Here is a glimpse into the process of redesigning the site…

After it had been determined that we would be redoing the website, I began by creating a visual sitemap of our existing site. I then looked at the site’s traffic data from Google Analytics. I poured through page after page of content and numbers – trying to determine which pages needed to stay, and which could go, be combined, or needed to be overhauled.

I then researched other churches websites. At this point I wasn’t really looking at the “design” of these sites (although I was paying attention to it) but I was looking at how their navigation was broken down.

I began formulating a new sitemap based on a new structure that was derived from my research.
I then gave a presentation based on my findings at one of our staff meetings. I got plenty of good feedback and went back and made some changes.

After several meetings with others at the church, I solidified a basic structure for the site and after about a month of planning I finally began the design process.

I mocked up 3 different rough designs (Download a PDF of the different designs)

Pictured above is design #3…it didn’t make the cut.

After picking design “#2″ I moved on to creating mockups of different pages, trying different color schemes, and different icons. Once that was done it was time to send everything to the developer.

The developer worked on the site, turning my design into working HTML/CSS and then from there into templates for our content management system. Throughout the whole process I was still making small design decisions, and then debugging errors that I was finding.

This is where I am going to leave off this part of the process…I will conclude with part 3 next time! Hopefully it isn’t as long between posts!

Even during the first week or so, I was still thinking that the existing site would probably be serviceable, although it would need some content restructuring and trimming down. But then I started to learn about all the external tools outside of the main website CMS. Independently, these tools were great. They each served a specific purpose, and got the job done. However, there was one problem, they weren’t tied into our main church database, which runs in Arena…and there was no way of making them do so.

As I sat down with different leaders in the Church, the feedback I got was all leaning towards stuff like, “I wish we could do online registrations…I wish we could do THIS, or THAT, on our website, or let’s put videos on our site!” After reviewing my meetings I set out on researching more about Arena, and more about what other churches web strategies are.

I was introduced to Kem Meyer’s book Less Clutter. Less Noise. Kem is the Communications Director at Granger Community Church. I started reading the book, reading her blog…and everything made sense. It started to become clear how I should use everything that I just learned in college. Before I dove in and just bullheaded my way through the process, I’d better take some more steps…I will outline the steps I began to take (and am still taking in my upcoming posts).

As I continued my initial resource, our Director of Finance, @chris_ockerman noticed that Kem was putting on a 2 day workshop based on her new book. I was super excited, and the following week, I was off to Granger, IN at 5 a.m. The conference lasted two days, the first day was more of a presentation/lecture with notes. I learned a great deal of valuable information. The second day, there were as many people, and this time it was a round table discussion. Everyone got to tell their story before we split up into groups to do some exercises. Both days were equally exceptional and provided me with a vision for a framework for my web design process.

I will give you an inside look at the first real steps I took in designing our new website in my next post.

Myself and two of my colleagues launched Digital Media Detroit earlier this month. The site is intended to be a design resource for students and design professionals in the Detroit area — specifically, but in no means limited to, those at the University of Detroit Mercy in the Digital Media Studies program.

Our goal is to market the site to all those interested in design in Metro Detroit in hopes of establishing a one-stop community for Detroit Designers.

Please check out the site for news and upcoming events, as well as a design blog, forums, and sample’s of student’s work.

Digital Media Detroit is also on Facebook.

So, Bill Gates thought it’d be funny to raise malaria awareness by releasing a swarm of mosquitos into the crowd at an elite Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) Conference saying “Not only poor people should experience this.”

Anyone else reminded of the post-Super Bowl Office episode? Even though the mosquitos were malaria free, some people can have allergic reactions to mosquito bites. No so smart Billy-boy. The real zinger came from TED curator Chris Anderson who said, “Gates releases more bugs into the world.”

HA! Good one Mr. Anderson.

Well I have mixed feelings about the different rebrands. It wasn’t only Pepsi that got a makeover, but Mountain Dew (which is apparently now Mtn Dew), Sierra Mist, Tropicana, and Gatorade.

Lets look at Pepsi first and Moun…uh…Mtn Dew first.

Honestly, I kind of like the new quirky smile ball logo. I like how it gets slimmer for the diet, and wider for the max. It also ads a wealth of opportunity for animations in online and television advertising. That being said…I don’t like the type treatment. It feels clumsy, unrefined, and awkward. The squiggle in the “e” looks forced, the curves in the p’s just look weird to me, and the “i” looks out of place. I think for $1.2 billion dollars they could have come up with a better typeface. I do however like the typeface for Mtn Dew.

I’m not so sure about everyone’s and their brother’s rebrand being minimalist nowadays…especially for a soft drink company. The problem is, when you see simple minimalist designs, you are supposed to think elegant, refined…even expensive. None of those adjectives describe Pepsi Cola. This doesn’t mean they had to go with the bursting water, explosive liquid graphics like nearly every other soft drink does. Come up with something more creative than a blank blue can.

However, my suggestion actually is still a minimalist design, but would have saved pepsi a whole lot of money.

Just go back to these vintage cans. They would have stood out, and you could have done some pretty cool marketing by going retro.

As for the Sierra Mist…it just plain hurts my eyes trying to read it.

Now, onto Tropicana. This redesign I like a lot. The previous Tropicana packaging was actually pretty good. Simple, elegant, clean. This fits the orange juice because it is an all-natural “high-end” product. Unlike it’s counterpart from Coca-Cola, Minute Maid, it is not made from concentrate, but is 100% pure natural squeezed oranges. So therefore a minimalist design is not out of place.

Parts of the typography seem a little wonky to me…but I can be picky. Overall I love it. I love the photograph of the curved glass in the background. I love the stressing of “100%” and the tagline of the campaign, “squeeze it’s a natural”. Overall, it says high-end and for this product I think it fits.

However, it looks like they spent considerably less time thinking about their Pink Lemonade rebrand…which looks like (excuse the brashness) total junk.

I can’t stand the typography. It looks like something from outerspace…as does the weird orbs surrounding the lemon. I get that the drink is artificially flavored, but I don’t want to be drinking space lemons, artificial or not. Enough said about that rebrand. Just bad all around. I don’t think much time or money was allocated towards this one.

And now for the rebrand from Pepsi Co that still has me thinking…Gatorade. I love the typeface, I love the design…but for Gatorade? Don’t I want to see explosions, sweat, high energy, sports, and action for a drink that is supposed to be drank to replenish my body after a hard work out?

Gatorade’s reasoning is they are trying to broaden their demographic. They have been losing sales to Powerade and Vitamin Water. Where non-athletes would have grabbed a gatorade in the past, they are now reaching for the hip, trendy, and surprisingly unhealthy, Vitamin Water. Gatorade’s new commercials now features not just athletes, but hip-hop celebs as well. In fact, Lil’ Wayne does the voiceover for the new commericial. (seen below)

I’m starting to like this rebrand.

Hmm, maybe the late comedian Mitch Hedberg had it all figured out years ago…

“By the way, you don’t have to be sweaty and holding a basketball to enjoy a Gatorade. You could just be a thirsty dude. Gatorade forgets about this demographic. I’m thirsty for absolutely no reason. Other than the fact that liquid has not touched my lips for some time. Can I have a Gatorade too, or does that lightning bolt mean “No”?” – Mitch Hedberg

“The latest request from the Pentagon jars the senses. At least, it did mine. They are looking for contractors to provide a “Multi-Robot Pursuit System” that will let packs of robots “search for and detect a non-cooperative human”.”

Read the full story here.

We will undoubtedly be transporting people soon. Wolf Blitzer seems thoroughly convinced that this hologram is somehow vastly superior to a simple single camera video conference.

Also, Microsoft’s “Surface” touch screen computer system (and other imitators) seemed to be a big hit within the election coverage. The following video is relatively boring and unimpressive as Surface is used much like John Madden uses a telestrator during a football broadcast. The ending is kind of neat where they have bobbleheads of the candidates perform different functions.

So there you have it. Holograms and bobblehead controlled touchscreens…I can hardly wait for this stuff to hit the consumer market…

</sarcasm>

UPDATE: Here is a good article from CNET.com’s Don Reisinger about the “Hologram”

The freelance work has continued to pick up. I love the challenge of coming up with fresh new ideas that meet my clients needs. It already seems like forever ago that I was just dying to find clients and projects to work on. Now they consume me 24/7. It is a great feeling to see my career picking up as I near graduation and start looking for a full-time job.

This school year is sure to be an exciting, yet bitter-sweet year. I’m mapping the route of my future in the upcoming months and I’ll be sure to post some of the exciting things I stumble upon along the way!

Click HERE to see a couple more. The artist’s name is Axel Peemoeller and HERE is his portfolio website. Really confusing site…but cool nonetheless.

If you ever get the chance to go there, even if you are just driving through, do it. You won’t regret it.