I have been busy figuring out a way to build a content platform and infrastructure to help the young digital artists and web designers, improve themselves in Macau, to foster creativity, engagement and learning through mutual sharing of resources and experiences.
As i see we clearly lack skill in Macau in web design and development (better than the design counter part), truth is we only have a handful of skilled web designers and these have been picked by casinos our the top agencies in Macau.
I have seen this years graduation works in the IPM, they were good, you could see innovative artworks, products and some good stuff, i could probably say that our best design students in Macau are coming from IPM, clearly the result of good curriculum’s and hard work, but still we miss the web side component of things, where are our web designers, where is our local talent regarding web design ?
It doesn’t exist, we have good illustrator, good comic artists, good designers (print) but we lack innovative, skilled and competent designers, now i could be generalizing and some people could be offended and say “hey i am a good designer, i consider myself a good web designer”, true that could be your opinion and i will respect it, but where is the results, can you compare the results to Hong Kong ? much less with Malaysia and Singapore, where strong communities thrive.
You can only see the quality of our websites when you visit the most prominent online presences in Macau.
Disclaimer: I do not know any of the designers, developers of these websites and i am not picking on anyone specific, just wished people opened their eyes and do something worth of the money invested, or at least to give some face to Macau, we do have now a few good websites (macau.com, venetian, city of dreams their first site, ponte 16 and on, some not done in Macau):
I will start with the one that picks my nerves:
- Macau Cultural Center
http://www.ccm.gov.mo/en/intro.htm
http://www.ccm.gov.mo/en/index.aspAs a hub for arts and music events, our most prestigious place, where we have all the important shows like operas, ballet, musicals, theater, this is surely a very disappointing website, we would expect a minimun artistic vision for the website, or at least something decent and modern (updated), i am speechless, not acceptable Possible solutions:
http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/
http://polynesianculturalcenter.com/LP/polynesian-luau-t2.html (although i still find it lacking)
http://www.coliseumpac.com/ - Macau Tourism Office
http://www.macautourism.gov.mo/en/
http://www.macautourism.gov.mo/en/main/aboutus.php(an amazing “frontpage” style website, circa pre 2000)Parts of this website do not work, like the links to the Chinese language on the very top, this kind of design is very Chinese in style, lots of links to lots of content, but too much content spread all around makes it unusable for foreigners, now i do understand the Chinese style of website and they have their place and purpose in the asian context, but for foreigners visiting macau, who speak and read english this website, its poorly lacking in communication,Possible solutions:
http://www.yoursingapore.com/content/traveller/en/experience.html (for travelers)
http://www.yoursingapore.com/content/mice/en.html (for business) - Macau Museum
http://www.macaumuseum.gov.mo/default.aspx
http://www.macaumuseum.gov.mo/w3MMnews/newsC.aspx?newsId=90Not bad compared to the others before but still … missing quite a lot of imagination in my opinion, going to a museum should be an adventure, to discover and learn new things, so a website should start by enticing people to go and visit it with a strong visual design and clear information,Possible Solutions:
http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/ -> http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/tentoonstellingen/?lang=en
http://www.louvre.fr/llv/commun/home.jsp?bmLocale=en
http://www.brukenthalmuseum.ro/index_en.htm
http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/ (main page)
It was not my wish to pin point these sites specifically but i see a need to criticize the artistic websites for their lack of artistic vision perhaps ? and the tourism website for lacking the attractiveness (the singapore is really a good example of how to make a website for the visitors with good navigation to important topics, traveler, business, health, family fun, etc).
Why giving these examples, simply because if we had more talented web designers and artists we would have a stronger chance of getting more designs, more creativity and more influence in any of these websites that we see in Macau.
I would like to create a community and provide resources for people to learn, engage, grow with others and get good constructive criticism as for a better development, i would like to help local charities with hosting and a web design, proving that they can be used as case studies for the benefits of students and/or people who want to learn how to make websites in Macau.
It’s a tad lonely to be in Macau and not having web designers coffee meetings, or lunches, or tea times discussing web stuff and new technology, design, etc.
To be continued…
4 Comments
Great work, keep it up!
What u think of it Simon ? you also doing web development, do u think we are also lacking in this regard, i see our websites being built with old asp.net technology, or old style php too.
I think it is not only the problem of Macau but Asia in general, apart from big companies, or giant web sites, most individual web sites are still using old fashion php/asp.
Partly I think because the web has developed faster during the last few years, and also more diversed, with different standards like Ruby on rail, Ajex, Adobe Air platform, and HTML5..etc I cant even keep track on whats latest, and so stick to the good old skillset
Maybe you can teach in university to save Macau new talents of web design!
You know Simon, i kinda thought about it, but the way education teaches web design, is mostly an after thought, i wouldn’t like to teach web design using Dreamweaver/Frontpage combo, i would like to go with HTML5, CSS, CSS Frameworks like Blueprint, 360gs, jQuery, etc … but this is mostly overkill for a 1~3 month period that you can have per module in an university.
I would mostly focus on creating a community where its really focused on the teaching, allowing the people to learn at their own pace, but learn well.
Its true also that technology is advancing at a super fast rate, nowadays knowing not only HTML5 and CSS, Javascript, PHP, DJANGO, RUBY ON RAILS, etc, you will need to be to craft website (experiences) for mobile devices such as Android, iPhone, Ipad’s and more.
Its also important to know the planning stages, user experience, branding, conversion of users that visit your website, an understanding knowledge on SEO and how this can reward the client, etc.
It would be too much to apply it to a general IT course in Macau, i think even in IPM and i don’t know its curriculum, it would have been too much.
Let’s see.