Where It All Started

I first heard of the Hope For Haiti Now telethon on the radio. George Clooney was putting together a who's who of the entertainment world to take calls and raise money for earthquake victims in Haiti. Just the money (and time) donated by the celebrities that participated is substantial.

So I have a question. With all the social, financial, and political clout these people have, why does the design of the campaign contain so many basic flaws that greatly reduce the affectiveness of its main goal of raising money?

Let me premise the rest of this post by saying that I respect and admire what everyone is doing and has done, although I feel a greater impact could have been made had there been more thought and/or money invested in the process. I am writing this with the hope that people will gain a better understanding of the impact that a proper and professional design can have, even for non-profit relief efforts.

Was This Created By George Clooney's 12 Year Old Nephew?

That was my first thought when I visited hopeforhaitinow.org. On my initial visit to the website, I was disappointed. Was this my 8th grade history day project created in AOL Press? The only positive things I saw, other than the ability to donate, were the main banner, which used black Gotham Bold on a white background, and links to other larger, more well established institutions.

You might be saying, "You are a critical jerk, they only had a couple weeks to get the website designed and developed, and besides, it is for a good cause." True, they did have limited time, however, you may be forgetting the balance between price, quality, and time. You can have two, but never have all three of these things. You can have a quality website in short amount of time, you just have to pay the price. This is disregarding the fact that I suspect the site was done as a donation itself.

I think it is well understood that there is no shortage of money coming from the supporters of Hope For Haiti Now. Some people might argue that a couple thousand dollars or so would be better spent as a donation straight to the people in need. I disagree completey. I strongly believe that having a professional and credible website would have a much greater positive impact on the amount of donations received. The money invested into a properly designed website would more than balance out with the money received.

A dark grey, monochromatic website could potentially make people feel more depressed, causing them to feel more sympathic, and in turn give more money, but after looking at the site, I doubt that thought ever crossed the designers mind.

With all the "Donate to Haiti" scams going around, it would only make sense to look as legitimate and professional as possible. The better you present yourself, the more likely you are to gain the trust of your client. If the scam websites look more legitimate than the real thing, then I would venture to say that some money was lost because people donated to theives rather than somebody who is really trying to help.

Semantically Incorrect

On top of the overall look and functionality of the website, the structure behind it all is horrible. There is always more than one way to do things, and sometimes it can be fine to ignore valid code for ease of updating, or even because don't think it doesn not matter enough to care, but 54 errors and 53 warnings says incompetence rather than a judgment call.

I do not mean to bash whoever made the site. As I said before, I am assuming it was done pro bono by somebody with good intentions, but it would have been better left to somebody who really knew what they were doing, whether free or not.

Typography 101

Take a look at this. Study it well. Do you see it? I, and everyone that I have ever explained the meaning of the word kerning to, should.

A designer that is experienced enough to use uppercase Gotham (which is around $199 by the way), and whose work is going to be featured on multiple TV stations nationwide, knows better than to leave the default letter spacing intact. The odd thing is that through the different variations of the "Hope For Haiti Now" logos, only some of them seem to have been left unkerned.

The one which aired on TV during the telethon (displayed above) was the worst of all. It appeared that since the second letter in each word was either and 'A' or an 'O', the designer attempted to line them up vertically, rather that kern each word properly. This is only a guess, and could just be coincidence, but I suspect it is not. It is particularly bad between the 'F' and 'O' in 'FOR'.

The identity and print campaign mistakes are far less egregious than those of the website, but it appears to be carelessness which could have and should have been remedied before any production began.

Fix What Is Broken

I can not say enough positive things about the efforts put forth to help those in need, but if nobody says it, then it will never be taken care of correctly the next time around.

I am sure I will receive mixed reactions regarding this issue. I will stand by my word but am open to hearing your thoughts.

Do you think the look of the campaign matters in its effectiveness? Are there reasons behind the designs that I am not seeing? Tell me what you think in your comments.