Comments on: Poor web design at Chinese universities

By: Helena

Helena — Tue, 08 May 2007 17:49:13 +0000

this is certainly true. the beijing film academy english site has actually gone right down now, but when it was up it was *horredndous*. unclear links everywhere, text all squidging up and over each other, dark background making it all difficult to read, arbritrary page separation, no pictures 80 argh it had it all! interesting observation that it seems to be a trend, though.

By: Lantian

Lantian — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 05:34:52 +0000

DELICIOUS DESIGN - Here’s a Chinese site which I think captures some of the elements of Chinese tastes in design. It’s done by local designers, interestingly it comes from Yum Foods which runs the KFC brand.

I think a major difference between it and universities is that as a brand, it has a vested interest in establishing local presence throughout China, AND insuring consistency of the brand. Their ad campaigns and integration with the website fuel it’s brand building. This is something universities don’t need to do, nor have the willingness to invest money into.

http://www.kfc.com.cn
Be warned, music blaring from the site will wake you up.

It has:

Bold colors
A consistent color palatte
Considered typography and use of hanzi
Music, flash, animation!
Ability for viewer customization
A strongly branded logo
It uses a Content Mgmt System (CMS) backend, not a blog application

By: Chinese Food » Comment on Poor web design at Chinese universities by chinesepod

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 12:35:24 +0000

[...] Original post by unknown and plugin by Elliott Back [...]

By: chinesepod

chinesepod — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 08:52:46 +0000

I think most Chinese students would be happy to mix in the UK, but it’s difficult for them. I never met a Chinese student who didn’t want to improve his/her English!

It must be strange for them, however, to land into the world of the British 19 year old. By UK standards the Chinese kids are naieve, shy, over-protected, etc. I imagine, though, that the Chinese girls/women find it easier to mix over there than the guys do.

Ken Carroll

By: Fox

Fox — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 08:45:50 +0000

Mike
We are getting a little off topic here. But I met a girl in HSBC Bank Shenzhen. She told me she studied 3 years in the UK, and her English was just TERRIBLE. I presume she must have tried very, very hard not to meet any locals, just like mom told her….

To be fair, I met another one, which did mingle a lot with folks from everywhere, naturally her English was excellent.

But lack of social skills is a big issue in China.

By: Mike in Ewshot

Mike in Ewshot — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 08:18:22 +0000

My son is studying Maths and Physics at Bath University in the UK - why is recognised as very close to (as good as?) Oxford and Cambridge academically in these subjects. He tells me that about 30% of the Maths and Economics students are Chinese. (He also says they all sit at the front of the lecture theatres together and don’t mix)

By: Chinese Food » Comment on Poor web design at Chinese universities by Lantian

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 22:34:23 +0000

[...] Original post by unknown and software by Elliott Back [...]

By: About a bird brain « The ChinesePod Blog with Ken Carroll

About a bird brain « The ChinesePod Blog with Ken Carroll — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 14:03:06 +0000

[...] This is kind of weird as I wrote about Chinese universities yesterday and ‘robot monkeys’ today. It seems there is some creative stuff going opn in Chinese univertsities, even if it does look gross. [...]

By: Lantian

Lantian — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 12:51:16 +0000

Hey Ken, all the best Chinese students go to the U.S. to study! ;p

MIT
(they’re studying manga!)
http://web.mit.edu/

Art Center College of Design
(if you want to see tommorrow’s cars and products, look here)
http://www.artcenter.edu/accd/......jsp?p=TRN

By: chinesepod

chinesepod — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 03:56:23 +0000

Paul,

The top level universities in China certainly do have way more applicants than places each year. Of that there is no doubt. But the same is true of top universities in every country, yet these institutions most certainly do work hard to preserve their aura of ‘prestige’. In my experience (the UK) Oxford, Cambridge, and the other top ones are actually locked in a very competitive battle, not just for students, but for the BEST students. This is what makes life better/sweeter for them, not just student numbers, per se.

Ken Carroll