Greenpeace USA's hompage look & feel from 1997 through 2002.

In October 2001 I embarked on a site architecture and look and feel redesign for Greenpeace USA’s main web site which was three years stale. As Project Manager, I first solicited input from the Web Editors directly under my supervision, then I drew up a series of survey questions which were administered to individuals in each department to help determine internal needs for the site. The resulting list of internal needs included:

• using more photos,
• using photos at a larger size,
• using more color, and
• making the site reflect the organization’s self-perception of “young and dynamic.”

Another important change from the 1997 era design was the move from a fixed width design of 800×600 pixels, centered in the middle of the screen to a liquid, spreading design that would maximize the use of the site visitor’s visual space. [Read more...]

Web Sites’ Administrative Tools: Mailing List Manager

Admin tools for the mailing lists allowed us to segment and customize messages to various lists.

Prior to 2001, in-house web editors at Greenpeace had no access to or control over e-newsletter subscribers’ data. All communication with e-newletter subscribers was mediated through an account manager at a contract web hosting provider.

Effective January 2001, I established for Greenpeace a web hosting and software development relationship with Two Radical Technologies, a move which reduced the organization’s web hosting costs by 98% per month. [Read more...]

Parody of the Kellogg's web site circa 2001 created to support Greenpeace USA's work to stop the use of genetically modified organisms in food.

As part of the organization’s work to stop the use of genetically modified organisms in food, Greenpeace USA targeted Kellogg’s in 2001. Taking a humorous approach to a mini site to support this narrowly focused portion of the campaign’s work, I decided to create a parody of Kellogg’s existing web site.

This approach required that I first deconstruct the site so I could replicate the look and feel. Then I had to figure out a way to make it clear that this was a parody and not theft. [Read more...]