I'm dragging my feet cause I have work to do (sigh) but it's Saturday. I should be outside doing something useless. Fortunately my work entails designing a group blog for teens. Unfortunately, I may not be into their scene enough to know what's cool and what's not. I do know not to use words like teen, rad, or awesome.
The goal for the site is to be a big peer group for other young people who are having problems with addictions, self image, etc. Some high school volunteers have agreed to post on a regular basis to the site, describing how they deal with everyday problems.
It's also a front for free online counseling for those young people who are contemplating suicide. Hopefully no one ever has to use that part of the site.
So I'm off to do a little research in cool. Or is that phat? Either way, I just need to get to work. If you have any suggestions please leave them here. I need all the help I can get.
Join the fray by reading through and commenting at the end.
to me teens are the hardest audience to design for. every time i try, i am stifled by thinking back to when i was a teen. as a teen, i felt most all teen oriented design was hokey. done by adults trying to be teens. i just wanted to be treated as an adult, maybe that is part of the answer, design for young adults.
Thanks Griff, that's good advice. I've been trying to look at sites that bridge the teen/adult look and feel to see how big money handles the problem. The only ones I know that really work are clothing companies.
When I was in high school some idiot thought it would be a money making idea to create an underage dance club/juice bar/arcade called "Teen Town." It went out of business in about nine months. Across town, the "Pink Flamingo" stayed in business until 1989 when no one really cared to dance to Great White or Poison.