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Blog: The Time is Now  



A number of members have asked me why we’re changing our logo and redesigning our homepage this summer.   The basic premise for the question is usually:  Care2 is growing quickly, has over 9 million members and so many of us love the frog – so why change a good thing?
 
While things are indeed going well, we think we can – and must – grow a lot faster.
 
As a planet, we’ve gotten ourselves in a big mess.   Our oceans are polluted and over fished.  Scientists say the US needs to reduce our carbon emissions by 70-80% by 2050 to avoid catastrophic global warming. The tragedy in Darfur isn’t getting better.   We’re still poisoning ourselves with chemicals in cosmetics, plastics and household products.   
 
The great news is that every one of these problems is solvable - but to do this we need to expand our reach and engage a broader group of people.   And we have a great sense of urgency because the world can’t wait.  All of us have been on this mission over the last 10 years and we now need to convert the rest of the world – our neighbors, friends, even the person standing in line at the supermarket.

So it’s that simple. We have an incredible opportunity to actually move mainstream America (and other nations) toward sustainability.
 
But to accomplish this, we need to overcome some obstacles with our current design to:
 
1.  Help people understand what we do:  First time visitors often find our homepage overwhelming and confusing.  Even many longtime members don’t realize we have petitions, healthy & green content, e-cards, and so much more.

2.  Freshen our design to appeal to a wider spectrum of people.  Our current design is over 2 years old and frankly looks out of date.

3.  Organize the content to make it easier to find and use.  Add new content to enrich the experience.

And we need to do all of this without messing up the good thing we have going.   In fact, this is my single biggest concern regarding our Web site redesign – we need to evolve to accomplish our mission, yet we know change could be tough on the very heart and soul of our membership. The last thing we want to do is either make things more complicated for our existing members as we simplify the site for new visitors or have our members think we are somehow abandoning our original mission.  
 
Tomorrow we’ll post a draft version of the new homepage for your review.  Fair warning: It’s considerably different from today’s homepage.   

We’ll set up a survey and ask for your feedback. I ask that you review it with the above three goals in mind.   Are we likely to appeal to more people by  1) Better helping people understand what we do 2) Freshening our design and 3) Better organizing our content?

Note too that every day we’re working on upgrading services, fixing bugs, adding features, etc..   While mostly cosmetic in nature, this design refresh is a rare event that we believe is necessary in addition to those ongoing technical enhancements.
 
I welcome your thoughts on how we can make this transition as smooth as possible.

Posted: Wednesday May 21, 2008, 12:01 pm
Visibility: Everyone
      

Tags: care2 redesign
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PatriciaClare Murphy (1) 		Thursday May 22, 2008, 3:35 am
Why is the click for breast cancer showing an August, 2007 climb?
and why when I looked at general questions at breast cancer, why are they discussing a 2001 climb?

Lacey Louwagie (0) 		Thursday May 22, 2008, 11:44 am
I know exactly what you're going through; my company is currently undergoing a similar redesign / restructuring. Change always needs to be dealt with sensitively when you want to keep all the existing members who made you who you are, but also see the necessity of reaching out to a broader audience. I think being honest and transparent as you have been is the best way to handle it. I don't see any reason not to make a good thing better. Good luck with the transition -- I'll be here with you!

Frank H. (569) 		Thursday May 22, 2008, 8:05 pm
Almost any design works for me so long as the content is good and the bugs are fixed.

Louise B. (177) 		Friday May 23, 2008, 12:01 pm
I, as a host, found it very difficult to track my group's topics and replies. The old version makes it very easy because hours and minutes are tracked. In addition, each post started out providing some words from the post. Members may just rely on that rather than reviewing entire post and actions.

Louise B. (177) 		Friday May 23, 2008, 12:03 pm
Designs are not the issue. Credit was given to members who did not post shares.

Lloyd C. (10) 		Friday May 23, 2008, 9:51 pm
I congratulate the Care2 Team on the new Format and the much improved Interface I think it is a vast improvement on the old tired format. It is much easier to change links etc. Well done.
Lloyd Connolly-Australia

Mike F. (13) 		Monday May 26, 2008, 10:19 am
The new site generally looks good - biggest complaint - offer the site in more langauges to help become more international for the benifit of the entire care2 community! If we want to grow (eg: facebook), we need to offer the site in other langauges as well (and become a little less USA-centric!

Jandi D. (619) 		Wednesday May 28, 2008, 12:57 am
I, as a host, found it very difficult to track my group's topics and replies. The old version makes it very easy because hours and minutes are tracked. In addition, each post started out providing some words from the post. Members may just rely on that rather than reviewing entire post and actions.

Ditto to that...The old design for groups is perfect and easier to travel around and read and reply...Do not like the new group format....doesn't work well. Not for things I have . I get bored looking at the new neon looking pages in the new format...and never return..to read all of it.

Helene J. (8) 		Wednesday May 28, 2008, 11:09 am
I love care2 and would try to support anything you do. I do have a certain learning disability from a case of Lyme Disease that left me with a lot of issues, learning being one. I was an LPN so this breaks my heart. I have found care2 is so good ,espescially kirsten & Jeff, at helping me when I get so confused I don't know what I am doing. So care2 as long as you keep remembering us not so hip youngsters, I say DO WHAT IS BEST FOR OUR AMERICA AND OTHER COUNTRIES.
God Bless us all,
Bunnyhugger

Peter Fry (0) 		Sunday June 1, 2008, 3:17 pm
"we need to evolve to accomplish our mission" we can evolve by using the technology used in www.TrailerRoom.com to raise enormous amounts of money. If the will is there atthe very top i.e. you, it can happen!

Lisa Germain (38) 		Wednesday June 4, 2008, 1:13 pm
i love the redisign it think its great.
keep up the good work.

Melissa Craig (11) 		Saturday June 7, 2008, 7:42 pm
I like the frog because they help our ecological balance. I don't think flowers get that message across.
He is cute and appeals to animal and mother nature lovers.

Karra Keehn (17) 		Thursday July 3, 2008, 7:14 am
Yes the breast cancer has been like that for years,, It should be updated..

I think this is an amazing site and will keep clicking. Thank you all keep those clicks coming.

Susan Zulauf (86) 		Thursday July 3, 2008, 3:50 pm
I like the new design

Helene J. (8) 		Thursday July 24, 2008, 7:20 am
Your redsign is fine if that is what you decide, But, does anyone out there agree with me as to the actions site? It is color less, has no appeal, won't draw anyones attention to it, and anyone who does not know what it is and the good it does will not bother to look at it. I know many people first look for free cards. Hard cold fact. put some life into the action area, a picture, some color, maybe spread it across the screen instead of down a very small column down the screen, Please if anyone agress with me please let care 2 let them know. If you don't than so be it. Also, that frog has become to many a symbol of the care2 site, why butterflies, and not even pretty ones? Our frog has personality unlike the bland flies.
thank you for listening, now is the time to act.
Helene bunnyhuggerct

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