Welcome to 427theblog

I, Mike a.k.a. 427, shall be here 427 days a year. Or, well, you get the idea.

After establishing myself with a personal journal at LiveJournal.com for the past 5 years, I’ve been thinking it’s time to enter the blogosphere with my own domain. I shall continue to use LiveJournal as a personal ‘hang out’ and journal to keep in touch with friends and loved ones. 427theblog shall be my professional outlet and voice in the design world.

You can read further about me on the author’s profile page. There is also an extensive “How I use LiveJournal” section. My amateur portfolio is beginning to take shape – click here to see it.

When I think about design there are certain ideas that need to be reviewed: Audience & Accessibility

Audience

Whether you’re designing a website, or a movie, or a food label, or a t-shirt it is important to determine who your audience is, and play to that. Just because something appeals to YOU does not mean that it will be successful. YOU are not the audience.

Good design sells. Researching your demographics and reviewing your competition is key. You may or may not be competing for sales – but you ARE competing for attention. If you can carve out a niche audience that no one else has acquired, and cater to their wants and needs you will be successful.

Everything that you DO in your design comes back to audience. Creating a brand, creating a logo, creating graphics or pamphlets, etc. If your demographic is young think of using clean funky vibrant design. When designing to the elderly use clear readable fonts and layouts. High contrast and readability are key. And when designing to the masses – minimal is always best. Design does NOT need to be complicated – but it does need to have a voice.

Further Reading on Audience:

• Human to Human Design
• Designing for Your Audience
• Categorizing Your Audience

Accessibility

And that voice must be heard. Any design that you create needs to transcend as many mediums and formats as possible. Don’t think of accessibility in terms of “handicapped,” while this may be part of it.

Think about what you are doing, how you are writing or creating your design. Make is easy for someone else to understand. This is as simple as changing your CSS class code from “widgetbox3″ to “sidebarlinks.” Someone who isn’t intimately familiar with the code will know instantly what they are looking at. Does your branding work in black and white as well as color? Is the font you chose readable? Will people understand what it is you have done?

Understanding how other people access your design is key. Thinking about other internet browsers, the blind and deaf, the elderly, Mac vs. PC, paper vs. screen.

Further Reading on Accessibility:

• Web Design References: Accessibility
• E-Accessibility and You! [geared towards LiveJournal users]
• What Beautiful HTML Code Looks Like

I hope to see you all around! Welcome!

Tagged as: accessibiilty, Design, links, welcome