The audience I chose for my poster is the student – athlete population. My reasoning for choosing this group is because it is something easily relatable for me being a student – athlete myself. Student – athletes are a large portion of any university’s population but sometimes get overlooked when it comes to being accommodated. This poster is just one example of information of how even the smallest things such as a website can make things less, or more difficult on a student – athletes academics. Student – athletes are a unique group of people with a tight schedule with minimal room for error. This can be preventable by keeping things simple, straight forward, and informative.
For my “do’s” and “don’ts”, they are things that are all about making things easy on the user. Meaning a simple layout, easily accessible information, and something that can be used on the go for the student – athletes busy schedule. Making sure that there is balance is a key factor in a successful website. Balance occurs when there is an equally distributed (but not necessarily symmetrical) amount of visual signal on both sides of an imaginary axis going through the middle of the screen. (5 Principles of Visual-Design in UX) Without balance in a website, there is not much opportunity for success. With my do’s and don’ts, they are all factors that can contribute to the balancing of the Greenspring Review.
My aesthetic choices were inspired by wanting to create something that was not too busy, but still had a touch of color to help it stand out. By using smaller art as I have done, it lets the content be front and center, while the art is a nice touch to put the content into picture. The organization was something that I wanted to keep simple and clean to provide the user ample opportunity to see all the information without being overwhelmed with a busy page. If a website’s information is hard to read or doesn’t answer users’ key questions, they leave. (Usability 101: Introduction to Usability) An easy website is a successful website, which can also be said for the poster. Making something easy to read and giving the user something aesthetically pleasing gives them more than enough reason to want to read.
Works Cited
World Leaders in Research-Based User Experience. “Usability 101: Introduction to Usability.” Nielsen Norman Group, www.nngroup.com/articles/usability-101-introduction-to-usability/.
World Leaders in Research-Based User Experience. “5 Principles of Visual-Design in UX.” Nielsen Norman Group, www.nngroup.com/articles/principles-visual-design/.
Rubin, Lisa M., and Ron A. Moses. “Athletic Subculture Within Student-Athlete Academic Centers.” Sociology of Sport Journal, vol. 34, no. 4, 2017, pp. 317–328., doi:10.1123/ssj.2016-0138.