Spring Quarter and Out of the Gate

School is back in session and we have a lot to organize now to get our project from start to finish in just about 8 weeks. We will be having a group meeting on Thursday to decide on our final logo and talk about the four or five projects we will be pursuing in the coming weeks.

We also started to brainstorm ideas on what we feel our designers should design for when it comes to the user interface of our web site. (see the images below)

In the last two weeks we have actually figured out our financial benefactor that is able to hold our donations for this project. Once we have the final thumbs up, we will be sure to make this information public.

Also, We have also finished the project proposal which better explains what our project is about. I will paste some of the document below:

Our Mission

To create a multimedia-based project that informs, inspires, and calls its audience to become more involved in their local community.

Project Description

As students of the local university, It is easy to become so engrossed in our studies that we overlook the issues in our community and those around us. Our group of visual communicators has become aware of these issues that have directly affected the quality of life in these areas. With this in mind, our team has a goal of giving back to the community that has welcomed us with open arms.

The Project C team will develop a website featuring short documentary videos and informational graphics. Each story will be paired with a nonprofit organization in the region that supports, or is the direct focus of the story. Using our website as the outlet, we will give community members the ability to support the organization of their choice without having to donate money.  By utilizing a voting system built into our site, users will have the ability to vote for the documentary story (and nonprofit organizations) with a click of their mouse.

Before the site launch, we will be securing funding through private and public donations, which will then be divided and distributed according to the voting percentages. For example, if a story receives 20% of the sites’ overall votes, that same percentage of the funds is donated to the corresponding nonprofit organization. This is not a competition for funding; every organization will be given a part of the donations.

Target Audience

Our target audience is the local community members who will come to the site to vote. With this in mind, we will be utilizing web-safe standards that will allow this project to be accessible from all operating systems and browsers, old and new. We will also optimize the site to run smoothly even on dial-up connections. We understand that with an economic gap also comes a technology gap, and we will address this issue as this project develops.

There is a secondary audience of outside communities and students. We want to set a model for how people can give back to their communities with projects and efforts such as Project C.

Timeline

Project C will be a 10-week project taking place this Spring. The launch of the site and the beginning of voting is set for May 23, 2011. The voting will close on June 6, 2011*.

*We reserve the right to extend this date if we feel it is necessary.