1.25.2010

Recycle More NC Web site draft


As many of you know, N.C. DPPEA is embarking on a new recycling campaign called Recycle More NC for the 35-55-year-old demographic. Last year you helped us decide on the logo for the campaign and now we are asking you to help us decide on a Web site home page look. Please review the site mock-ups and let me know your thoughts below in the comment section.

Most of the paragraph text is fake. Do
not concern yourself with it. However, please review the draft links:
-Home - Gotta have this
-About us - Not sure about this one?
-Contact - Gotta have this
-Events - This will link to the Office of EE calendar

-Where to recycle - This will link to Earth 911 and/or the new Ecoville site that we are working on with CRA.
-Who to ask - This will link to local government contacts.
-Recycle on the go - This will be a new joint page on Recycle Guys, RE3 and Recycle More.
-Kids/Young Adults - Links to Recycle Guys and RE3.org
-For Coordinators – As with RE3.org and Recycle Guys, we will have tons of resources for local government recycling coordinators here.

Both formats include an area on the right hand side that will have new and updated information each month. Possible topics include:
-March=Spring Cleaning
-May=Composting
-October=E-waste ban
-December=Christmas tree recycling
Do you have any other ideas?

Specifically let me know about:
-Initial impression
-Location of links - top versus side versus both
-Color scheme/font
-For the right hand side, what are your thoughts on text versus graphics there? How much of each is just right?

5 comments:

ncrealtime said...

Show video on how the plastic is processed/recycled. The more information on where the plastic goes and what happens to it the better.

RE3.org said...

Thanks for your comment. We should have some videos on the site. I'll look for a nice plastics recycling video.

Reel Whore said...

The first site I'd call Plain Jane. It's simple ans straightforward, the background doesn't distract from the page's content. The second site reminds me of a glory, hallejuah tombstone. Don't know if that's the image you want to portray for an older demographic! (I kid!) The alternating shades of green sunbeams do actually remind me of NC Agriculture and the State Fair.

The Major Links:
About us- In #1, could make it a small text box in lower left, with "More" link. In #2, both "About us" and "Contact" seem crowded next to tagline, maybe move it a few lines down or you could drop it into the footer.

Contact- A must have as you said. Maybe you could create a circular button similar to the interact buttons? A green circle with an envelope within? I'd almost change the "Interact" heading and instead put your social network buttons, contact button included, above the Upcoming Events in #1 and maybe in the upper right of #2. These buttons should be recognizable to those who use those social network sites without the heading.

The Other Links:
Site #2 lends itself to adding more links as you need them. Having the horizontal link bar as in #1 limits the number of links. Maybe broader headings that would pull down into sublinks may allow for future expansion.

Right Side Area:
A graphic is always nice to break up the text. I prefer a nice image that "intrdouces" the articles or text, maybe a second image if it helps explain the story. I'd say no more than 1/3 images, 2/3 text.

I don't know if that helps. Both sites have their strengths. Great job.

Anonymous said...

Love the light green and the high-quality photos of recyclable materials. I prefer having the links at the top, not on the side. They just jump out at me more when they're up top.
As for the links, I like "about us" headings and often check them when I visit a site for the first time.
I don't find the Office of EE events calendar particularly useful because it has so many events. The Earth 911 site can be a good resource, but I don't always get helpful information by searching it. As for monthly topics, I'd like to see you highlight proper disposal of unwanted medicines and car-related waste (e.g. tires, motor oil filters, and used oil).

RE3.org said...

Thanks for your very thorough comments!!