About the Coalition for
Clean Rivers & Streams
This project was a two week competitive collaboration. There were eight groups ranging from three to five people in each. The target was an identity proposal for a NPO (Non-profit Organization) called the Regional Coalition for Clean Rivers and Streams. They currently had a website and some materials, but were looking for a new start. They also were looking for promotional materials to put out at low costs that would get their message across to the public. Their website can be found here, and is (last time I checked) still their old design.

Starting from scratch
Every group had the information about the organization from the website along with a short mission statement write up that was provided to us via the professors. We were not required to create a new identity for them, but felt it was necessary to give an updated and more appealing look to the Coalition for Clean Rivers and Streams.

The Logo
Having multiple designers in a group helps and hinders, but almost always produces a top notch solution to any given design problem. With the logo, we started by sketching and doing font studies. We felt obligated to express both clean and river in the logo. Our primary mark is the full clean rivers and streams logo seen in the upper right of this page (click to enlarge) and the secondary mark is the R by itself. Initial sketches and ideas can be seen in the images above left. As an identity the whole project came together beautifully.

The Website
The re-design of the website was an integral part of the project since all promotional materials pointed to it. The website acted as a hub, where users could find out more information about a bus-shelter poster they had seen or a billboard they drove past. Users could also order a pamphlet that supplied the same information that was on the website but in a physical form that could be passed out to neighbors or given at schools.

Pamphlet
Simply all the information on the website in a physical form for people who like to touch and experience, and those who either did not have a computer or access to the internet.

Bus Shelter Posters
The idea for the bus shelter posters was that while sitting at a bus stop (assuming it had a shelter) the public would glance and see an eye catching poster that would grab their attention and get them to read about how to keep rivers and streams clean, also to provide a link to the website.

Postcards
These postcards would serve two purposes; first they would be sold in natural/earth aware stores and businesses as a fund raiser for clean rivers and streams. Second, they would be mailed out to people and businesses who are known earth awareness advocates to spark curiosity about both the website and gaining more information.

Billboards
Advertising on billboards is an art in itself, the message must be quick, clear and most of all memorable. While driving by a billboard on the freeway any advertiser wants one thing from the person driving; to remember what the message was they were getting across. With this in mind we kept our message simple, quick and clear.

Collaborative Blog
For this project, I developed a collaborative blog from scratch using PHP and MySQL. This blog allowed us to chart progress and act as a message board since all of our members were not able to be present at every group meeting. Since the entire project was two weeks, the blog was literally thrown together in one night. Each group member's contact information was posted at the top to allow easy communication, also their name linked to their most used email. There was a drop down menu to select the group members name and each member had their own post color. In the 7grain and Anizooky projects I made slight alterations to the blog to allow for sorting by; group member, and/or by thread (threads could be typed in on the fly and appear, it would allow sorting for ex: "Logo ideas" or "Color schemes"). In the upper left was a Key word list for inspiration during the project. I also made an expense chart to keep track of materials and printing costs, since these projects were all produced out of pocket. It was a very helpful tool during the collaborations and a good PHP/MySQL learning experience for myself.

*Note: Some of the posts have been edited and all contact information other than names have been removed from these images, also the expense chart was cleared.

On the website, various flash animations were made (example top right of this page), they can be viewed via the following links;