I added a new section to The Design State tonight. It’s called Ask Design State, and if you submit a question, I’ll do my best to provide you with an informative 1-minute video answer that will be posted here. If you’ve got a question that relates to anything listed on or related to the items listed on the question page, send me a note.
Hello, and welcome to The Design State. I’ve started this site to cover specific topics of interest in public sector web design. My main focus will be government web design, since that’s my line of work, but there might be some useful stuff in here for non-profits and even private sector folks as well.
Like most of my web ventures, this one is started more for my own education and edification than anything else. I’ve been doing web design full-time for Cuyahoga County for nearly two years now and during that time I’ve tried to stay on top of trends in the web design community, strengthening my knowledge and implementation of XHTML, CSS, accessibility and standards-based web design. To do this I’ve followed the usual suspects of the web design community, A List Apart, Meyerweb, 456 Berea Street, and many others.
I also read government technology focused magazines such as — wait for it — Government Technology, search around the ‘net for white papers dealing with web content and design, and glance at the piles of stuff the developers get, like SD Times. What I’ve been unable to find, however, is a site or sites that deal with the trials, triumphs and tribulations unique to a government web designer.
The gestalt sense that I get from other folks is that government design isn’t typically cutting-edge and often seems poorly thought out and implemented. By design I mean both user-interface (UI) and stylistic design. I hope that The Design State is able to effectively examine the causes behind this sense, the effects this opinion has on public sector technology efforts, and all the places in between where design either succeeds or fails. Hopefully some of the content I cover during this autodidactic exercise will benefit you.
