The National Gallery Art and Frist Center for Visual Arts Websites - Essay Example

Compare and Contrast Two Museum Web sites This paper will weigh against two museum websites. The websites under comparison are; the National Gallery Art and Frist Center for Visual Arts website. Both museum websites enable easier searching of the collections. The general look or layout, graphic design, and information contained will be compared between the two museum websites. National Gallery Art has a single template while the Frist Center for the Visual Arts website has two templates. The template of the National Gallery Art has individual objects, which are provided with resolution images that have a zooming effect. This is different from the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, whereby the two templates of the have two layouts. The First layout of the website is a masonry layout. This layout is flexible from a larger screen monitor to a mobile device. This layout is used for website calendar, multimedia section, and the home page. The second layout for the website is the general interior. This layout is used for basic substance like the general information, exhibition detail pages, and new items. The images are large, and most part of the website utilizes a white space to make the website feel like walking in the museum. However, the National Gallery Art website has perfect exhibition presentations from the collection and has other treasures consisting of excellent features on categories such as “conservation objects”. Although the National Gallery Art has a single template, the zooming effects and exhibit presentations make this website more exciting and interesting. The website of the Frist Center for the Visual Arts contains large images, which have no zooming effect; rather a white space with large images (Rynd, Scala, & Knowles, 28). The National Gallery of Art website contains a storage area of digital photos including the National Gallery of Art. The open access images of the Frist Center of the Visual Art website comprises of slide shows of zooming images articulated with their descriptions and uploaded dates. The top section of the National Gallery of Art web site has options for downloading images, browse, share and search. The website has a standard-based reproduction benchmark and assists section to offer advisory services for the experts and beginners. This website has more than twenty thousand open access digital photos up to three thousand pixels. Each pixel is available for free to use and download. The images are designed to facilitate exploration, enrichment, enjoyment, and learning. To begin with image searching, the user enters a search term in the box labeled Quick Search Box that is located on the upper right hand section of the web site. Most of the National Visual Art websites open access images are digitized for easy access. I have an interest in visiting the National Gallery Art more than the Frist Center for the Visual Arts due to the interesting images. The National Gallery of Art has more collections of photographs which makes it more attractive to me. This is clear on the fact that I enjoy photography. Some of the featured image collections of the National Visual Art websites include Samuel H. Kress Collection, Frequently requested, and what’s new. The top section of the website comprises of the following guide menu: Collection, exhibitions, education, conservation, research, calendar, visit, support, and shop. Some of the listed images of the Frist Center of the Visual Art include online features, Ellsworth, Exhibitions, and the collections. The website has three parts; top, middle, and bottom section. The top section contains the menu the second section contains the image collection, and the bottom section also contains menu guide. The menu guide includes: About, Opportunities, Press, NGA images, Newsletter, Notices, Contact US, and Audio/Video. The featured image collections of the Frist Center of the Visual Art are more educative art-wise as compared to the National Visual Art. The exhibitions and collections of the Frist Center of the Visual Art make the website more exciting and educative on an artistic level. The feature that shows the latest art trends on the National Visual Art website bring out a modern knowledge appeal to customers. In regard to the graphic features; the color palette of Frist Center of the Visual Art website is neutral. This is opposed to the color palette of the National Visual Art website which is brown. The color palette of Frist Center of the Visual Art allows the photography and artwork as a visual focus for the website. The fonts are closely aligned with the brand in terms of typography. The font types are Cufon and Franklin Gothic for navigation and headers. Additionally, Verdana and Helvetica font types are used for caption and caption text. The website of The Frist Center of the Visual Art is designed to be neutral which allows the content to control the experience. The building exterior of the website is neutral and gray with rectangular shapes serving a perfect example of the Deco style of the 20s and 30s. The website of National Visual Art has individual objects provided with resolution images that are zooming (The National Gallery of Art, 2). This website has perfect exhibition presentations from the collection. The Frist Center of the Visual Art is beautifully modeled to showcase the website’s permanent collections. This has enabled viewers to examine every masterpiece in detail using a full- screen zooming option. The site has over twelve thousand images, more than eighteen hours of audio and two hundred videos. The website has extensive information on the current events and exhibitions. It also has directions to help viewers recommence their visit. The website’s background is a roof of the brown stone building. The building is a museum that houses National Gallery of Art. Moreover, the website has unified information stream that viewers can enjoy on their electronic devices. Similarity between both websites is the consistency in terms of their design. The home pages have a different appeal, except for the other pages. The homepage displays a tagline and a logo. The websites are user-friendly; with find the way to pages of the websites easy. Both websites have content that keeps viewers engaged in the website for a longer time. The background color of the website highlights certain contents in bold or various colors. Works cited Rynd, C. W., Scala, M., & Knowles, S. W. (2001). An enduring legacy: art of the Americas from Nashville collections. Nashville, Tenn.: Frist Center for the Visual Arts. The National Gallery of Art (2nd Ed.). (2006). 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