Melbourne Zoo new website
- Thread starter Coquinguy
- Start date
that they do, and its about time!
after playing around on the new melbourne and taronga sites, both are an improvement but i like the melbourne on better. and before you say "surprise, surprise" this isn't me being biased. as a designer myself, melbourne's is a far better designed, more esthetically attractive and more easily navigatable site.
some pickyness just for fun:
eastern grey kangaroo factpage has an image of a female red kangaroo.
elephant factpage has (very badly) photoshopped out all the fences in the images.
all animals factpages, regardless of zoo they reside at, have the melbourne zoo colours and plant shapes (bamboo) associated with the page. this is only a shame because something zoos victoria did so well when they did the logo redesign for the lesser known zoos, was colour code each institution (see, you can create an association between the different zoos without changing their names
).
by default, most pages also have a tiger fur pattern at the top of the page. not that relevant for heallesville or even werribee.
and lastly for something REALLY picky.... i know it looks good, but for one am sick to death of seeing a silhouetted acacia trees along with some (usually) african animals used in zoo logos and promotional stuff. its been so done to death and the designers here have gone and done it again. whats worse is that the silhouette is that of an african forest elephant. picky i know.......
after playing around on the new melbourne and taronga sites, both are an improvement but i like the melbourne on better. and before you say "surprise, surprise" this isn't me being biased. as a designer myself, melbourne's is a far better designed, more esthetically attractive and more easily navigatable site.
some pickyness just for fun:
eastern grey kangaroo factpage has an image of a female red kangaroo.
elephant factpage has (very badly) photoshopped out all the fences in the images.
all animals factpages, regardless of zoo they reside at, have the melbourne zoo colours and plant shapes (bamboo) associated with the page. this is only a shame because something zoos victoria did so well when they did the logo redesign for the lesser known zoos, was colour code each institution (see, you can create an association between the different zoos without changing their names
).by default, most pages also have a tiger fur pattern at the top of the page. not that relevant for heallesville or even werribee.
and lastly for something REALLY picky.... i know it looks good, but for one am sick to death of seeing a silhouetted acacia trees along with some (usually) african animals used in zoo logos and promotional stuff. its been so done to death and the designers here have gone and done it again. whats worse is that the silhouette is that of an african forest elephant. picky i know.......
I was also playing around with the Zoos Victoria website...which is a massive improvement on the old, unflattering site. The interactive map of the zoo is wonderful, and information such as the names of specific animals is always a plus for the hardcore zoo fan. It's too bad that not all of the exhibits could be clicked on. Highlighted attractions and colourful designs are also vast improvements, and Melbourne is fortunate to have 3 top-notch establishments within an hour or so of each other.
The Taronga site isn't quite as good overall, and I'm still sceptical about the name change with Western Plains Zoo. That setup in Dubbo will never be an enormous tourist attraction simply because of its distance from the city. One thing that is superior with the Taronga Zoo is its map. The outline of each individual enclosure is in sharp detail, and when visiting the zoo the crispness of the exhibits are shown on the paper. I think that the map is one of the very best I've seen, and comparable to San Diego's large fold-out map.
The Taronga site isn't quite as good overall, and I'm still sceptical about the name change with Western Plains Zoo. That setup in Dubbo will never be an enormous tourist attraction simply because of its distance from the city. One thing that is superior with the Taronga Zoo is its map. The outline of each individual enclosure is in sharp detail, and when visiting the zoo the crispness of the exhibits are shown on the paper. I think that the map is one of the very best I've seen, and comparable to San Diego's large fold-out map.
more pickiness - the gorilla factsheet states (in line with the signage at the gorilla exhibit) there are 3 subspecies of gorilla.
this is despite for many years now, scientists recognising, two species of gorilla each containing two distinct subspecies. seems, petty, but your would think that zoos would be on the ball with this kinda stuff wouldn't you?
this is despite for many years now, scientists recognising, two species of gorilla each containing two distinct subspecies. seems, petty, but your would think that zoos would be on the ball with this kinda stuff wouldn't you?
Western Gorilla (subspecies western lowland and cross river) and Eastern Gorilla (subspecies eastern lowland and mountain) are ones listed in a mammal encyclopedia that I own.
there is apparently also an un-named subspecies of Eastern Gorilla from the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
last i remember reading (in NG i think) so far studies into the two populations of mountain gorillas were determined to support that they were one and the same race.