Writing the brief

As part of the brief for the independent project, it was required to write our own brief. From my initial idea, I decided to stick with making a website for the MS Society. The deadline for handing in the brief was this morning, and this is what I came up with.

Background
"We live in a world where there is more and more information, and less and less meaning." Looking up something which in the long run will have an affect on your whole family can be something that is rather scary. Whether it is you that have been diagnosed or someone close to you that has been, it is important to have an understanding about what Multiple Sclerosis is and how in the long run it can have an affect on your lives. Having somewhere where you can find out the information clearly and easily, as well as finding other people in the same/ similar situation as yourself makes you feel less alone and finding out other people’s stories will help with understanding the situation better.

Proposal
In this project I want to create a website which will provide information in a way that is not so overwhelming. I want the target audience for the website to be young people who are aged from 11-18 who have either been diagnosed themselves or have some close to them who have been diagnosed, as well this age group being the main target audience I want the site to also have the potential to be for older people who want basic information. I want the website to be one which is easy to use and for the experience of using the site to not be a daunting one, especially due to the subject the users will be looking up. With this project, I think the user experience and the target audience will be something that needs to be carefully considered when thinking of suitable designs and the content, which will be put on it. Although I want the site to be informative and provide the right information for users on the page, I don’t want the site to be text heavy and overwhelming so much so that it will put people off from looking and reading it.


As well as writing the brief, it was also a requirement to put together a reading list to go alongside the project. Using Google books I sourced some relevant ones to put together.

(For Dummies (Computer_Tech)) Lisa Sabin-Wilson-WordPress Web Design For Dummies-For Dummies (2013)

Chris O'Connor-Wordpress For All _ How To Create A Website For Business Or Personal Use, Quickly & Easily - Whatever Your Skill Level (2013)

Using WordPress - Tris Hussey (2010)

Using Joomla: Building Powerful and Efficient Web Sites - Ron Severdia, Kenneth Crowder (2009)

Joomla-Guide-Final - Taty Sena (http://www.makeuseof.com/pages/download-the-complete-beginners-guide-to-joomla)

Joomla! Templates (Joomla! Press) - Angie Radtke (2012)

Joomla!: Visual QuickStart Guide - Marni Derr, Tanya Symes – Pearson (2011)

Website Design and Development: 100 Questions to Ask Before Building a Website - George Plumle (2010)

Implementing Responsive Design: Building sites for an anywhere, everywhere web - Tim Kadlec (2012)

Instant Responsive Web Design - Cory Simmons (2013)

Web Site Usability: A Designer's Guide edited by Jared M. Spool (1999)

Designing web usability - Jakob Nielsen – (2000)


The books that I've found are based on website design and usability as well as the programs in which I could make the site on.