A study on the web sites of fine arts faculties: The case of universities in the Aegean Region

With the consistent advancement and prevalence of information technologies and especially with the widespread use of the Internet, information has become fully accessible far and wide. These changes necessitated organizations to establish interactive channels of communication with their target audiences, and to respond to such a demand as quickly and effectively as possible. Likewise, universities as educational organizations have been affected by these changes. While universities share information with their real and possible audiences through their web pages, many users can also use these web pages to obtain information they need about these institutions. Institutional web pages of individual academic units in universities are also crucial as competition grows and technologic advancement gains pace. Hence, websites that are created on the principles and rules of design play an active role in the publicity of universities and academic units. The scope of this research involves faculties of fine arts concentrating on "arts, design and aesthetics." The sample group of this study consists of "Faculties of Fine Arts" located in the Aegean Region. Within this context, nine universities, eight of which being state universities and one foundation university, namely Afyon Kocatepe University Faculty of Fine Arts (GSF), Dokuz Eylül University GSF, Dumlupınar University GSF, Ege University Faculty of Fine Arts, Design and Architecture (GSTMF), İzmir Demokrasi University GSF, İzmir University of Economics Faculty of Fine Arts and Design (GSTF), Manisa Celal Bayar University GSTMF, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University Bodrum GSF and Uşak University GSF were individually examined with the intent to propose solutions for higher efficiency on the bases of principles of web design (simplicity, consistency, clarity, balance, visual hierarchy, emphasis, ratio-proportion, harmony and rhythm) and visual features. According to this, while "simplicity, balance, visual hierarchy, emphasis, ratio/proportion" are determined on the faculty web pages, it has been determined that the principles of "clarity, consistency, rhythm and harmony" are lacking in some universities. Especially in terms of readability, visual integrity (logo, menu, color, icon, font, font, etc.) must be fixed on each page. Considering the competitive environment between universities today, importance should be given to web design principles and visual features for effective and effective use of web pages.