Intended Audience
• Members or would-be members of the San Antonio literary community
• People interested in attending literary readings
• Potential donors
Usefulness of Content
The homepage includes information on Autograph Series, which features a very popular Trinity University English professor. Also a link to Fall 2007 catalog of course offerings and a sampling of courses. Drop-down menus across the top on the home page direct you to more detailed information about classes, other Gemini Ink programs (Writers in the Classroom, etc.)
Overall I think the website could include more information about Gemini Ink’s broader mission, especially since they have been shifting their focus from serving more advanced writers to drawing in more beginners from the general public. This is suggested by the inclusion of a course on college application essay writing in the sampling of courses included on the homepage. It would probably be tricky to find the right language to express this shift appropriately --- but Gemini Ink is staffed by writers. I think the bar of unidentified photos suggests some ambivalence about this – should a prospective student know who these people are? San Antonians will likely recognize John Philip Santos and Naomi Shihab Nye--and not having lived in San Antonio long myself, perhaps there are other well-known local figures included—but other figures are less easily identifiable unless you’re already familiar with literary figures.
Ease of Navigation
The animated logo to the left is annoying because one of the images is a bullet-pointed list that looks like it could be a list of links and isn’t.
The site uses drop-down menus across the top, except for “Events Calendar” which takes you directly to the events calendar. On the subordinate pages, a menu bar appears on the left-hand side with the menu for the relevant subcategory.
Consistency of Design
The website uses colors well, with a particular color assigned to each subordinate page. The homepage might have too much color, though, and the text section of the homepage looks cluttered and amateurish to me.
I like the bar of photos across the top of the pages and want to steal this for my own website, but I think these photos also suggest some ambivalence about that shift –However, I think those should be interactive in some way – perhaps you could mouse across them to learn who they are and/or click on each image to learn more about their relationship to Gemini Ink. For example, is that Grace Paley in the homepage bar, and if so, why is she there? What about Margaret Atwood? Is John Philip Santos teaching this season? People with long-term familiarity with Gemini Ink’s programs will know that Gemini Ink sponsored several related events featuring Atwood, but a new viewer might assume she would be one of the instructors in the present or coming season. Each season’s catalog contains photos of that season’s authors, but you have to click through to get the PDF of the catalog to find those.
Conclusion
Generally a useful site, though it could do a better job of highlighting its overall mission and identifying the noted authors affiliated with the organization.
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