What is this Gallery? Web Design & Review

Design & Publishing . / . WEB . / . Critique . / .9802 Site Review: Las Vegas Review . / .Las Vegas continued

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Web Design & Review looks at the Las Vegas Journal Review

The "Gallery" item caught our attention, so we took a look.

Although a bit calmer than the last page, we're still jolted by the inversion of the link directory both in background color and typography.
__ The grid of faces is rather rude too, and we had to ask what is this page for? Is this a gallery of faces? The header says "Photos Gallery Graphics" (and how'bout that pregnant word gallery... about to give birth to yet more photo blocks no doubt.) The header works with and matches nothing... and why are we here?

__ Obviously these are photos of the art department staffers, and although certainly friendly enough, not really what we expected to come here for. And what have they given us to compel us into looking any further?
__ We clicked on the long-hair. You can always see some cool art from the long-hair, right? We arrived on Mike Johnson's page, and although he's a little apprehensive there, (must have been the boss shooting the photo) we see a selection of thumbnails of Mike's work. Hey... that's pretty good stuff!

Graphics and art here are excellent... the design should promote that... not hide it.
Okay... take it easy Fred!

I'm giving these guys a hard time because I like them. Once I began looking into the detail of the pages pages, I discover some real value in the content of the site.
__ When we arrive on supporting pages, let's arrive and be compelled to linger over. Face it, the grid of mug shots on the Gallery page is really only there for the gratification of the artists. Right? I'll even bet Mike would rather have his favorite art piece displayed larger and his face smaller, right Mike?
__ The point I'm making is that the Review-Journal does have a great deal to offer their readers and visitors. But they just seem to be trying too hard to get it all in on one the page. They could use more pages with less content and a good dose of consistency.

For instance, how about if we broke the gallery up into departments, perhaps separating out the photography from the graphic arts? How about if we played UP the actual art and photos, and let the mug shots play the part of "here's the artist and what he has to say about the piece." Now we perceive the art for its worth, and the people as people... not mug shots. And, how about that arrow? It's so compelling that we can't look away -- and it's pointing us out of the picture... we feel like we need to go back. And, really soon, too. Why is an arrow used here, but no place else visited so far?
__ Designing for a newspaper is a tremendously difficult task, usually made more difficult than it really needs to be. Then you get into all kinds of departmental turf rivalries and who is more important than who and before you know it the overall site picture suffers. There needs to be a plan, developed with the big picture ever present in mind. Then there needs to be a strong gestalt to follow that plan to the letter -- page after page, week after week.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal is at http://www.lvrj.com/

__ By the way, we liked some of the art department's work so much we've asked if they would do cameo showings in The Design Center Gallery. Mike's work will be the first displayed, and hopefully we'll get some feedback from Mike about the web site well.

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	The "Gallery" item caught our attention, so we took a look. Although a bit calmer than the last page, we're still jolted by the inversion of the link directory both in background color and typography. __ The grid of faces is rather rude too, and we had to ask what is this page for? Is this a gallery of faces? The header says "Photos Gallery Graphics" (and how'bout that pregnant word gallery... about to give birth to yet more photo blocks no doubt.) The header works with and matches nothing... and why are we here?
__ Obviously these are photos of the art department staffers, and although certainly friendly enough, not really what we expected to come here for. And what have they given us to compel us into looking any further? __ We clicked on the long-hair. You can always see some cool art from the long-hair, right? We arrived on Mike Johnson's page, and although he's a little apprehensive there, (must have been the boss shooting the photo) we see a selection of thumbnails of Mike's work. Hey... that's pretty good stuff!
	Okay... take it easy Fred! I'm giving these guys a hard time because I like them. Once I began looking into the detail of the pages pages, I discover some real value in the content of the site. __ When we arrive on supporting pages, let's arrive and be compelled to linger over. Face it, the grid of mug shots on the Gallery page is really only there for the gratification of the artists. Right? I'll even bet Mike would rather have his favorite art piece displayed larger and his face smaller, right Mike? __ The point I'm making is that the Review-Journal does have a great deal to offer their readers and visitors. But they just seem to be trying too hard to get it all in on one the page. They could use more pages with less content and a good dose of consistency.
For instance, how about if we broke the gallery up into departments, perhaps separating out the photography from the graphic arts? How about if we played UP the actual art and photos, and let the mug shots play the part of "here's the artist and what he has to say about the piece." Now we perceive the art for its worth, and the people as people... not mug shots. And, how about that arrow? It's so compelling that we can't look away -- and it's pointing us out of the picture... we feel like we need to go back. And, really soon, too. Why is an arrow used here, but no place else visited so far? __ Designing for a newspaper is a tremendously difficult task, usually made more difficult than it really needs to be. Then you get into all kinds of departmental turf rivalries and who is more important than who and before you know it the overall site picture suffers. There needs to be a plan, developed with the big picture ever present in mind. Then there needs to be a strong gestalt to follow that plan to the letter -- page after page, week after week. The Las Vegas Review-Journal is at http://www.lvrj.com/ __ By the way, we liked some of the art department's work so much we've asked if they would do cameo showings in The Design Center Gallery. Mike's work will be the first displayed, and hopefully we'll get some feedback from Mike about the web site well.