Designing for The Real World
Michael J. Floreak · 2020
This chapter describes Project First Steps, a research-based communication design project to develop parenting education materials for low-literate adults. Members of the target audience were involved throughout the design process, providing input that directed the way the communication pieces were conceived, organized, designed, written and revised. The idea for First Steps originated with the Diocesan Child Guidance Center, a social service agency in Columbus, Ohio, that provides mental health services to children. The combination of the Child Guidance Center and Fitch RichardsonSmith’s Information Design Group proved to be a good one for this project. The Information Design Group at Fitch RichardsonSmith includes people with backgrounds in writing, graphic design and research. The effectiveness testing was based on subjective evaluations of family situations.