GRAFIKAS DIZAINA TENDENCES RELIĢISKĀS IEVIRZES TĪMEKĻA VIETNĒS: ROMAS KATOĻU BAZNĪCA, JEHOVAS LIECINIEKI, HARĒ KRIŠNA, PASAULES RAGANU, BURVJU UN JAUNPAGĀNU APVIENĪBA
GRAPHIC DESIGN TRENDS ON RELIGIOUS WEB- SITES: THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES, HARE KRISHNA, THE WORLD ASSOCIATION OF WITCHES, WIZARDS AND NEOPAGANS

Summary/Abstract: The article looks at graphic design trends on four types of religious websites, starting from the Roman Catholic Church, Jehovah’s Witnesses, to the Hare Krishna, and the World Association of Witches, Wizards, and Neopagans. This study is part of a larger project on the visual world of Latvian religious life, which will gradually analyse the artificial qualities of other websites with religious content. The article is based on the author’s specialisation in the evaluation of interfaces of websites and his knowledge of the rules of graphic design, as well as the requirements of artistic qualities on the web. One of the aims of religious activities is to proclaim one’s faith in the public space and to attract new members. Nowadays, this is done through new methods where virtual reality and the impact of visual representations on the viewer come to the fore. Based on the critical analytical methodology of art science, the article’s introduction describes the general trends of visualisation, choice of colours, images, symbols, and composition on religious websites. The article also deals with ergonomics, visual perception, and marketing issues and analyses the visual impact on users. Studies on the artistry of religious websites are scarce worldwide, so the article is innovative and conceptually creative, useful also for graphic designers and content creators who have yet to receive any evaluation regarding artistic qualities so far. The article concludes that more and less successful artistic solutions exist in the religious world. The Roman Catholic Church websites are analysed as successful, adhering to classical graphic design norms, even though users might want more updates. The Vatican website is successful, with some problems. The Vatican news portal has been particularly modernised. The website of Jehovah’s Witnesses is globally designed but has little local appeal, a stencil artistic approach with photos of individuals, and a confusing choice of black colour. The information is well structured, and navigation is easy to follow. However, as in the case of the Vatican website design, Jehovah’s Witnesses have yet to, over time, attempt to create any significantly different design approaches that would appeal more to the 21st-century user. The design of the website of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, a religious movement, is in the process of being changed. In 2006, the central website was designed in a style consistent with Western graphic design trends, successfully complemented by symbols from Indian culture and fragments of Hindu artwork. In 2013, its artistry deteriorated, but today it is partially improved again. The site has no appreciable artistic qualities in Latvia. The World Associations of Witches, Witchdoctors, and Neopagans have generally created a very varied, often poor-quality scene dominated by commerce. The article concludes that in the early 2000s, website design underwent a renaissance and new technological possibilities provided a wide range of artistic expressions on the Internet. Today, however, the design functionalists are celebrating their victory, which has led to a fallback in web design and the visual uniformity of a large part of the web. The author of this article calls the phenomenon of the unification of graphic design on websites the “McDonaldisation of interfaces.” The creators of religious content websites should give the artistic possibilities offered by the new technologies of the 21st century more attention.

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