Our philosophy
Postgraduate study is a major undertaking and a big investment of time and money - so please satisfy yourself that this is the right programme for you. Most web courses come either from graphic design or from computer programming, and a few are business-related. Our aim is to balance these considerations so that graduates understand what goes to make a good website. On graduation, you will be on course to plan, design, deploy and promote a small website for a small business or co-ordinate a team of graphic, technical and business experts in managing the content of a large corporate website.
Our approach to web design is more correctly called ‘website architecture’. We define website architecture as ‘the art and science of creating good websites’. This requires:
- Useful and well-organised content [utility, commodity, utilitas].
- Good technical design [efficiency, firmness, firmitas].
- Good visual design [beauty, delight, venustas].
The Latin words and translations in square brackets are from the oldest surviving European work on design theory: Vitruvius Pollio's Ten books on architecture. Vitruvius deals with buildings but also with towns, harbours, clocks and other facilities. As a relatively new branch of design, it is right that website architecture should aspire to the Vitruvian principles. They were known to generations of designers as ‘Commodity, Firmness and Delight’. Websites should also contribute to ‘the business side of the art’:
The overall aim is high quality. We learn from other design approaches, from design analogies and from design theories. To be visible, websites also require good Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM).
Website architecture at the University of Greenwich
The University of Greenwich MA Web Design & Content Planning takes an even-handed approach to the education of individuals who can create good small websites or manage the production of large websites. The programme is based in a design school and draws upon general design principles. We aim to take graduates from the full range of undergraduate disciplines and convert them into website architects and e-Professionals. Applicants might have backgrounds in science, technology, fine art, design or the humanities.
Critical appraisal of website types and the practical design of good websites are key aspects of the University of Greenwich programme in website architecture. Electronic publishing offers teachers and textbook authors an opportunity for better financial returns than traditional publishing, combined with much more feedback from their readers and wider circulation of their work. We are very interested in the opportunities presented my modern content management systems (CMS).
Nine ideas
- Websites should be bold and sometimes unexpected.
- A dog is a man's best friend - but a good website is the best friend of modern business.
- Medieval art is famed for its structure, its symbolism, its discipline and its perfect beauty. These are goals for web designers.
- Good websites are beautiful to behold and beautiful to consume.
- Colour, line, pattern and symbolism are all elements of good web design.
- Websites must evolve or die.
- Web design should rarely be folksy.
- Structure is no use without order.
- Without navigation, a webpage is just a picture.
