New CAP recruiting site -LIVE-

[Lancer]

Go check it out...

http://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/html/

Thanks to the recently posted 2007 ARC (Annual Report to Congress), the URL for the new public recruiting site was listed.

Not bad, but I can do without the typewriter sounds on the menu mouse over. 

[jeders]

Looks good actually.

So does this mean that cap.gov will be changing soon to be more member only?

[Al Sayre]

Looks nice, but I wonder how it loads on dial up?  A lot of folks in this part of the country are lucky if they can get a 28.8K connection...

[Lancer]

So does this mean that cap.gov will be changing soon to be more member only?

Multimedia Initiatives
A new and exciting Web presence is on the horizon for CAP. That presence will include the introduction of two new but similarly designed sites — one specifically for recruiting visitors, and the other primarily for members. These sites will eventually be tied together and the usability of both will be nothing short of dynamic and cutting edge.

They are expected to be online in early 2008. The process of revamping CAP's presence on the Web began in mid-2007. In addition to the advent of a new external site for membership recruiting at
www.gocivilairpatrol.com, CAP's member site at www.cap.gov was totally redesigned as well, with a go-live date slated for early 2008. Both sites incorporate cutting-edge designs, dynamic Flash Video presentations and easy-to use navigational structures.

Hard to say how 'members only' the new site will be...

[Walkman]

Not real crazy about it. To me it seems a bit over-the-top on the grunge treatment. It reminds me of some of the design of the later 90s. 

[pixelwonk]

Kristian, you read my mind,  Mark will attest to that.

A few things...

-1 for excessive use of Flash
-1, ...nay -11 on the typewriter noise
-1 for circumcising the command patch at page top

But what really puts a stitch in my side  is "Benefits" at the top of the page, and our missions at the bottom.  We're not desperate or anything. 

I commend the effort.  I really do.  Only, I think the organization would be better served by tapping the potential of it's members for this stuff.  This screams "Outsourced." 

[Eclipse]

Doesn't look ready for prime-time yet.

Some of the links don't work, and the page header still refers to us as U.S. Civil Air Patrol...

[jimmydeanno]

I think it's a great step forward for the organization.  I really don't see any issue with things being outsourced, at least then there is a layer of accountability we don't have with our members (you can set deadlines and hold them to it, etc)

I'm not running it with sound right now so I don't know what the typewriter sound really is.  I like the look and feel of it and it is definitely more appealing than our current .gov page to outsiders and stops people from stumbling around in areas that they really have no need for as a potential member.

Obviously there are a few things that could be tweaked a little (I might vote for a different font), but like I said, it is a great move forward.

[jeders]

Looks pretty good to me, now that I've had a chance to browse through it.

I agree that the grunge-esque theme is a little much. Maybe something a little less grunge and a little more aviation/military would've been better.

Also, yes the U.S. needs to be taken out of the header and anywhere else it might show up.

As far as the Flash, well it's just that, flashy. It's there to make people go oohh and aahh. Lots of sites use flash, even the Air Force recruiting site. Not saying it's great, but doesn't really bother me.

The typewriter noise is a little annoying, but again not a deal breaker. As long as you don't have a hang-over while you look at this site, I don't think it'll get too annoying.

I too would like to see the missions up top rather than down at the bottom. Or at the very least on the right side.

tedda, not sure what you mean by circumcising the command patch.

But I think this is really a step in the right direction. As far as attracting new people, I think it looks way better and is a better resource than what we have on cap.gov.

[Walkman]

The heavy use of black grunge overlays and semi transparent images behind some items don't match visually with some of the other design elements. Instead of one unifying design concept, I see at least three different ideas going on here that are not meshing together.

In my biz, I frequently see this kind of work come from a group of very talented programmers who can make code do amazing things but haven't had the benefit of a real design education. The ideal IMHO (and the way I run my ad agency) is to have the brilliant programmers team up with the sierra hotel designers and you get much better results.

Okay, I'll get off the soapbox now...

[SJFedor]

Go check it out...

http://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/html/

Thanks to the recently posted 2007 ARC (Annual Report to Congress), the URL for the new public recruiting site was listed.

Not bad, but I can do without the typewriter sounds on the menu mouse over. 

It's not too bad. Better then anything else we have.

Where'd you find the 2007 ARC? I can't find it posted.

[Walkman]

tedda, not sure what you mean by circumcising the command patch.

The icon on the top has no visual space around it and is slightly cut off on the bottom. It seems very crowded. A best practice in graphic design is to specify an amount of negative space around a logo in order to make sure that it has room to breathe.

[Pylon]

I commend the effort.  As always, I think us members have a very critical eye, perhaps much more so than the public.  However, I would want to see our CAP recruiting site be the best out there.

This is part of my Vision 2008 "hopes" for CAP, and I'm glad to see that this effort is being taken seriously.  CAP has long needed a separate, public website for recruiting and awareness which is different from our internal member-information-driven site.  Integrating the two allowed prospective members to become easily entangled in a web of unnecessary information about everything from Wing Banker and IG filing procedures to SQTRs and testing.  Some things are valuable to the members, some to the prospective members.

I understand the site is in development, so I imagine there are still kinks to work out.  I would hope National will invite the membership to send in feedback to give the site those outside critical eyes.

For example, on the FAQ's page from "CAP Teens" the question about dues has a broken hyperlink to a .doc containing the dues for various wings.  I assume it's a broken link because the site is still under development.  However, I would seriously recommend they avoid using .doc format documents.  A PDF is much more universally accessible, controllable and standardized.

I mirror Tedd's comment that the command patch being "cut off" on the bottom edge makes it look "unfinished"

The "Find a Unit Near Me"/FindLocation function needs to be integrated into the GoCivilAirPatrol site, not a link to an external site (or at least look seamless from a design standpoint).  The current "Find a Unit Near Me" page gives them links to the other members-oriented clutter.

On the donations page, that "CAP Cares" logo has to go.  That is excruciatingly gaudy, unprofessional and difficult to see nonetheless.  I think the donation page would do better without the unprofessional logo designed in MS Paint, free-hand by an amateur.

The donations video stops about mid-way through and "fast forwards" without sound at 2x speed for the remainder of the playback.  Again, I imagine many of these technical difficulties will be resolved during their development and testing phase.

Good work to the NHQ staff for taking on this positive step for our recruiting efforts.  I hope we'll all have an opportunity to submit our feedback to NHQ so that we ensure that this site is the best offering our collective talent can produce.

[Lancer]

Where'd you find the 2007 ARC? I can't find it posted.

Linky:
http://www.cap.gov/documents/2007_ARC_.pdf

[SJFedor]

Danke schön!

[LtCol White]

the cadet page photos in blues show wing patches being worn by cadets and senior members. If you look at the top of the browser window it says "US Civil Air Patrol"

[jeders]

tedda, not sure what you mean by circumcising the command patch.

The icon on the top has no visual space around it and is slightly cut off on the bottom. It seems very crowded. A best practice in graphic design is to specify an amount of negative space around a logo in order to make sure that it has room to breathe.

Ahh, yes. Definitely could use some work there.

[Walkman]

As always, I think us members have a very critical eye, perhaps much more so than the public.

Guilty as charged!!    That's what happens to you when you are in my job. I get it from both being the creative director and having to always turn a critical eye toward my client project and from having taught college design classes and having to always critique and help improve my students work.

I drive my wife nuts at times with it. "Wow, this menu is really poorly laid out"...

Although, the general public does react to design. They may not critique it like I would, by the better the design and the more focused into the target audience, the more positively they react. The current layout is definitely geared toward cadets. How do you think a conservative 45 year old will relate to it?

Gaaaa... I keep doing it! MUST STOP HANDS FROM TYPING CRITICAL THINGS ON KEYBOARD!!

OK, I'm sorry...

[jimmydeanno]

^ That is a legitimate concern though - perhaps a reason to separately brand each of our missions like BSA separately brands their scouting programs (Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, etc.) all under the umbrella of BSA.

[Walkman]

We definitely need a solid cohesive brand that covers our organization. I believe that it's possible to speak to a wide target audience without going plain vanilla.