New Website First Design Meeting

This Friday at 1:00 will work for me and the team. I have included the additional email addresses in my response as cc's.

Thank you Blake. We look forward to meeting with you.

That won't work as we have a conflict at that time. Would Monday work for you, at the same time?

Blake,

I have attached information from Tom Benstein. Could you meet with us again this week? We are all available Wednesday, November 18th at 2:00 p.m. if that works for you. Call me if you have any questions.

ascension wireframe.pdf 248 KB • Download

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Tom Benstein <tbenstein@comcast.net (mailto:tbenstein@comcast.net)>
Date: Fri, Nov 13, 2020, 1:04 PM
Subject: Re: Home Page Content and Prioritization
To: Ascension Church <communications@accboca.net (mailto:communications@accboca.net)>, Mark Ruffolo <Catholicmrk@gmail.com (mailto:Catholicmrk@gmail.com)>, Martina DaSilva <mdasilva1025@gmail.com (mailto:mdasilva1025@gmail.com)>

Happy Friday,

Please take a look at the attached wireframe. The purpose of this document is to help us come up with the structure of our home page so we can communicate that with the designer — who will then come up with the design. I intentionally use text and graphics that appear “sketchy” to help focus on the organization of the content and not get distracted by design, colors, photo choices, etc. Also note that the navigation choices are placeholders. We will drill down on that when we get to the point of organizing the content on the site.

I took our combined priority list and followed that pretty closely from a structural point of view. I will attempt to describe a few of the ideas that might not be self-explanatory.

Main (hero) Image
My rule of thumb on slideshows in the hero section of websites is that they are overdone and typically don’t serve a purpose. I especially dislike the ones that animate from side to side, causing a distraction. BUT — sometimes you have more to say than can be said with a single image or text block. Because of our priorities and what we are trying to communicate with our “digital front door,” I think we would be well-served by a series of three images/headlines in the hero spot. The transition between them should be a simple, subtle cross-fade with no jarring animation. The images and copy could be something like this (I’m not trying to write final copy here, just concepts):

Headline: A Message that Resonates
Copy: Weekly message series that relate the word of God to our modern world and daily lives.
Image: Maybe a dynamic shot of Fr. Carl at the ambo with the screen behind him with a message series graphic.
Buttons: I’m New + a button to listen to examples of the message series.

Headline: Music that Inspires
Copy: A full band at every mass playing contemporary christian music and modern takes on traditional favorites.
Image: The band! (of course)
Buttons: I’m New + Listen to hear examples of the music

Headline: A Welcoming Atmosphere
Copy: Ascension is a place where everyone feels at home, including those new to the church or have been away for a while.
Image: Maybe a friendly greeter (wearing a mask, of course) at one of the doors welcoming a young family into the church.
Buttons: I’m New + a button to learn more about what makes us different

Watch Now Section
This would always have either the current live stream or the most recent mass embedded and ready to watch. We can also use this space to list the upcoming masses and live streams. I would also use this space to list any other types of services (praise and worship, First Friday, etc) either live or streamed.

Time-sensitive announcement area
We could have a space underneath Watch now to announce anything timely (covid updates, special services, etc.). This section would be hidden if there is nothing to announce.

Next Steps, Giving, Small Groups — self explanatory. Headlines, copy and background images TBD

Get to know Ascension
Maybe another “welcoming” shot or perhaps people enjoying a cup of coffee at the cafe. Some copy that describes who we are, our philosophy and why we’re different. A learn more button could link to a page with more detail. This would also be a good spot for our mission statement.

Prayer Requests, Kid’s Connection, Ascension Ministries

Connect with Us
Large footer area with phone numbers, links to apps and social channels, footer navigation, etc.

Of course this is just a first stab and open for discussion, change etc. That’s the whole point — getting this where we like it before changes become more costly and time consuming during the design state. Please provide feedback when you can. Maybe we can take a minute to discuss between masses on Sunday.

Thanks,
Tom

On Nov 11, 2020, at 1:54 PM, Tom Benstein <tbenstein@comcast.net (mailto:tbenstein@comcast.net)> wrote:

All the votes are counted — and it only took three days! That’s pretty good in comparison…

Anyway, this is pretty interesting. There was more consensus than not. I added all of our individual rankings and then sorted by the total to come up with an aggregated prioritization.

Here you go. If you are all good with it, I’ll take a stab at creating a wireframe with this as a starting point.

Topic

Mark

Cindy

Martina

Tom

Total

Message/Series (differentiator)

2

2

2

1

7

I’m New (or New Here)

1

1

4

5

11

Music (differentiator)

3

3

11

2

19

Live Streaming and/or most recent mass

9

5

3

4

21

Next Steps (Nativity’s term)

6

7

7

7

27

Giving

4

8

5

11

28

Small Groups (differentiator)

7

9

12

6

34

Welcoming (Hospitality/Greeters/Member Care)

15

6

10

3

34

Prayer Requests

12

10

6

10

38

Mission Statement - Love God, Love Others, Make Disciples

14

4

1

19

38

News/Feature - time sensitive

10

15

8

9

42

Kids Connection (Includes Children’s Liturgy of the Word)

13

11

13

8

45

Ministries

8

13

15

16

52

Contact/Connect (app, how to connect, etc)

5

20

19

12

56

Youth Ministry

16

12

16

13

57

Members of the Rebuilt Parish Association

20

17

9

14

60

Latest News and Upcoming Events

11

16

17

18

62

Missions (perhaps later)

17

14

18

15

64

Holy Grounds Cafe

19

19

14

20

72

Blog (future)

18

18

20

17

73

On Nov 8, 2020, at 11:49 AM, Tom Benstein <tbenstein@comcast.net (mailto:tbenstein@comcast.net)> wrote:

Hi tech team,

As discussed, here is a list of the items we agreed may belong on our home page. These are intentionally in no particular order.

Please rank these in order from 1-20 with one being the most important and 20 being something that could be left off of the home page if necessary. Remember, these are items that would have their own section/card/button on the home page. Items that “don’t make the cut” would potentially still be on the site or in the navigation. If you have a few moments to do this today, I can compile the results tomorrow.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,
Tom

Music (differentiator)
Message/Series (differentiator)
Small Groups (differentiator)
Kids Connection (Includes Children’s Liturgy of the Word)
Youth Ministry
Ministries
Mission Statement - Love God, Love Others, Make Desciples
Missions (perhaps later)
News/Feature - time sensitive
Giving
I’m New (or New Here)
Next Steps (Nativity’s term)
Prayer Requests
Live Streaming and/or most recent mass
Holy Grounds Cafe
Welcoming (Hospitality/Greeters/Member Care)
Members of the Rebuilt Parish Association
Latest News and Upcoming Events
Contact/Connect (app, how to connect, etc)
Blog (future)

Easy to access in navigation, but probably not their own sections on home page:

* Homilies
* Sacrements

ascension wireframe.pdf 248 KB • Download

Hi Blake,

I sent a note this morning but let's scrap the Zoom suggestion for today. How is Tuesday of next week? Perhaps at 1:00? Let me know and I'll let the team know.

Thanks Blake. Next Tuesday it is!

Blake,

I am not seeing the email with the link. Did you send it fresh or in a chain of emails?