Moving Beyond Pretty with Martine Dowden
Details
Have you ever heard the phrases “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” or “I like what I like” when someone is discussing your design? Or maybe design is your arch nemesis and you dread it. Too often design is only looked at for aesthetic and visual appeal, while purpose, goal, and usability are ignored. Many features of good design are objective, not subjective, and can be either qualified or quantified with predictable results.
Together we will delve into the psychology, physiology, and mathematics of design principles for three key purposes:
- Making conscious design choices
- Improving our user experience
- Accessibility dos and don’ts
About Martine Dowden
Focusing on web interfaces that are beautiful, functional, accessible, and usable, I approach User Experience from both Art and Science, drawing from my degrees in Psychology and Visual Communications. I have worked as an artist, educator, and consultant since 2005. I stay active in the industry by writing articles, leading workshops, and attending and speaking at conferences and meetups worldwide. In 2015 I published a children's book, Programming Languages ABC++, and in 2016 the Workbook Edition sold over 20,000 copies. I then went on to write Approachable Accessibility: Planning for Success which was released in June 2019 and Architecting CSS: The Programmer’s Guide to Effective Stylesheets in 2020.