Creating the Website

Bridge to Connect’s new website went live at the end of March 2019! With the easy to use web development platform, the stress about learning JavaScript, HTML, and CSS was out of mind as the sketching of plans to turn our blank canvas into a beautiful, well-designed website began.

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When we began to brainstorm, questions such as “What is the purpose?”, “Who is the intended audience?”, and “What is our message?” lead us through the first steps of the design process. After gathering an overall mapping of ideas, we moved onto focusing our attention towards the finer details that would make our organization unique.

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Our first concerns regarding the user interface was how accessible information was to the user; 3 or 4 clicks should lead to the correct information desired. The next concern was the persona we wanted to implement through organization, formatting, and design. This is when we turned to our advisors to ask how they wished to present Bridge to Connect. Through these discussions we learned how to transfer someone else’s ideas onto a drawing board. We learned to not only take into consideration how to present the present organization in an eye-catching and charismatic manner, but also make the website manageable to growth as the organization accepts new members.

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When we moved to complete the article section of the website, there were lessons to be learned both about the display of the grid and article of each piece of writing. As we considered the display of the article, we had to again remember the page would be an ongoing development as the organization progresses. Then when writing our first articles, we were reminded that an article is not only a story of an experience but a portfolio and a showcase of skills, a representation of growth, and an articulation of lessons learned along the way.

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The project of designing a website became not only an opportunity to represent the organization as a whole but a starting point as we learned what it meant to be in the professional world. It allowed us to get a judgement for what it would be like to complete and fulfill tasks from an entrepreneurial standpoint. And we were eager to learn everything we could from color palettes to payment interactions with visitors.

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As we continued with the project, some of the difficulties we encountered included not being able to edit the website simultaneously on two computers, gathering information from the rest of the organization, and compromising on different design techniques. We overcame these challenges with patience and persistence. By organizing meetings to work on the website together, we were able to better talk through our opinions and compromise our ideas. These meetings also helped us work simultaneously because we developed with a system in which one person would edit the website while the other gathered information or researched. Because we understand the responsibilities the organization’s members have, the time getting information from them can only be handled with frequent reminders. And with that mindset, one can see that there is also always a productive way to utilize this time waiting; there is always work to be done.

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When everything was said and done, we understand that there will be more improvements to be made in the future. The website is a living and breathing project that will forever be changing with updates as the organization grows and builds its legacy. We are honored to be in charge of such a powerful part of the beginning steps, and we cannot wait to see what the next projects will be.