We are thrilled to announce that the Israel on Campus Coalition‘s the Ask Herzl website has won the Interactive Media Awards Best in Class Award for excellence in the design, development and implementation in the Nonprofit category. The Ask Herzl website offers visitors a world of programs and strategies to support Israel on campus and in their communities. The Best in Class award is the highest honor bestowed by the Interactive Media Awards. It represents the very best in planning, execution and overall professionalism. In order to win this award level, the the Ask Herzl site had to successfully pass through IMAs comprehensive judging process, achieving very high marks in each of their judging criteria – an achievement only a fraction of sites in the IMA competition earn each year. The judging consists of various criteria, including design, usability, innovation in technical features, standards compliance and content.
The Interactive Media Awards recognize the highest standards of excellence in website design and development and honor individuals and organizations for their outstanding achievement. Sponsored by the Interactive Media Council, Inc., a nonprofit organization of leading web designers, developers, programmers, advertisers and other web-related professionals, the competition seeks to elevate the standards of excellence on the Internet.
New Signature is proud to have worked with the Israel on Campus Coalition to have design and build this award winning website. New Signature implemented the website using the Ruby on Rails web application framework. This development technology allowed for rapid iteration and reduced development timelines, moving the project from approved design to production application in under eight weeks.
We approached Israel on Campus’ goal of building an online community for Israel activists, with the uncommon in mind. In search of a meaningful story, we went back in time to the 1800’s, wearing modern-day blue jeans and insouciance flip-flop sandals. The color pallet is a fusion between old-fashion neutrals and vivid aqua tones that enhance the lithographic-style illustrations. To speak to our audience, we became the energetic, new generation Israel advocates wearing a college sweatshirt that yelled “I am Israel’s voice on campus and beyond.” Rustic, hand-drawn illustrations of Israel landmarks that mimicked the Ask Herzl logo personality, were to be permanently displayed throughout the website; while a caricature of Herzl suspended on a hot air balloon looks through binoculars in search of new frontiers. The creative execution and design was a love at first site for our client, Israel on Campus, and for the team, as we captured the spirit and voice of our audience with a sense of individuality and lightheartedness. — We sure hope Mr. Theodor Herzl is applauding as well, wherever he may be!