When navigating through the Seattle Art Museum’s website I found that some of the information was difficult to find at a glance. Now, this isn’t a bad thing, considering I had to read more about the museum in order to find the information, which the web designers would probably consider this a positive. The SAM’s mission statement describes a welcoming atmosphere where people can connect with art and think about how it relates to their own lives. The website offers interesting added information about the artist who have shown at the SAM or upcoming exhibitions as well as the dates of the shows. The website breaks up the information on an easy access side bar, now on view, upcoming, and past exhibitions. The website has a lot of information just on the home page alone. This information includes the SAM’s three different locations, SAM downtown, Seattle Asian Art Museum, and the Olympic sculpture park. I thought this was a good thing to have on the home page because once you click one you can see the collections that are at the different locations, basic information such as price of admission, hours of operation, directions, and other tourist information. Overall, I like the contemporary feel to the website. Since the website shows art of past, present, and future exhibitions, I would say that their website enhances their mission statement. The website is very easy to navigate which made me feel comfortable browsing through the content, and I saw a lot of artwork throughout the website. As far as effectiveness goes, I think that this website is getting the image that the SAM wants to portray across successfully. There are so many programs available that people probably wouldn’t know about unless they looked at the website. Like I said earlier there is a lot of information on this website, but with saying that, the site doesn’t look cluttered. I appreciate the quick tab bar that is on the home page. This makes navigating throughout the site very simple and an effective way to find the exact information you’re looking for. I was especially impressed that they have a children’s camp which is a great outreach program. One criticism that I would have is that I would like to see more of the artwork of the different shows. From the few shows that I looked at, there might be two pictures, but usually only one of an example of the artist work. I don’t think this gives an adequate impression of the art that is being shown, so I would like to see a few more pictures of the art. Ultimately, I was impressed with their website and I think it fits the needs and mission statement of the SAM.
http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/default.asp
I like the idea of connecting art to your own life. That's an amazing way to convince people that art can make a difference in their life. I also like that the SAM wants to produce a welcoming atmosphere. Some museums have the feel of being stiff and quite, that's not fun and I think it takes away from the experience of enjoying art,
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