Online Poster Catalogue: American Poster Institute

For most of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, posters were considered a cheap and easy way to inform and advertise to large numbers of people. In recent decades, however, the term "poster art" has developed in response to the notion that flatstock advertisements often adhere to creatively aesthetic and artistic design principles and that these designs have value beyond a simple ephemeral form of mass media. Yet, as a printed media, gaining access to these designs digitally is often difficult and OPAC's dedicated to collecting, cataloguing, and providing access to posters are still underrepresented. One site worthy of mention is http://www.americanposterinstitute.com/ if for no other reason than because it is one of the only sites attempting to create a credible and complete network of and for artists.

According to the website,

The American Poster Institute is a non-profit corporation dedicated to furthering public awareness and appreciation of the poster art form. It is committed to supporting the community of artists creating entertainment-related posters, to fostering interaction and communication between the artists, and to constantly improving standards in the field.

Thusly, the users of the site are those with any interest in poster art, be they fans, artists, vendors, entertainers, venues, with a particular emphasis on the artists themselves. So how well does the site meet the needs of these users with its website design principles? In all three areas outlined in the Expectations of an OPAC Review provided by Dr. Winget, I would say adequately, but not perfectly.

A) User Principle: Does the Site Meet the Overriding Needs of its Users?

• For the primary users, artists, the site is surely an invaluable resource. More than two-thirds of the homepage is dedicated to "latest news," outlining upcoming opportunities for artists to display their work. Similarly, their is a "random artist" thumbnail gallery on the homepage. In addition, the site has a navigation header directing artists to the application process for becoming an API member. Membership allows artists to showcase at the various Flatstock conventions sponsored by API. On becoming members, users may then join one of the many interactive forums, adding to a sense of community among artists, and they can join the artist gallery and display their posters on the website.
• For non-artists, the website designers seem to have given little or no thought to user needs. For example, there is no way to simply search posters by content such as date, venue, band name, or city. In fact, the only search functions available are keyword searches for forum discussions and artist name in the artist gallery. This limited search functionality would seem to indicate that the site is not really dedicated to cataloguing and providing access to posters so much as it is to cataloging artists.
• Regardless of how well it meets the specific needs of its users, the general design of the site is relatively well organized and navigable. The wording of navigation buttons is not vague and even users outside of the poster artists community should have no problem understanding what the various terms mean: for example, the "faq" tab takes you to a very detailed and well organized list of questions that are relevant to navigating the site and understanding its history and objectives.

B) Content and Arrangement Principle: the importance of the content and arrangement of records to finding, identifying, selecting, and obtaining items.

• The most significant flaw in the site relates to the content principle in that the server used by the site can't seem to handle the content. Searches take forever and sometimes end in a blank screen.
• In addition, as stated earlier, the arrangement of content, or how one finds a specific poster is somewhat contrary to the name of the site. Cataloguing is done by artist name. So if a user doesn't have this information, it is almost impossible to find, identify, select, or obtain the desired record. This problem could easily be solved simply by changing the name of the site to "The American Poster Artist Institute."

C) Standardization Principle: the requirement to follow accepted international standards for information content and structure.

• As my understanding of these principles is concerned, the site seems to follow accepted standards to at least a minimum. The depth of information content is adequate. Content is structured in a meaningful and aesthetically pleasing way. Although not necessarily as navigable as possible for those with specific search criteria outside of the major user network, the site provides the service it implies, it has created a community forum for those with a related interest in poster art.

I came across this site as a link from flatstock.com, a website dedicated to the poster convention held annually in Austin and semi-annually in several other cities. Apparently, The American Poster Institute is the organization that sponsors Flatstock. As such, it seems to me they have access to a wealth of posters. To register to show at Flatstock, artists must send API a digital record of their work. And the website gallery has hundreds of posters. What the site really needs to work on is adding navigation features to allow the casual user greater access. Download speed is also a real issue that is going to need to be addressed. Also, as a non-profit institution, I wonder why the site doesn't team up with archives in the various cities where the conventions are held and make a concerted effort to digitize and catalogue the flatstock produced by members on an ongoing basis. Certainly this is a project in need of a champion and API seems to have the infrastructure in place to tackle it.