Website Mocks

Going forward, colors and layout where mocked up for review for the SFAC. A clean, easy to navigate site was the ultimate goal with the SFAC main website aesthetic.

<<< SAN FRANCISCO ARTS COMMISSION'S HOMEPAGE

I decided to take cues from the homepage as well as from Hulu.com, Krop.com and Classified.org. All of these sites have easy navigation and clean pages.

In the end, the proposed site would be color coded, color friendly pertaining to the content on the site and similar to the SFAC's homepage, but also have it's own identity.

Research

I've decided to focus on four areas to research after doing preliminary interviews. They are:
- Arts Education
- Nonprofits
- Databases and Directories
- Visual Information

After researching these four subject areas, I believe that I will be able to find a solution for the SFAC's Education Department.

More research info to come.

A new discovery...

After my meeting with the Director and Program Manager at the San Francisco Art Commission, I found out that they are discontinuing the physical publication of the Inside/Out Arts Resource Guide. With the growing use of technology and the use for physical books that is costing the Arts Commission a lot of money to produce, they are coming to an end.

How to keep the resource guide (a great and wonderful resource for the San Francisco community) alive is my next challenge!

A new research route is in order...

Timeline

Panel of Experts

My panel of experts are:

Joshua Singer
Associate Professor at San Francisco State University
I choose Prof. Singer because of the work he does with the SFAC Gallery.

Tyra Fennell
Arts Education Program Manager at the San Francisco Arts Commission
Tyra is my direct connection to the SFAC and the youth guide. She represents the intended client and knows what to look for in the youth guide.

My 3rd expert is TBD. I am looking into possibly speaking with an educator who uses the guide frequently, but am still waiting on that information from another panel expert.

Research and more

My recent research as led me to dig deep into my visual communication courses and find research on how type, graphics and layout play a big role in communicating a bunch of information to a viewer.

The SFAC youth guide is a large directory type book. I have been looking at other directories that play an integral part in everyday use for the average consumer like the Zagat guides, Yelp, the yellow pages, etc. People come back to these guides for information, but why?

The search continues for the best possible plan to displaying the information given in the youth guide. Possible book, website or database management tool maybe?

Database management:
http://sixrevisions.com/tools/top-five-best-database-management-tools/
http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/research/Bestdatabase.shtml

Problem & Purpose Statements

A little bit of background info:
The San Francisco Arts Commission has an educational department that encourages children and educators to learn more about the arts.

Problem Statement:
The San Francisco Arts Commission's education department has an outdated youth guide that does not reach the San Francisco community and its educational school programs.

Purpose Statement:
The purpose of this study was to research and develop an informational tool for the San Francisco Arts Commission to use with their educational programs.