Starting a New Web Site Project

Step 1 - Research
Scope the Competition
Method 1 for Scoping

  • Search similar topics on the web – Art Restoration
  • Create screen shots of 2 you like

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  • Discuss what you like about the sites

-In the first site, “Art Restoration by Minako Ota”, I really like the background on the left. The sketched look, color scheme, and paint brushes in the background really tell you what the site is about. In that respect, the links are well designed also. I do like the “before and after” photos on the homepage.

-In the second site, “Minneapolis Institute of Arts – Restoration Online”, has a good color scheme and has good font choices. I like the 1 pixel borders on this site- the coloring and placement make them good accents for the main content.

I like the fact that both of the sites use faded, soft colors and both have good font choices. I like the 2nd site better overall.

  • Create screen shots of 2 you do not like

  • Discuss what you dislike about the sites

-First of all, both sites scream “1990’s web design with nested tables!”. They look so old and outdated. They both have weird images links (what’s up with the second site’s imitation-Windows 95 buttons?). They really don’t have very good color schemes, and the first site must have five different font types. The pictures of the second are really bad. Overall, they’re both quite ugly.

Method 2 for Scoping

  • Conduct a search for similar topic on Google and Yahoo

-Searched for “Art Restoration”

  • Write down #1 ranked website

Yahoo - www.art-restoration.com/katrina.html

Google - www.artsmia.org/restoration-online/

  • Go to site and check title

1st site: <title>NOCG Hurricane Katrina art restoration projects</title>

2nd site: <title>Restoration Online - artsmia.org - Restoring a Masterwork</title>

  • Check keywords and description Metas

1st site:

<meta name="keywords" content="art, New Orleans, conservation, restoration, painting, Fine Art, gilding, frame, frames, fixing, repairing, porcelain, porcelin, glass, crystal, furniture, furniture repair, stone, wood, polychrome, Santos, jardiniere, plate">

2nd site:

<meta name="description" content="This online exhibition presents the perspectives of curators and conservators on the restorations of two seventeenth-century masterwork paintings. Guercino's Erminia and the Shepherds (Fall 2004) and Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione's The Immaculate Conception with Saints Francis of Assisi and Anthony of Padua (Fall 1999).">

<meta name="keywords" content="conservation, restoration, painting, masterwork, restoring, conserving, art, arts, museum, conservator, MACC, exhibition, 17th century, Guercino, Castiglione, Minneapolis, Institute">

Method 3 for Scoping

  • Check format and placement of important ideas
  • Example: repetition, proximity, placement
  • Check images enhance site

Method 4 for Scoping Readability

  • Rank important ideas based on your perception of how the site is laid out.

Sharing with client

  • After the team reviews the research, provide the client with a list of links.
  • Provide a summary of what the client should be looking at and why these items are important to discuss.