Website Redesign Concept Image (Took me 6 HOURS to Create in Paint, PLEASE LOOK!)

[Sentinelrv]

Ok, I didn't plan on doing this, so here is how it started. On the chipin thread, TexMac raised some very serious concerns about the current website design. Here was my reply...


Gage, I believe TexMac's criticisms of the website are valid. I know you're doing the best you can and we appreciate everything, but with a website like this, you only have a couple seconds to capture people's attention. If it's not immediately clear to them the purpose of the website, you just lost a potential pledge whether you like it or not. You need to catch people's attention IMMEDIATELY. If you make them think, then you lose.

He brought up a question about the title "Support Them Now". Newcomers visiting the website might ask the question "Support who"? If people are required to read the description first in order to understand the event is about supporting the troops, then you've already lost. Reading should not be required in order to understand what the event is about. It needs to pop out at you visually. For example, if you were to take the title "Support Them Now" and combine it with a soldier instead of that old picture of Ron Paul, they would immediately connect the dots. With the current setup, if given only a couple seconds glance at the website, it's much harder for a person to connect the dots.

So I decided to take Dusman's military donations ad here...

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-PQNUTaqpc3U/Tqsdqp_FEQI/AAAAAAAAAUA/XjKMSy5Tq-0/s640/Fullscreen%2520capture%252010282011%252052407%2520 PM.jpg

...and design a website around it using Microsoft Paint, yes that's right, PAINT! I don't know how to use Photoshop. Anyway, it took me 6 hours to finish and I think it turned out pretty good. I changed the wording a little bit in the description. It now mentions the military donations straight off the bat to fit with the overall theme of the website. I also added our pledge goal and made the suggestion to donate $100, like we did on the Nov 5th website. I even added the donation graph in an easily viewable part of the website. The only thing I didn't add was a banner for the leader board competition. With this design, I think anyone can IMMEDIATELY tell what "Support Them Now" actually means. The dots will be connected, and then they can read the description and find out HOW they can support the troops. One note, the link in the upper left hand corner of the website takes you to my planning thread (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?326262-11.11.11-Official-Planning-Thread-Want-4.2-Million-We-Need-17-000-Email-Pledges!) on RonPaulForums where you can help out in the planning stages and learn how to promote. Please tell me what you think. Is this something we should switch to?

Click the picture to make it LARGER...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/Sentinelrv/Other-Images/SupportThemNowRedesignSmall3.png (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/Sentinelrv/Other-Images/SupportThemNowRedesign2.png)

[TexMac]

Not bad for paint, lol.

OK, on the first line of your text, replace with "Why are the top 3 contributors to Ron Paul's campaign the US Army, the US Navy and the US Air Force?"

Cite for that statement: http://www.opensecrets.org/pres12/contriball.php?cycle=2012

Then, 2nd sentence: "Ron Paul receives more donations from the military than all the rest of the GOP candidates combined, and more than Barack Obama."

You really did a good job with this.

[anewvoice]

I can't say I disliked the current one, but I do find this one more engaging.

[TexMac]

This one communicates the idea of the moneybomb in one glance. That's the most important thing. Let's get it up so we can start pushing it.

[TexMac]

Bump for comments and suggestions!

[PursuePeace]

Then, 2nd sentence: "Ron Paul receives more donations from the military than all the rest of the GOP candidates combined, and more than Barack Obama."

yes, definitely! This point cannot be emphasized enough! And isn't it almost twice of the GOP candidates combined?

I LOVE the look of it, it's crisp and clean.
You did a great job on this.

- The other graph "military's top tier" really should be on there.
Thats the most eye-opening one, plus it has a picture of Ron Paul in uniform.

- Should it really have "Ron Paul's" above the "support them now". It doesn't sound right.
It still makes it seem a little misleading as to where the donations are going.
Maybe just the support them now can stand alone. And instead, have it say:

Ron Paul
The Military's Choice

and then maybe in bold at the end of the paragraph:
On this Veteran's Day, please help support Ron Paul, the... (not sure... someone help me out here, I have writer's block all of a sudden. Something about supporting Ron Paul, the choice of the military or... support the troops by supporting their choice, arggh I'm stuck..help.)

-Veteran's Best Friend has to be somewhere on this thing.
I realize the name can't change at this point.
But "Veteran's Best Friend" sounds the best out of all of the other slogans.
and it IS Veteran's Day.

[nayjevin]

pixlr.com/editor (http://pixlr.com/editor)

[D.A.S.]

Ok, I didn't plan on doing this, so here is how it started. On the chipin thread, TexMac raised some very serious concerns about the current website design.

So I decided to take Dusman's military donations ad and design a website around it using Microsoft Paint, yes that's right, PAINT! I don't know how to use Photoshop. Anyway, it took me 6 hours to finish and I think it turned out pretty good. I changed the wording a little bit in the description. It now mentions the military donations straight off the bat to fit with the overall theme of the website. I also added our pledge goal and made the suggestion to donate $100, like we did on the Nov 5th website. I even added the donation graph in an easily viewable part of the website. The only thing I didn't add was a banner for the leader board competition. With this design, I think anyone can IMMEDIATELY tell what "Support Them Now" actually means. The dots will be connected, and then they can read the description and find out HOW they can support the troops. One note, the link in the upper left hand corner of the website takes you to my planning thread (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?326262-11.11.11-Official-Planning-Thread-Want-4.2-Million-We-Need-17-000-Email-Pledges!) on RonPaulForums where you can help out in the planning stages and learn how to promote. Please tell me what you think. Is this something we should switch to?


Beautiful job! I love this new design - I think we should switch to something like this because it communicates the intent of the moneybomb very effectively.

+rep for your effort

[falconplayer11]

This looks great. I approve.

[TexMac]

bump!

[kojirodensetsu]

I dunno, I sort of like Ron Paul's military image. Also, I think black backgrounds are overused. Although I think your version does look a little cleaner.

[giovannile07]

That is really impressive, I can't even do that in Adobe Photoshop haha.

[Sentinelrv]

Ok, I'll work on including some of your suggestions and then I'll repost this thread in Grassroots Central so we get more activity. We still haven't gotten a response from Gage yet on this either. maybe somebody else would like to create it and he can just upload it on the current domain?

[FreeTraveler]

Yes, please. I've been arguing for a while now that the fact the troops support Dr. Paul above all other candidates is the most important single point that needs to be made. Otherwise it just looks like "another damn politician using the troops to raise money."

[PursuePeace]

Yes, please. I've been arguing for a while now that the fact the troops support Dr. Paul above all other candidates is the most important single point that needs to be made. Otherwise it just looks like "another damn politician using the troops to raise money."

I agree 100%.

[Sentinelrv]

I'm going to include the large grapgh with the picture of Ron Paul in this new version. It's looking great!

[PursuePeace]

I'm going to include the large grapgh with the picture of Ron Paul in this new version. It's looking great!

Very cool. Can't wait to see it.

[Tinnuhana]

You know, minus the facebook avatars at the bottom, this might make an impressive slim jim, too. By the way, what happened to the marines? Where did their support fall? Did more of them also donate to RP but it wasn't one of the top four?

[Sentinelrv]

Ok, I updated the first post with the updated image. I also created this new thread on Grassroots Central looking for a web designer...

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?326803-11.11.11-Website-Redesign-quot-UPDATED-quot-Concept-Image-(Need-Somebody-to-Build-it-NOW!)

[Sentinelrv]

You know, minus the facebook avatars at the bottom, this might make an impressive slim jim, too. By the way, what happened to the marines? Where did their support fall? Did more of them also donate to RP but it wasn't one of the top four?

I don't know. i was just told to put in the top 3. We can add that also if it's true. Somebody find out and let me know.

[TexMac]

The top 3 donors are here:




US Air Force
$23,437


US Army
$23,053


US Navy
$16,973


Mason Capital Management
$14,000


Microsoft Corp
$13,398



http://www.opensecrets.org/pres12/contriball.php?cycle=2012

So, I don't know where the Marines are, but I'll see what I can find out.

[TexMac]

Here are Ron's top donors:




US Air Force
$23,437


US Army
$23,053


US Navy
$16,973


Mason Capital Management
$14,000


Microsoft Corp (http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000000115)
$13,398


Boeing Co (http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000000100)
$10,620


Google Inc
$10,391


Lockheed Martin (http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000000104)
$9,507


Overland Sheepskin
$9,500


IBM Corp
$8,294


US Government
$8,207


Greenstreet Co
$7,500


Corriente Advisors
$7,500


AT&T Inc (http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000000076)
$7,329


Northrop Grumman (http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000000170)
$7,022


Intel Corp
$6,855


Federal Express Corp
$6,255


United Technologies
$6,115


DUNN Capital Management
$6,000


Entergy Corp
$5,950




http://www.opensecrets.org/pres12/contrib.php?id=N00005906&cycle=2012

Aren't the Marines part of the Army?

[PursuePeace]

Looks great!

[sailingaway]

I think we have to pay something like $46 to the stock photo people for the right to that photo. Tarzan and dusman know the details. Or the fee they already paid may cover it but it depends on what they wanted to use it for. Do we have a smaller graphic for signature lines? Otherwise, I'm still using the old one.

[dusman]

Here are Ron's top donors:



http://www.opensecrets.org/pres12/contrib.php?id=N00005906&cycle=2012

Aren't the Marines part of the Army?

They are part of the Navy, but I'm not sure if that's how it would be reported through FEC.

[dusman]

I think we have to pay something like $46 to the stock photo people for the right to that photo. Tarzan and dusman know the details. Or the fee they already paid may cover it but it depends on what they wanted to use it for. Do we have a smaller graphic for signature lines? Otherwise, I'm still using the old one.

It has unlimited use online, so this should be fine.

[dusman]

Looks pretty good Sentinel. I really like the yellow you picked out. Solid color choice.

[Sentinelrv]

Dusman, your inbox is full and I need to talk to you. We need to get that leader board setup on the website, but Gage doesn't know how to do it. As far as I know I thought you were supposed to be helping him get it setup on the website. Would you be able to help us with this? We need that competition to start as soon as possible. We also need to send out an email using the Black This Out email list.

[InTradePro]

Looks great. http://www.supportthemnow.com/

[dusman]

Dusman, your inbox is full and I need to talk to you. We need to get that leader board setup on the website, but Gage doesn't know how to do it. As far as I know I thought you were supposed to be helping him get it setup on the website. Would you be able to help us with this? We need that competition to start as soon as possible. We also need to send out an email using the Black This Out email list.

Unfortunately, we can't shift over the leaderboard as it's entirely dependent on using the same system BTO was built on. Essentially, those promoters are created as a web user and their pages are automatically generated, according to their unique ID. This passes back and forth from MailChimp (this one is using Feedburner) which tells the system what to do with the referral. So, I can't separate one from the other or it will break the functionality.

I'm not sure what should be done with the 300-400 users we had on the BTO leaderboard, but there should be a way to deliver out e-mails to all of them and get them involved in 11/11/11 promotion either way. E-mailing the BTO list is available whenever and I would recommend discussing ideas with WD-NY to map out a e-mail plan. We have about 12k e-mails there, so those people definitely need to be contacted about 11/11/11.

[lucent]

Dusman, I sent you a private message.

[kojirodensetsu]

Minor typo, but the description says "Money Bomb by signing up to the right" but you sign up to the left.

[Sentinelrv]

Minor typo, but the description says "Money Bomb by signing up to the right" but you sign up to the left.

Gage reversed the website. It looks like it's been fixed already though.

[XTreat]

There are far less marines numerically than there are the other three branches. This explains the lack of marines in the top 25.

[XTreat]

Dusman, your inbox is full and I need to talk to you. We need to get that leader board setup on the website, but Gage doesn't know how to do it. As far as I know I thought you were supposed to be helping him get it setup on the website. Would you be able to help us with this? We need that competition to start as soon as possible. We also need to send out an email using the Black This Out email list.

What ever happened to the prizes from the last contest? Pretty sure I won something, but I haven't heard anything.

[Sentinelrv]

What ever happened to the prizes from the last contest? Pretty sure I won something, but I haven't heard anything.

Were you in the top 3?

[XTreat]

Pretty sure, it's was hard to tell due to such rampant cheating there at the end.

[mcvac]

Must say.... your work is superb. Good job soldier.

[danbeaulieu]

wheres the code for the new banner so I can put it on my blog? also, the banner's not clickable... it definitely should be clickable. You can put your email in or click the rest of the banner for more information.

[danbeaulieu]

also you should come up with a gimmick like how we "blacked-out" over peoples eyes. A unique mini yellow ribbon that people can put on their avatars, perhaps a yellow blindfold or something.

[Elwar]

Paint?

GIMP is free....

http://gimp.org