The “Reveal”
One of my all-time favorite television shows is “Extreme Makeover-Home Edition.” I enjoy watching the design team take apart a home that doesn’t work and create something new for a deserving family. I relish the moment when everyone says, “Bus driver, move that bus.” It is that priceless moment when a dream comes true, a blessing is bestowed, and you see true joy and hope on every face.
The Halos of Hope website was born of humble beginnings, built initially through Mac iWeb technology. We thought it looked pretty good. In the fall of 2009, two creative and talented University of Illinois students volunteered to update the Halos of Hope site to the one that you have seen and used over the past two years. We knew where it was working and where it needed improvement. (Notice the use of the word ‘improvement’, because while the site needed improvement, those of us who regularly managed the site truly needed ‘help’!)
The time had come for us to get the kinks out and make those improvements. We needed a more effective way to identify the centers we currently served, keep the centers list up-to-date, and make it simple for centers that need hats to contact us. We wanted to build capabilities that continued to honor our individual and group volunteers, and would help us to recognize the growing list of corporate sponsors who embrace our cause. With growth and expansion, we needed to make it easier, and more secure, to collect monetary donations, which fund our shipping expenses each year. Oh yes, and fix those things that all of you had told us weren’t working as well as they should.
Imagine our surprise when we found that Data-Scribe, a 7-year old New Mexico-based company, specializing in web services for non-profits and small businesses was offering a grant that could cover web design, web development, training, marketing, and communications. Our pens went to work to submit our application; we readied ourselves for the interview – not unlike the family in the home makeover videos asking for their homes to be renovated – and we won!
Over the past several months, we have been planning, site mapping, rethinking, retooling, updating, upgrading, and testing. Each mini-reveal of a new feature or a new layout has exceeded our expectations. Data-Scribe brought many new ideas to the table that went beyond what we originally conceived. As we put the final touches on each page, our anticipation has grown, because we knew, with each passing day, we were closer to sharing our new Halos of Hope site. We have been honored and blessed to work with Data-Scribe. They are an amazing ‘design team’, and we thank them for choosing Halos of Hope and our cause.
Today is our reveal. I hope that you find the new Halos of Hope site as exciting and user-friendly as we have during the design process. We’re thrilled to be sharing it with all of you!
“Webmaster, show that site!”
The “Reveal”
One of my all-time favorite television shows is “Extreme Makeover-Home Edition.” I enjoy watching the design team take apart a home that doesn’t work and create something new for a deserving family. I relish the moment when everyone says, “Bus driver, move that bus.” It is that priceless moment when a dream comes true, a blessing is bestowed, and you see true joy and hope on every face.
The Halos of Hope website was born of humble beginnings, built initially through Mac iWeb technology. We thought it looked pretty good. In the fall of 2009, two creative and talented University of Illinois students volunteered to update the Halos of Hope site to the one that you have seen and used over the past two years. We knew where it was working and where it needed improvement. (Notice the use of the word ‘improvement’, because while the site needed improvement, those of us who regularly managed the site truly needed ‘help’!)
The time had come for us to get the kinks out and make those improvements. We needed a more effective way to identify the centers we currently served, keep the centers list up-to-date, and make it simple for centers that need hats to contact us. We wanted to build capabilities that continued to honor our individual and group volunteers, and would help us to recognize the growing list of corporate sponsors who embrace our cause. With growth and expansion, we needed to make it easier, and more secure, to collect monetary donations, which fund our shipping expenses each year. Oh yes, and fix those things that all of you had told us weren’t working as well as they should.
Imagine our surprise when we found that Data-Scribe, a 7-year old New Mexico-based company, specializing in web services for non-profits and small businesses was offering a grant that could cover web design, web development, training, marketing, and communications. Our pens went to work to submit our application; we readied ourselves for the interview – not unlike the family in the home makeover videos asking for their homes to be renovated – and we won!
Over the past several months, we have been planning, site mapping, rethinking, retooling, updating, upgrading, and testing. Each mini-reveal of a new feature or a new layout has exceeded our expectations. Data-Scribe brought many new ideas to the table that went beyond what we originally conceived. As we put the final touches on each page, our anticipation has grown, because we knew, with each passing day, we were closer to sharing our new Halos of Hope site. We have been honored and blessed to work with Data-Scribe. They are an amazing ‘design team’, and we thank them for choosing Halos of Hope and our cause.
Today is our reveal. I hope that you find the new Halos of Hope site as exciting and user-friendly as we have during the design process. We’re thrilled to be sharing it with all of you!
“Webmaster, show that site!”