Competitive Analysis

When first contemplating how to design a visual communication website, my group looked at several direct competitors and compared their website with OU’s. The first was the University of Arkansas, which resembled OU’s website the most. It was relatively bare with only a brief description of the design program. The University of Central Oklahoma had a specific website for their design program. It contained a fairly large slew of information, but was hard to find. It was also very crowded and hard to navigate, most of the website was comprised of images. Out of all three, the University of Texas arguably had the best, conducive website for their design program. It contained most anything and everything related to the degree. From faculty, to student art, and events, it all had a place within the website. The only downside was that the categories of information were sometimes redundant. We also looked into three larger non-competitive universities such as Carnegie Mellon, Boston, and the School of Art Institute of Chicago. All three had very strong websites filled with information. Not to mention, their websites were strong and evocative, strong examples of their design programs. After conducting our research, we found that OU’s Visual Communication website was lacking on all fronts, due to practically no information, presence, or voice. 

Interviews

As a part of the project, we also had to interview nine people to gain further insights as to the need of a Visual Communication website. From students, parents, faculty, and advisors, I interviewed two parents and a student. Needless to say, I’ve never done interviews and I’m a fairly quiet person. This process threw me out of my comfort zone. I found that approaching the interview in a fairly relaxed manner helped people talk through their answers. I had two interviews that were completely opposites. One was extremely talkative and another gave short answers. For the latter, I learned to keep asking follow-up questions, to keep digging further into their strains of thought. It was challenging not to ask leading questions, but I learned to rephrase my inquiries. For the talkative interviewer, I had to occasionally walk the conversation back towards my interview questions. They would often go out on a tangent, but stopping them would have only limited their responses. I would let them talk through their thoughts, only asking questions every so often. In general, the interviews mainly reinforced what we found during our competitor research. Although, there was some feedback that felt very unique and potentially insightful. 

Reflection

Before now, I had never worked on a group project that was this extensive. At first, I wasn’t sure how we would work together. However, as we discussed and worked through problems, we found our own niches and places within the project. Also, the interview process was an eye-opening experience, but it can be rather difficult to find adequate times and places to meet. The project is still in its beginning phases, but I have really enjoyed the process and the experience so far.