In the latter part of this past week, we launched the University Art Collection website (opens new window). This is their first time with a web presence. The goal of the project was to bring the experience of actually visiting the collection to people who could not make it in person.

Overall Design

Since the collection is part of the College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts (opens new window) the overall design mirrors its look and feel. When visiting the gallery in person they have a frame with the picture of the week inside. The University Art Collected wanted to emulate the experience for the online visitors so naturally the first thing a web visitor is presented with is that same picture and the same frame that is in the gallery.

The other items on the homepage such as Conservation Tips, Campus Art Tour (ArtWalk), and current Online Exhibition (Resent Additions) are presented to inform their visitors of what the gallery offers. It was very important to the University Art Collection staff that their site is full of resourceful information that the visitors become self-reliant for this fantastic staff of three are always searching and archiving the campus' art work. The staff is also eager to see how their site will bring exposure to their department and the gallery.

Online Exhibition

The other major section of the site is the Online Exhibition (opens new window). It allows a visitor to view and read about the recent additions to the gallery. We ended up using LightBox to grey out the site to focus the visitor's attention on the artwork infront of them. Further information about each piece is also available on the page to give the site an almost guided tour feel.

View the University Art Collection website at: http://artcollection.wayne.edu/ (opens new window)