Comparison between AUD's
website and YALE's website.
Yale is one of the most well known Universities around the world, but oddly enough the university's art website is shocking. When I first pressed on the link I didn't know it was Yale till my professor mentioned it. I really thought it was fake and not the real website. I mean it doesn't look professional at all. At first this website gave me a very wrong impression about the university. I couldn't explain the background image till now. The use of colors is horrible it seems like there isn't a specific color pallet for this site, I noticed the color blue and green a lot but then when I scrolled down I saw an annoying yellow color which made the text illegible to me. The typography was the second horrible thing, I think they only used one non-serif typeface for the whole thing, they just changed it to Bold sometimes and changed its size. It looked very poor to me. I couldn't find a logo on the page. The alignment of everything wasn't very clever as well. I think as an overall this website is very confusing, messy and there's a lot going on. I found the background image completely distracting, it takes away from the content. I think this is disappointing considering its for the school of Art!
Secondly Aud's website, Although Aud is not as well known as Yale but still, Aud managed to create a decent page for the Visual Communication department. In here things are very clear and organized. The color pallet includes blue and white which are originated from AUD logo colors. Everything is in its place. The white background makes things easier to read and doesn't hurt the eye. The use of blue and white together give a formal feel to the university. Also the use of white space is important, makes everything looks more neat and specific. The logo is placed at the left top corner of the page just like the other standard websites. The typography is more interesting, they used more than one typeface together. My overall opinion for this site is that I like it, I think the formality gives a university feel to it. I like how things are organized and categorized.
In comparison, Yale's website is much more weaker than Aud's website because Yale's website lacked a lot of design principles and elements. Aud's website was much more formal, organized and professional. Yale's website lacked a very important component which is the logo while Aud's logo was presented strongly. The use of typography and colors in Yale's website was random and unprofessional as if it was a draft but in Aud's site everything was tested and being thought of from the colors to text to alignment and all. Even though people might argue that Aud's website is a bit boring and extremely formal, I still would prefer it over Yale's. I think a university website should be formal but interesting at the same time. It should be easy to read and go through, it should also provide a very good content.
