Daniel Pearl Capstone

Edwin Kirsch, Emily Stewart, Jenny Barrett, Yara Klimchak

To redesign the Daniel Pearl Foundation website.

Overview — Our project

The Daniel Pearl Foundation:◦ “The Daniel Pearl Foundation was formed in

memory of journalist Daniel Pearl to further the ideals that inspired Daniel's life and work. The Foundation's mission is to promote tolerance and understanding internationally through journalism, music and dialogue.” (danielpearl.org)

Ruth Pearl: Mother of Daniel Pearl Paul Karlsen: Program director of DPF

Overview — Our Clients

Very motivated individuals Care about DPF — on multiple levels Small staff with lack of time to devote to

site development Live in California

Overview — Clients continued

Concerns with website◦ Visually unappealing◦ Text heavy◦ Absence of “human

element”◦ Confusing navigation◦ “uninviting”

Overview — The problem

Understand the problem Follow systematic plan Evaluate hypothesis Develop sub-goals Get help Put problem aside Increase your knowledge domain

Problem-solving checklist

— Lisa Bauer, MU DepartmentOf Psychology

Our clients want a professionally done, new site. The main reasons why are:◦ To create aesthetic appeal◦ Fix navigation◦ Invite users to interact

Our level of web design experience:◦ Varying, but generally minimal

Our knowledge of the process of designing a website for a client:◦ Even more minimal

Understanding the problem

• No firm step-by-step guide to follow.

• Where do we go for help and advice?

• How do we divvy work loads & develop productive workflows?

Recurring issues:

Remembering the problem, or facing recurring problems?

Research Design

◦ Develop mock-ups and new logo Get advice and suggestions Show product to clients and alter design

accordingly Code Provide a guide, tools, and a product our

clients can continue to use to develop the site

Our systematic plan

Our plan would make our goal achievable, despite shortcomings in experience working with clients, coding, and design

Our hypothesis

Key Questions◦ What makes an effective non-profit website?◦ What are some examples?◦ What elements are important?◦ Who is our target audience?◦ Who is the Daniel Pearl Foundation? What do they

want?

Part I, Research

Vandelaydesign.com’s 40 best non-profit websites

Smashing Magazine:◦ “Make your site donor friendly”◦ “Make your site media friendly”◦ Volunteer friendly◦ Make purpose clear & immediately apparent◦ Content should take center stage◦ Include news section◦ Logo & colors should be consistent with

promotional material

Effective non-profit websites

From our research, we found that key elements of a non-profit site include:◦ Clear identity◦ Strong, compelling visuals, and color scheme◦ Catering toward target audience◦ Easy organization◦ Interactive elements

Key elements

Example: Clinton Foundation

Create a mock-up and logo that reflects important elements found in research.

Seek input from experts Give samples to clients Alter design as needed Code

Part II, Our systematic plan

Preliminary mock-ups

Mock-ups are unprofessional◦ Specifically, no clear sense of identity◦ Not cohesive◦ More research needed?

Input from experts

Steve Krug — Don’t make me think◦ Design should reflect

consumer’s needs◦ Should be catered toward what

the site offers◦ Keep it simple◦ People should know what they

are getting without having to spend much time processing information

Sub-goal I: More research

With $ provided by DPF, we initiated a design contest.

“Designers,Are you interested in making $500 before Spring Break? A team of Convergence capstone seniors is redesigning the website of the The Daniel Pearl Foundation (http://danielpearl.org), a non-profit organization that promotes global, cross-cultural understanding through music, journalism and dialogue in honor of the late Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl...”

Sub-goal II: Design Contest

Our winner: Alex Prestel

Liked several design features… Wanted a number of things changed Including:

◦ Logo◦ Colors◦ Fonts

Confusion — Design alterations

One really big problem:

Sub-goal III design alterations:

* Reflects some of the alternatives we offered.

Sub-goal IV: Navigation

With a limited amount of time left, we began to code.

Decision: Hard code the site◦ Google translate bar = important

Putting everything in java script, html means that everything can be read by Google services

Makes it easier to be read for tablets and other mobile devices

Problem: steep learning curve!◦ Tedious coding process◦ A lot of time requirement

Coding

In addition to coding, we wished to include elements that we thought were absent in the original website◦ Voice of a Daniel Pearl Fellow

Umar Cheema video◦ Statistics and an infographic that demonstrates

the Daniel Pearl Foundation’s global impact◦ More photos for the site

Adding more content

We propose this capstone project be continued as an interdisciplinary independent study.◦ The goal of this study would be to first work with

Paul to get the site live, if need be◦ To fix any problems that arise◦ Also to increase traffic and to increase time on

site through populating the social media

More work?

It seems that given 16 weeks time, one might have previously expected more could be accomplishable

What slowed down progress?◦ Recurring issues, such as no firm step-by-step guide◦ Limited beginning knowledge domain

Should we measure our progress by what we accomplished?

Reflections

“True progress quietly and persistently moves along without notice” – St. Francis

Perhaps, we should instead measure progress by what we learned:◦ Coding◦ Design◦ Problem-solving◦ Independence◦ Research skills◦ Professional communication◦ Selling your product

Reflections continued