It’s Alive!!!

I’ve just checked out our new site, and I was shocked:
It’s aliiiiveeee!!!

Melinda updated most of the sections, and the site is just buzzing with new contents. The tag cloud went crazy with all the new topics and activities.

It is an amazing experience to see that the site really works as an Auckland-wide information hub. The Notice Board is updated several times a week to share the news and activities of community organizations.

We are still in contact with Melinda through e-mail and phone, and she is really getting the hang of managing the site. She uses our step-by-step manual every day.

I am still amazed how well we worked together. Without their support, open mindedness and flexibility it would have been impossible to finish and launch everything before the official deadline.

Video Summary

Here is the OpenEyes Video Summary.
I had to overcome my camera-shyness and all the bad memories from the TV Workshop at Uni. It was still a horrifying experience to sit there and talk with my funny accent.
So this is why I've put on the serious face... and it was too early in the morning for my Sunday Wine session.



Huh, my friend just told me that I look like someone who is just going to soil his pants.
Well, thanks ...
Normally I'm not like that. :)

Project Summary - References

We would like to say thank you to Sandra, our amazing graphic design tutor at Media Design School, who gave us feedback about the logo, and recommended a great host service.

Another big thanks to Denise from http://dcm.co.nz/ who became the host of our site in the last minute. The domain was bought on this Tuesday evening and we contacted DCM the next morning. Denise gave us instant feedback and helped to link the domain to the host server. Thursday morning the domain was ready for me to migrate the site from the free hosting service. With new domain and new hosting environment the site migrating in 36 hours was a great achievement and it would have been impossible without the incredibly fast and flexible service Denise gave us.

We are glad to say that we managed to fulfill the brief without any other external professional help.

Project Summary - Website Features

Main Features:
Site Link

• Web 2.0 magazine layout with feature box for the next activity
• Every dynamic content and most recent news are available on the main page
• Tag cloud - filter news with relevant keywords
• RSS feeds for posts and comments
• e-Newsletter subscription box on the sidebar, an integrated newsletter system sends out e-mails with the new posts. Users can manage their subscription, filter categories, etc.
  
• Links for the other organizations

Single post with advanced social bookmarking

• Share This button with 34 different social bookmark options
• TwitThis button - makes a post on Twitter with "TinyURL"
• Commenting

Google-Map :)


Sophisticated Forum

• Fully integrated with WordPress user registrations and logins
• Underpinned by a powerful user and permission system
• Private Messaging system
• Build in Search tool
• Options Signatures, Signature Image, Avatars, and Rankings
• Optional and various RSS feeds and email subscription to topics

We also created a small stock photo library for the site (with free images from sxc.hu). The thematic pictures are cropped exactly the size to fit into the layout of the site. No editing needed, just upload to post and publish.


We made a 18 page step-by-step manual about the administration of the site. Download PDF

Project Summary - The Results

I give a short summary about our results first, you can find here everything what we did.

1. Rebranding:
We created a new name and visual identity to the organization.

"A logo what incorporates all the important aspects of the organization and also reflects its situation and identity within the North Shore and New Zealand."

2. Web:
We created a brand new homepage what really works as an interactive information hub for community groups. We integrated features like advanced social bookmarking, tagging, commenting, forum, Google Map, e-Newsletter, etc. Users can register, filter the information to get what is relevant to them, interact with each other and with Community Connections.
The link is: http://www.communityconnections.org.nz/

3. Electronic Publishing
We convinced the organisation to change their publishing process to create electronic documents instead of printing. These changes were made mostly in their way of thinking. We showed them how to use the Acrobat and produced cover-templates with the new image. They are going to produce the “Community Resources” publications in PDF from now on. Share their knowledge within the digital space.

The cover templates of the Community Resources series. The publications have a thematic color-code system. Our aim was to create a consistent, clean, effective cover system. The titles can be modified in Acrobat.

4. Applying the new image wherever we could:
Rebranding an organisation is a multidisciplinary creative process, so we also designed business cards, a letterhead and a new cover for their monthly Newsletter (PDF from now on) and for their yearly publication the “Funding Directory”.

Letterhead and business cards

New cover for the Funding Directory

New cover template for the (from now on PDF) Newsletter. Featured titles can be edited in Acrobat.

Lesley's post from Melinda's

What is it with deadlines and unexpected challenges.
Wednesday at NSCSS we lost all internet connections. Our IT guy diagnosed either phone line or modem issues.
Thursday still no internet. Friday it can only get better.......arrived at 8.30am to NO power and NO phone and of course NO internet access.
PLan B - when Kyle arrived to present his progress on the new Website we quickly jumped in my car and went to Bayswater to Melindas home. Whewwww.
We are rapt. - As the CEO achieving the new corporate image to match a name change, AS WELL as the new website is way beyond our expectations.
To have all our print media image upgraded, ability to move to digital formats and to gain some interactive forum capability is only HUGE for us. Team Openeyes have certainly dilated our pupils .....think digital, think endless possibilities. \
Go Team Openeyes sincereest thanks
Lesley Farmer CEO Community Connections

Team BloodyEyes (but still open)

Wow, the adrenalin is pumping through our veins as the final day slowly approaches - tick-tock. :p To tell the truth I’m enjoying these final days the most, because it is full on and I love to work under pressure.

I miss my beers – but it would just slow me down.

I spent every morning this week from 9-11.30 at the NSCSS office to show Melinda how to manage the website, how to create PDFs in Acrobat and how she can use the cover-templates we made.

I’m glad that we managed to keep our schedule and left the final 2 days mostly to handle unexpected difficulties. Of course we have some! There is always something … I hope we can sort everything out in the last 2 days (we call this the “f***up-time” at school). ;)

The website is pretty much ready, but we still have to write a step-by-step tutorial for it.

Well I’d better start to work on those final designs and start to create the manual. Then try to have at least 3 hours sleep and go back at 9 am to the centre in Takapuna to present all the improvements and finalize everything.

Here are some letterhead and business card designs for eyecandy ;)

Mid-Challenge Review 2 – Web Solutions Part 2

Our solutions to improve the site

We had to:

• Rebuild the site from scratch using the Wordpress publishing system. Wordpress is a very stable, free and highly customizable solution. Its administration requires only basic level MS office skills.
  
• Put the Community Connections news and event calendar on the main page with the notice board, so every dynamic content and new information can be seen at once.
• Add tags to every board notice and news to categorise them for easy search.
• Provide the possibility of social bookmarking for every post (del.icio.us, digg, Facebook, Yahoo, Google).
• Integrate an e-Newsletter system, to be able to broadcast all the news to the community groups through e-mail. Every time a post is created, an automated e-mail is sent to all of the subscribers (ie. the other community groups). It is easy to subscribe/unsubscribe on the sidebar of the website.
  
• Make it possible to leave comments. The integrated forum improves the interactivity of the site – everyone who is registered on the site is able to contribute to the forum and create new topics.
• Make available the list of all current publications in the resources section. These publications are not for free, so we can not put them on the site as downloadable PDFs. :(
  

Hopefully we are going to finish building and testing the website on this weekend, but after that there is still a lot to do. We have to introduce the new CMS to Melinda and make a step-by-step manual for her.

At the moment the new website is on a free host during the development period. We will transfer it onto the domain of CC that way when the board approval gets through they can start using the new site immediately.

Here are some preview of the new site.

The main page: all of the dynamic content and the "feature box" with the most relevant CC News.

The single post page: social bookmarking and commenting.

The forum section: an interactive - collaborative space.

The easy to use admin section for the office users.

And the old site :)

Mid-Challenge Review 2 – Web Solutions Part 1

The old website really needs a complete makeover. But it is not just the new image and look, it's the entire structure and the way the information was presented on the site.

Community Connections (CC) works as an information hub and the website can be the main tool to broadcast the news.

The problem areas with the old website are:

• There is no dynamic content on the main page.
• No logical hierarchy in the menu system.
• It is hard to find the dynamic content. The users have to browse through the entire menu-system to find the recent activities and news.
• CC provides a notice board for the community news and all of the other community groups around Auckland use it. This is one of the most visited section of the website. It has new content almost every day. The main problem with it is that its content is not categorized; so it is very hard to search for a specific information on the board.
• The notice board is a great tool, but there needs to be more interactive tool on the site.
• The old site is based on an old CMS, but the capabilities of that system is getting very limited.

The main page of the old site: serious makeover needed :)

You can read about our answers and solutions in the upcoming post!

Mid-Challenge Review 1 – New name & Image

Our community group was thinking of changing their name “North Shore Community and Social Services” for a long time. To change the name and image of a community group is a long, complicated and expensive project – and in the non-profit area it is not considered to be a high priority - although it is a very important factor of the overall communication.

Now, thanks to the yMedia Challenge, they are able to have these things done fast and extremely cost efficiently. The decision making of the government board can take months. But once they get all the necessary approvals, they are going to have everything ready to use immediately.

The new name is going to be “Community Connections” - which is short and smart and basically this is what they do. They connect community groups and provide them with information, special resources, publications and workshops. They work as an information hub in the non-profit area.

So this is what their new name and logo has to communicate and we think it just does exactly that now. After researching, brainstorming, thumbnailing and symbol-matrixing, the inspiration came to us and I was able to create a logo what incorporates all the important aspects of the organization and also reflects its situation and identity within the North Shore and New Zealand.
We provided several versions of the new logo to Lesley, Melinda and Enas at CC. They chose the one above and I am very happy with their decision. I think they picked the best one :)
On the weekend we are going to make letterheads, business cards with this logo and some publication templates also which they can use in MS Word and Adobe Acrobat.

Mid-Challenge Review - Intro

Time is running fast and the first week of the challenge is almost over! It is time to review what happened so far and plan what will happen next week.

I personally hate to read long posts, so I try to publish this review in several shorter chunks in the next two days - just to give you a smooth reading experience with minimal scrolling action. :)

New logo for Community Connections

The decision was made today, our community group choose from the five logo concepts we provided yesterday.

And the winner is:

information hub, pōhutukawa, connection, abstract, organic, dynamic, delicate, strong, clean, warm, elegant, modern

We can't wait to apply this logo on business cards, homepage, just everywhere.

Community Connections

We feel that it is time to give an overview about the project developments.

• The new name of the North Shore Community and Social Services Inc. will be “Community Connections”. This new name really reflects the essence of the organization.
• We sent 5 logo concepts today at 9am to our community group to choose. After they decide which logo to use, they have to get the approval of the government board. Hopefully the decision will go through in the next two days.
• We will have a meeting tomorrow morning where we are going to present the new website which is around 80% in the development phase. We have to add/change some colors according to the new image and test all the integrated functions.
• We are also planning to present the “power of PDF”, and how they can generate and modify them in acrobat. It can be a very important tool for their publications.
  
• After we get the approval from the government board for the logo, we create the new business card, letterhead and some publication templates in the next few days.

We find that these face-to-face meetings with the community group are essential. On these occasions we are able to explain, show and teach them all these new digital solutions, so they could overcome the anxiety about the unknown territories, and can give us an instant feedback.

Initial Brief - excerpts

Here are some excerps from the initial brief.
Video post follows if it gets the approval from our yMedia mentor.

Identified goal (of yMedia project)

• New name and image for the organisation
  (old name: North Shore Community and Social Services Inc.)
  
• Apply the new image online/offline
  
• Improve online presence

Typical client/target audience

• Community groups + organisations
• Government departments – local & central

Possible/discussed digital solutions/options

• Switching to electronic publishing process
• Electronic library from the previous NSCSS publications
• Improving the web presence

Proposed Solutions

• Creating a new name and logo, apply new design to stationary, business cards, publications
• Switch from print publishing to electronic publishing of the 'Community Recources' booklets and the monthly newsletter
• Building a PDF library from the existing publications
• Restructure, and redesign the website using tools like blog, tags, archive, RRS feed, comments, etc.

Technology to be used

• Adobe Creative Suite
• Wordpress

Timeline – Dates

30/07 Logo concepts – decision – forwarding concept to govt. board
31/07 business card and letterhead
02/07 presenting new website – CMS education
04/08 PDF Library, electronic publishing education
05/08 Publishing templates (newsletter, publication cover pages)
06/08 Manuals for the website and for the print templates
07-08/08 Time for unexpected difficulties

Briefing workshop

It was amazing, just as I was hoping.

Yes, I love the harbor, and modern architecture so I felt at home in the Microsoft (/HP) building.

And the magic happened there, as promised, for real. It was a very intense experience because everybody in that room was so committed and motivated to help and being helped out. This is how the yMedia challenge works. It is the smartest thing I was involved for a long time.

If I had a couple of seconds to look around, it was very inspiring to see all the other groups taking care of business, having real dialogues with their community group. This environment is so special, it brings the best out of me and the people around me.

I dedicate this post for all of us who experienced this miracle there Thursday afternoon. Keep up the good work guys!

The Clutch Team table next to us. It was amazing to see them communicate.


Interaction and commitment.


Real conversations to improve our social environment.

Sorry, the images about DigitalFix were all blured because they were so active and dynamic. Pelease send me some images guys!

We ate all the chocolate, 'cos we needed all the energy :)

Excited!

I'm off to the Briefing Workshop, I am very excited!
See you there guys!

First meeting in Takapuna

We got the pleasure to meet our community group contacts on the sunny Monday afternoon in Takapuna.

Our community group, the North Shore Community and Social Services Inc. is a co-ordinating council for community groups that aims to enhance and promote the community development process and empower community groups to better serve their communities. It was formed in 1972. It is one of 55 Councils of Social Service affiliated to the New Zealand Council of Social Service based in Wellington. They work like an information hub and connect the other groups together.

They provide services like community development advising, they create publications and information resources, they organize workshops, seminars and keep the information flow trough printed and emailed newsletters.

We met two amazing ladies who make all these things happen: Lesley Farmer executive officer and Melinda Greshoff resource coordinator.

We had a long and very inspirational conversation. We had the opportunity to get to know this fantastic organization, their needs and the challenges they face. We realized that we really can help them with so many things … we wish the challenge would be at least 4 weeks.

It is very motivating and inspiring to know that our help can effect all the other community groups as well through the North Shore Community and Social Services.

We started to form a brief, and after the meeting Kevin and me sat down on the beach to put together the first to do lists. Can’t wait to meet again on the briefing session to define all the details on Thursday.

Lesley Farmer executive officer, Kyle Meszaros from the OpenEyes team, Melinda Greshoff resource coordinator and Kevin Cooper also with Open Eyes

It's ON

Hi everyone, this is the official blog of Team OpenEyes.

We are finalists in yMedia Challenge 2008. Our aim is to document step by step our attempt to help the group North Shore Community and Social Services to retool their image and communication.

My team mate Kevin Cooper and me Kyle Meszaros are very exited about the challenge and we feel that we are already winners just with the opportunity of the participation.

We also started a Facebook group to support our cause, please join us to our journey.