I’m hoping to concentrate my efforts on building a career in UX Design. UX Design is a broad audience field with a focus on accessibility of design. In my Interactive Design class I’m learning how to create an accessible web page by incorporating user stories. When collecting stories, it’s important to get a broad sample set that reflects the experience of a diverse audience so Designers can optimize sites for the largest number of people. User stories reflect how an audience engages with a website, what information is pertinent to them, and where things could be improved. Design choices based off of User feedback can improve accessibility, ease of use and promote web traffic.
Another way to broaden a site’s audience is through eAccessability. Designers are able to follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines which allow users with disabilities or without access to broadband internet to access site information. Things like using correct markups, providing alt text to images and providing clear navigation tools allow users with disabilities to easily use a site. Reducing image size, ordering useful items first and using style sheets are some of the ways Designers can keep their sites available for populations with low bandwidth. As a bonus these features also increase a site’s chance of being displayed first on a search engine.
UX Design’s information density can depend on many factors. A smaller company may require a Designer to wear multiple hats and also produce content for the site, while a bigger team may allow a designer to focus on visual elements. Typically I would foresee UX Design involving a moderate amount of information density. Normally a Designer will have to at the very least understand the information a site is trying to communicate and organize or markup it accordingly. Web Design, color, fonts can affect how information is perceived and interacted with.
My goal is to work for a larger company which would allow me to focus purely on design work. To do this I will have to focus on understanding how different fonts, colors, shapes and textures affect people. I will have to learn about information flow and hierarchies of use along with the software tools that allow me to implement these things. I’m hoping this will put me on the right path towards a UX Designer career.