Looking at graduate design school programs, I’ve been surprised by all of the nasty web sites. In the bigger liberal arts schools, it’s hard enough just to find the design program. Is it within the Art department? Is it a separate college? Should I take this graduate programs link?

I’m particularly surprised with the major schools with long histories that specialize in design showing such a bad face online. In no particular order, here are some of my experiences, with RISD coming out well ahead of the pack.

University of Washington — There is a small amount of information on each of many separate pages. If you want to print the cirriculum, for example, you end up printing 25 pages that are 1/5 filled.

Yale — nearly impossible to find the design program either by navigation or search. The scant material that is available online is optimized for neither on screen nor printed viewing.

Cranbrook — this thing is a train wreck and an embarassment to the school. A progression of pop-ups give you no sense of place. After ten minutes of frustration I couldn’t find out if they even have a graduate program. Impossible to navigate; an utter failure in design.

University of Cincinnati — for a large liberal arts school, this design program was the easiest to find within the school’s bigger web site. When you dig deep enough, you get on-screen PDFs. Great for printing, but there should be another layer optimized for the web. Also, the School of Design microsite doesn’t give you the sense that this has been substantial player in the history of American graphic design, which is has.

RISD — the best web experience of any I tried — from the beginning the visitor gets the sense that this is a serious design institution. I have a few nits about the resized pop-up window (why can’t they design a site that doesn’t take over my browser?). All information I needed was well-optimized for web and print reading.

CalArts — An attractive, straightforward design that is made for the web. Easy to navigate and it does a good job of showcasing the school’s strengths. That is, until you get to the Design School microsite which is a dizzying Flash tornado that tells you nothing. The Cirriculum link doesn’t even work.