Design has been one of the most interesting parts of this project. How do you take information and present it in an effective way? Right now, I’m quite dissatisfied with our current presentation. I don’t like it. I’m glad with the theme we chose but I don’t feel like we’re using it the most effective way.
To be honest, Quakers aren’t the sexiest group of people in the world and the group that we’re trying to appeal to (primarily high schoolers in alternative educational institutions) may not instinctively enjoy discourse on the doctrinal distinctions between Puritans and Quakers. High school me wouldn’t have and I wanted to go into religious history. I wrote a lot of content over the weekend and I’m not satisfied with any of it. It’s historically sound—facts, dates, etc. But it’s hideously boring. Now I don’t want to add sparkle without substance. So what’s missing? There’s no why. I never explain why you should really care about this group. And why should you care about Quakers? What makes them vital to understanding American history and religion? What makes them relevant to your experience?
My dad teaches history in the type of program we want to target—an alternative public high school with students with emotional disabilities that prevent them from interacting in and attending the traditional high school. A lot of the techniques that traditional teachers use aren’t feasible in his situation and he’s constantly looking for creative solutions to explain things that maybe aren’t initially fascinating. He also needs a resource that his students can potentially access outside of school because many of his students may not attend school regularly. We’re going to do a test run with the site in his classroom at the end of the week and see their feedback. Hopefully that will help us refine our product in terms of both content and design.