Rally Foundation
By: Todd Withrow | March 25th, 2015
Project Objectives: Refresh, Revise and Revamp Rally! Foundation’s website using existing logo, colors and functionality. Rally! Foundation, a non-profit, was established to raise funds for childhood cancer research through grassroots initiatives.
Process: Sometimes revising an existing website can be more difficult than creating a brand new one. The challenge is to retain the good while deleting and removing the old, outdated design, layout, look and feel. With Rally the challenge was even bigger, because NicheLocal had to be concern and considerate of keeping Rally’s integrity, credibility and accountability uppermost as it redesigned their website.
With instructions from Rally, NicheLocal began the website redesign by creating customized wireframes, which are much like architectural drawings. Wireframes provide a “skeletal” preview of web pages, before undertaking any design work. Rally requested and received wireframes of their Home, Participate, Rally Kids, About Us, and Special Events website pages. These pages were selected because of the intricacies of design, layout and content volume and placement.
From wireframes Rally was able to provide more and better design directions. The top menu navigation was changed, the order of content was adjusted and additional features were requested. Then it was back to the drawing board to incorporate requested changes into the re-creation of the wireframes. After reviewing revised wireframes Rally approved them and moved website build into the Design Preview Phase.
In the Design Phase all of the wireframe pages were professionally designed to include content, text and images, some pulled from Rally’s existing website. During the Design Phase Rally is and has requested changes that were not included on approved wireframes. These changes are allowed in this phase, because Rally’s website has not been developed or built out completely, thus nothing has been cast in stone. The Design Phase accommodates changes to the content (text and images) placement, text font size, adding/deleting design and graphic features.
The earlier mentioned challenge of keeping the good of the existing website, while deleting and removing old and outdated is always evidenced during the Design Phase. This is due, in no small part, to the fact that during the Design Phase the website comes alive with the adding of colors and company logo now included with actual text and images; the “skeletal” preview takes form.
This challenge is met and overcome by the exacting and precise interpretation of the designer’s skills to capture and retain the essence of the site’s owner website vision and message. In Rally’s case the website not only must elicit participation in fund raising events, donors, sponsors and volunteers, but it must also show and prove creditability and accountability of Rally’s allocation of efforts and resources.
Rally approved an updated and creative design that retains the existing good features of highlighting children that they are helping, their celebrity spokespersons and their contributions, and the activism in recruiting sponsors, donors and volunteers. Rally’s website design now includes more and better text and image positioning to give site visitors essential information faster and easier. And the adding of additional features and functionality to enable site visitors to know at a glance what Rally does, is doing and will do to advance its mission and objectives.
The newly designed website, by NicheLocal for Rally Foundation, not only looks good, but it will continue to make good on Rally’s core objectives to do good. Rally On!