Redanced
Vassar’s Department of Dance is reinvigorated with the power of minimalism. After assigned with the project, I went through the photo collection and awed by the dancers’ motion. I selected a few striking shots, knocked out the background, and laid out the homepage in an hour. The director of web development (my boss) once asked me, “How do you design so fast and still churn out quality works?” My reply was, “I know when to stop.” Through my experience, I find that the more I refine a design, the worse it gets. And in my refinement process, I tend to throw in more unnecessary elements; therefore, I just stop and trust my instincts when I feel I have accomplished my goal.
On the homepage, I wanted to showcase the strength and liveliness of the dance program. Flash was used to pull up random images and for the transitions to give a sense of rhythm. The dark grey background was chosen to increase the dramatic of the body movements. In the interior pages, I wanted to maintain the strong visual by incorporate images with type in the header but also allowing readability by turning the background to white.
I took a different approach on this project by coming up with the design before knowing what the clients (department’s represented faculties) have in mind. So in our initial meeting, I presented my design and their jaws dropped. They were pleased with the design as much as I do; therefore, the project flew through smoothly. The only section I haven’t been able to touch on is VRDT because other urgent priorities took over. Still, I am happy with the outcome.
The homepage pictures of the dance positions looked great! Very simple and yet, very striking.
On the VRDT part, I browsed thru quickly the Bardavon Opera House Gala 2005. The pix for Les Sylphides looked amazing. However, the pix for the other plays were not that clear or they were a bit blurry or grainny, although the body positions of the dancers highlighted some of the play scenes. The fonts of the program of each play were a bit hard to read. (Perhaps when you do the VRDT part, you can “touch up” some of these things to make them more attractive?) :-)
Have fun w/ the project!
Actually I like the new typography of this new dance department look. It’s the Vassar stock typography elsewhere that looks common and outdated, in my view.
A thought: Black background tends to freeze the motion, makes the flying movements rigid because it kills the blurry edges of the pictures. I think a gray or a neutral medium tone could be better.