The document analyzes the visual design of the Smithsonian Ocean Portal website. It discusses the welcoming blue color scheme and large readable text. Images are highlighted as key to engaging viewers and enhancing understanding of ocean life. Maps, drawings and illustrations further illustrate the ocean in an accessible way. In summary, the document examines how the site utilizes striking ocean imagery and visuals to effectively convey its message and invite exploration of the ocean.

1. Analysis of Visual Impact of Smithsonian’s Ocean Portal
VISUAL LITERACY PROJECT
Karolina Humby
Jenny Salcedo
Marissa Brown
Michelle Johnson

2. OUTLINE
• Introduction
• Web Design
• Underwater Images
• Above the Water Surface
• Maps, Drawings and Illustrations
• Conclusion

3. INTRODUCTION
World Wide Web offers unlimited possibilities for companies and individuals to showcase their
work or their passions. Over the last decades the online space evolved tremendously and
allows users to express their message with extraordinary impact. The visual side of any
online, or offline project can have incredible impact on the delivery and reception of said
message.
We embark on a journey to explore the visual side of the website of The Smithsonian’s Ocean
Portal. We attempted to find whether the creators utilized the naturally striking attributes of
their subject matter in an effective and ethical way.

4. WEB DESIGN
• The design of the Smithsonian Ocean Portal is welcoming. The type is large enough for
people to see and the blue colors give the viewer a sense of peace and tranquility as if
they were exploring the oceans themselves.

5. WEB DESIGN
• The website’s header lets you change the language in order to make it easier to read for
the different types of viewers. The social networks of the page can also be found in the
header so that the viewer can be directed to them with ease and follow their work aside
from the Smithsonian website.
• The logo demonstrates all that the page represents by adding a clipart of a diver next to
the name of the website. Is as if is inviting people to ‘dive’ into the website and to explore
it like the diver is doing. I know that was the feeling that the web creator was going for
when he decided which logo to put on his website.

6. WEB DESIGN
• The background of the website also shows different types of blue colors to indicate the
theme of the site. Viewers can note that as you go down the webpage, the darker the blue
color gets which can be symbolizing that the viewer is ‘exploring deeper’ the site just as
the water would get darker the deeper a diver goes into the ocean.

7. UNDERWATER PICTURES

8. ABOVE THE WATER SURFACE
• Someone once said pictures say a thousand words the images are beautifully and richly
illustrated. These images allow the viewer to see things they would never have the
opportunity to see otherwise. They also increase our level of communication, recollection,
and retention. It has a lasting shot that impact on the audience.

9. ABOVE THE WATER SURFACE
• The pictures affect the viewer’s emotions and attitudes. They engage our imagination and
heighten our creativity by stimulating the brain. I believe it changes the way the audience
feels about Oceanology and nature by sowing its inhabitants in their respective habitats.

10. ABOVE THE WATER SURFACE
• In addition, the viewer gets a chance to view all the good works that’s happening in the
world of oceanology. The ocean and nature is very mysterious to most viewers. These
images brings the ocean to their door steps. The whole idea of these shots is to visually
attract the viewer and then to question what it s representing.

11. MAPS, DRAWINGS AND ILLUSTRATIONS