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About University Websites

I'll get to why I made this post in a little bit. But I thought it would be cool to just browse a couple of different US university websites, and maybe compare the aesthetics. Above are screenshots of websites belonging to (in order from top to bottom): University of California, Los Angeles, Georgia Institute of Technology, Drake University, Georgetown University, Lafayette College, and Harvard University.

So yeah, huge differences, often related to the kind of people each university is trying to attract.

I noticed a wide variety in the usage of graphics and placement on the homepage. I love GeorgiaTech's simple blog-like look. In some cases, such as Georgetown University, because of the wide scope of academic programs, a listing similar to a blog doesn't work since there are major programs, subprograms, etc.

Also many disparities in color usage, since this is related to mascots, logo colors and the overall brand of the school. UCLA's website background struck an odd note with me, but then again, I haven't seen much related to UCLA.

Drake's approach to their website design seemed very formal and corporate, unlike Lafayette's website which has a lot going on.

And that brings us to why I started this post, and that was because Neechi showed me Harvard's fresh homepage. It threw me off because it looked so clean and much less complicated than what you would usually expect from the highest ranking school in the world. Then again, Harvard is big enough to have a serious "home"page and have very few links to their main programs, which can then be branched off into their smaller schools (and respective websites).

Not to make an unusually long post here, but I think it's becoming more and more important for schools to make a bigger presense on the Internet. They already do, but websites like Facebook and YouTube make it easy to access the "general public", and I think interaction between University homepages and other commercial websites is going to grow.

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