I found out about the organization/publication Area Chicago last semester in John Ploof's class when he brought in one of the editors to present one of their publications to the class. Overall, I thought it was an amazing publication whose focus was to provide a group of artists and activists who discuss and record their thoughts about researching art, education and activist practices within the city of Chicago.
Now for the AREA website... After just reading Mary's blog, I am going to agree with her on the black and white issue of the site. It is painfully boring to look at. Even a little color, some art or an image here or there would really help. For as visually appealing as the publication is, I was surprised to see how unappealing the site design is. I believe this may be due to the fact that the focus is on the publication and not on the website. Also, I found out from exploring the website that AREA began in 2005 so I am thinking that it is going to take time and of course more financial resources to focus more on developing their site.
Even though I'm not the biggest fan of how unappealing this site is, I do want to recognize the overall organization of the site. There is a wealth of information that AREA offers and this site is well organized and easy to navigate.
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2 comments:
yes, their site is not a crowd pleaser for us visual artists, but i'm glad to hear that you're interested in the content and the issues the publication and the organization tackle. sometimes with small groups like this you have to pick and choose where you throw your time and money. clearly web design is not as big of a focus.
btw, i like the changing art display banner you've added! very nice touch.
i'll second your comments on the lack of color but relative ease of navigation given the depth of content.
but using color as a design tool could actually make the site even MORE usable in addition to eye-pleasing. i'll have to keep visiting it - maybe they've got plans for a redesign in the future. :)
PS - i love that you're adding each of your projects in the middle column. they look awesome.
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