Module 6 CP - Home Page & Navigation System, Final Project (Part 2)

This is my redesign of the home page and donate page for The House of the Good Shepherd. The current pages can be found at www.hgs-utica.com. I wanted to simplify them significantly and change the color scheme. I also wanted to get rid of the plethora of links that find their way onto the home page now and segregate it into a few different categories.

The home page includes a little bit of information about The House as well as all the ways that someone can follow us online. The three links at the top would be drop downs that would give the website visitor an option to select from many categories to learn more about the organization. For the landing/home page I just wanted something simple and bright.

The donate page is also very simple with just a few links at the top. From what I have found in my nearly 10 years raising money for non-profits, the best way to get someone to give is to directly connect them to what their donation can accomplish. People usually do not like to give directly to general operating expenses but if they can see with their own eyes what the impact is of their donation they will give more and give more often. I tried to keep the page itself simple with just a few images and very little text.

Module 6 - Part 1 - Website Design Sketches

The timing on this project is actually really good. I just started working for The House of the Good Shepherd about 2 months ago. We just contracted with a really talented agency named Trainor and Associates (http://www.trainor.com/). We are going to be paying them to rework our logo (not change it but we are going to be changing the coloring) and redo our website.

I want to be prepared to show them what my vision is (though my work will obviously not be as well done as theirs) when we meet next week to start the 3-4 month process of re-imagining our image. As the Director of Development and Communications the landing page and the donate page are the two most important ones for me.

I will lay out with my limited Photoshop skills the way that I would like to have the landing page and donate page look so that when we meet with Trainor they will have some idea on what I would like to see. I am going to change the color of the logo and the color scheme from what we have on our current website (www.changingchildrenslives.com). On the donate page, I want to add some functionality for them to go to a page that lists our various special events, a page that takes them to planned giving (which includes large gifts, wills and bequests) and then a link for them to donate online. Though of course these links will not actually go anywhere in this design.

Below the links on the donate page I would like to show potential donors what their donation can do. I always have been a big proponent of connecting a donor's gift amount with something specific that it can accomplish. I have not decided for sure yet on what the amounts and links will be. I just put in a few gift amounts and a few things that they might be able to do with the gift amounts and I will refine that when I actually make the pages in the next few days.

Photomontage - Avatar - Part 2

I originally was going to do a zombie hunter but I wanted to make some adjustments to his face so I made a zombie instead. I found the background and the lower half of his face along with the photo of Luke Evans online. I then merged them all together for this image.

I also added some tearing to the skin on the forehead and cheek and darkened his eyes quite a bit to make them look almost black with a hint of the iris in them. It would not have been realistic to change his eye size to make him into a zombie so I did not do that. 

Photomontage for Module 5 - Fantasy Avatar

For the fantasy avatar project I have two sketches. These are each characters that I use in various online games. The first avatar is for a character that I have for an online game that is set up much like The Walking Dead. Post zombie apocalypse.

The model for this avatar is Luke Evans, he was in Dracula Untold and various other movies. In the background I would place a post apocalyptic type skyline, to the right of the frame would be a set of shambling zombies and the main character would be on the left side. Under the entire image I would place the character's name which is Victor Cain.

The second avatar is for a barbarian character that I use in Diablo III. Though in both of these cases I don't actually need avatars I think that since I have spent time building the characters that it might be fun to put together something to visualize them.

This avatar is for a character named Exavier Exeter. The model would be Jason Mamoa from Conan the Barbarian. I would have mountains or some other scene like that in the background and then to the lower right I would insert some sort of a battle scene. I would place the name on the avatar in the center. 

I am not sure which I like better at this point but I am leaning towards the zombie hunter character.

Final Book Cover Photomontage for Module 4

Photomontage for Module 4 - Book cover for a band

This book cover would be for one of my favorite bands since I was in college, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. I have loved their music which to me is reminiscent of old folk music with new sounds mixed in. I think Bela Fleck describes it the best by saying, "I think the Flectones are a mixture of acoustic and electronic music with a lot of roots in folk and bluegrass as well as funk and jazz." I was able to see them several times when I was in college and I think that Victor Wooten may be the most talented bass player I have ever heard.

The front cover of the book would include their name with one of the interesting font styles that they use on their album covers. Below that I would include their trademark spaceship but instead of using the point that they usually use on it I would use the head of a banjo. Then below this creation I would add a picture of them on stage with a group of fans around it.

For the spine of the book I would have Flecktones, their regular trademark spaceship without the banjo head and then my last name. I would have the thrusters from the spaceship carry over to the back cover just a bit.

On the back cover I would include a picture of the band at the top. Probably a promotional picture if I can find one that I like. Below that would be the quote that I referenced above. At the bottom would be the members of the band along with what instruments that they play.

I may decide to work something into the background as well but it will depend on how the entire project looks when I have it finished. At this point the background will be black but I may change my mind in final production.

Final Photomontage for Module 3

Photomontage #2

This is my awareness poster sketch. I have made the decision to focus on the mission of an organization I was just hired for as the Director of Development and Communications. It is called The House of the Good Shepherd and our mission is to help children who have been abused and neglected. There is in patient treatment facilities, foster care programs and counseling.

My idea is to start with a dark shadow to the page on the left top corner and then make it lighter and lighter as you go across the page diagonally. In the top left I want to put a young woman sitting in a chair by herself crying. Around her I want to put words that one would associate with an abused and neglected child. Things like fear and confusion. As you reach the right bottom corner of the page there would be a happy young person with friends and family. Around them I would put happy words like love, peace and success.

I have actually changed my mind on the placement of the tag line since I sketched the design. I am going to put that in the top right corner, to balance out the page some. The tag line is "Help abused and neglected children reach their full potential." And then in the bottom left corner would be the logo of The House of the Good Shepherd.

I do have staff that are responsible for this type of thing but I thought it might be helpful as the new director to give them my vision for how a design may work. Even though mine will be a "rough drawing" compared to what they will put together.

The name of the band that I have come up with is Dragon Fire. For some reason the top and bottom of my first sketch was cut off a little bit. What it would be is a dragon perched atop a castle in the background. The castle would have a path coming from the front of it. On the left side of the path would be the band name, Dragon Fire. On the right side of the path would be a village that the dragon has set on fire. In the foreground I would have the band playing their instruments in the center of the village. Playing as if everything was not burning down behind them.

I know that I am horrible at drawing but I think that I could make this general concept work and it would require at least six images to do so. One for the dragon and castle, one for the village, one for the fire coming from the dragon's mouth, one for the band, one for the band name and one to put the band initials onto the drum set. Beyond that I will also probably need at least one image to bring everything together.

Though I know it is not part of the question, I would think that this band would be some sort of hard rock band, so I will try to find a band image that is relevant to hard rock.

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So this is my final product with the montage. I was not able to find some of the images I was hoping for and I have a long way to go to make as good of images as some of the people in this course. Here it is.