Making Quick Sitemaps Online

This little site might just be the fastest way to build a sitemap, and it's all online and free. SlickPlan is a web-based flowchart generator that's built to do one thing - make those flowcharts and sitemaps about as easily and quickly as you can.

The Art League Site Brief

Alrighty... after perusing the Danville Art League's less than stellar display of their website, I typed out a brief summary of what this League's about, what they've got, what their site's got, and what their site really needs to work on:

DANVILLE ART LEAGUE SITE BRIEF

INTRODUCTION

The Danville Art League began in 1938 as an art club with 12 members. In just 11 years, that number grew to over one hundred. In 1955, the Art League held its first Art In The Park festival, which continues to this day. The DAL was reorganized and restructured in 1991 after membership declined due to few classes and lack of community interest. To increase the member size, the DAL was opened to a 60-mile radius around Danville. The DAL experienced a rebirth in the 90’s thanks to introducing the Town and Country Amateur Exhibition, the Holiday Art Sale, offering more classes and informal art sessions, and operating Gallery 126.

At the turn of the new millennium, the Art League was flourishing, with 300 members showing their artwork in the First National Bank branches, the Vermilion County Museum, and at Provena United Samaritans Medical Center, among others.

In 2010, the DAL raised more than $120,000 to purchase a vacant Red Cross building, and after two months of repairs and remodeling, moved into its new home on the corner of Franklin and Seminary Streets in downtown Danville. The DAL also expanded its range of classes to include more childrens’ classes and workshops for families and seniors.

DANVILLE ART LEAGUE MISSION STATEMENT

“All people are entitled to exposure in the arts. Our goals are to stimulate creativity and art appreciation through classes and/or informal sessions at the Art League studio or in the field, to appreciate and understand the accomplishment of others, to provide artist with places to exhibit their work and to act as a resource center for members and the public.”

Art League sites that catch my eye

Heyo... so for Project Numero Uno in my Web Design class at C.O.D., we're taking on a few local art league websites that are in dire need of aesthetics. Before we jump right in and see what's wrong with those sites, we need to surf the web and check out a few that get it right. So here are a few that, to me, have got an eye for appealing and inviting design:

The Art Students League Of New York

Keep it clean, keep it simple, and keep it consistent. This page doesn't irritate your eyeballs with any flashy overuse of color or unneeded garish background images. With this clean and somewhat minimal look, you can find exactly what you need at a glance. A white background just works so much better, as the art itself looks that much more colorful. No need for any text to get in the way of appreciating the art.

Rehoboth Art League

The appeal of this site feels more homey and comfy compared to the New York site, and for a smaller league like this one in Delaware, the soft pastel colors work well.

Art League Of Rhode Island

What's the most important thing to an Art League? Why, the ART, of course. And this site does an excellent site of showing the art of its members. On every page of this site, members' artwork is displayed right on the top, and what's also nice is that the art on the home page isn't the same every time... I've seen roughly 10 different variations of artwork shown on the home page, so that's pretty nice in itself.

One Small Step

So yet another eager soul tries his hand at the blogosphere... let's see how this one pans out.