coded to make it easy to edit

[|Final Prototype]

 * Functional Sections:**
 * Main Pages- Home, About, Students, People, Resources, Facilties
 * Students > Undergraduates >
 * Program Information and Options
 * Course Information
 * Course Map (Studio Courses only, can be sorted by Subject, Level, and Semester)