Design for Screen: Research, Evaluating User Experience

Upon researching end of year shows many universities feature information and extensions about the end of year show itself but not the students or work featured, it tends to be information and promotion for the show itself.

Norwich University, Graphic Communication 
The graphic communication department of Norwich University showcase their students work through a website which can be accessed through the course page on the university website. This site showcases third years and is linked to the end of year show allowing perspective students and professionals from around the world to access the show and see the work. The website has a good concept as each person is represented through an adjective including the tutors allowing those viewing the site to gain an insight into the course and community they could be a part of. However the only issue with the site is that it can be quite difficult to navigate, as you scroll up to move the page. This results in pages skipping which tends to happen the most why trying to access the student section which is the arguably the most important. Upon experiencing this website the use of a single colour allows for a bold and engaging design. The navigation of the sight is easy, however isn't executed effectively as its very sensitive when trying to scroll. Furthermore the use of fitting the layout within the page fold could also add to the navigational difficulty as there is no real indication to scroll down for more information. Intuition does give you the impression to scroll down which then results in numbers appearing which indicate that there's more below. However I plan to experiment with the active zone by placing information slightly below the page fold and using language to hint that theres more to see.

Manchester School of Art, End of Year show:

Unlike Norwich, Manchester have a site featuring all courses in the end of year show. Although the navigation of this site is very intuitive and simple, Norwich's site is better designed in the sense that it features more relevant information and has an interesting concept, whereas Manchester's simply features photos of the work and contact information about each student. I feel incorporating aspect from each site would be beneficial. Additionally its very heavily focused on the end of year show whereas Norwich incorporate aspect of the course by introducing the tutors, this creates a more engaging and intersting experience as it provides more information to perspective students. Unlike Norwich, the Manchester site includes multiple examples of student work however no information is provided about any of the briefs which can be quite confusing as each project is represented in one image. Additionally the branding for the end of year show features 'you made it' which doesn't relate to the to the audience as they haven't been through the course 'we made it' would be more relevant as it speaks to the community of the university/course. Overall the design of the website is very basic as it follows the end of year show branding which is very unimaginative as it is based on balloons, a very common visual representation of celebration.  

Leeds Arts University:

Although LAU feature a gallery of students work on their website, its a very limited selection of work and fails to fully showcase the students as there is no additional information after there name. I feel extending this gallery into a separate website for the graphic design course would allow professionals and new students to gain a greater understanding about the students and the work they produce by adding more personality to the course. Furthermore the student work of the page isn't overly obvious being listed under galleries making it slightly more difficult to locate. Overall I fell creating a separate website speaks to the success and industry focus of the course itself creating further opportunities/platforms for students to showcase there work to industry.