For my Thesis project, I am creating a series of short video tutorials explaining “web accessibility” – that is, how to make websites easier to use for people with disabilities.  This idea was inspired by my own interest in web design, as well as my experiences using the internet with a visual impairment.  I often use browser zoom to make the text on web pages larger so that I can read them without eye strain, and sometimes this causes web pages to become unreadable because of faulty web design choices.  So if I were to enter the field of web design, I would want to know what guidelines I should follow so that my web pages can be easily used by people with disabilities.  In addition to web design, I am also interested in video editing, and doing these tutorials in video form would allow me to build a portfolio piece that I could show to employers in search of a video editor.  I would also be able to use the visual medium of video to highlight aspects of the visual design of websites that might not be as easy to describe in the form of a text article.

         I believe that other people could benefit from simple, short, easy-to-understand tutorials about this subject.  A lot of the resources available right now that teach people about this aspect of web design are lengthy text articles full of professional jargon.  While these articles are certainly useful in certain contexts, they can seem intimidating for a beginner.  Plus, what few video tutorials exist for this topic tend to be hidden inside online courses offered by sites like Udacity, which might not be easy to find using a simple Google search.  By contrast, a several-minute-long video that explains concepts in simple language is a lot easier to find and digest for someone who is just starting to learn about this topic.  I hope that my videos can be a useful resource for web designers and developers who want to learn more about how to make websites accessible.

         In order to complete this project, I will need to read through the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, which are the current standard set of rules for making websites accessible for people with disabilities.  While creating these videos, I will use multiple programs from the Adobe Creative Suite, including Audition (to edit narration), Premiere (for video footage) and After Effects (for on-screen text and graphics).  I will also have to design mock-up web pages to use during these videos, which I will do using Adobe Illustrator and XD.  I already have experience using these programs thanks to both IMM courses and internships. 

I hope that through completing this project, I will be able to both use the skills I have already honed and learn more about an aspect of web design that I am not as familiar with as I believe I should be.