In alignment with our recent work and re-visioning for the Alliance, I propose we make changes to the following in time for our September 15 public opening/launch:
1. www.DepthPsychologyAlliance.com home page —structure, content, look and feel
2. change to the overall look and feel, and navigation of the entire web site
3. logo
4. tagline (please vote or share your feedback on this below)
Here are some details & comments:
1. Home page: As the chair of the Re-Vamping the Home Page Task Force, I have (with a contractor) initiated the re-work of rethinking and building a new home page (and overall navigation) for the Alliance that will be simpler and more dynamic. To this end, I have made suggestions for layout, links, categories, and graphics we can use.
2. Web Site look and feel: using the new “wrapper” (look and feel, header, links, etc.) created for the home page, we’ll simply link directly to some of the sections on the current (Ning) site. For example, the “Events” link on the new home page will simply point to the existing Events page on the Alliance site now. However, we will change the look and feel of the Ning site to match the new home page as best as we can to make the two more consistent in the way they look. They won’t be identical, but we'll do what we can.
3. Logo: I’ve been working on producing new logo that is simpler and more straightforward, but still focused on the beehive. Also moving away from the “black” look and feel. Will share with you soon, but feedback on this direction welcomed.
4. Tagline: Given the recent work that’s happened in the Vision Task Force and our move toward being (and being seen as) an incubator (I really like that archetypal image)—I think we need to change the slogan or tagline I’ve used until now to reflect the fact that we want to be able to serve as an incubator for people to deepen into soul, and as an incubator for professionals to create or support their work in the world (Soul stewards; those engaging depth psychology as a vocation).
You can see the current logo with the current tagline at the top of this web page. Current tagline is “Engaging the World with Soul”.
I’d like to propose a new tagline from (or similar to) the following and would love to have your vote or feedback. Or if you have a better idea, don’t hesitate to share.
- Incubating soul and the work of soul
- Incubating soul and the work of soul in the world
- Incubating soul for individuals and professionals
- Incubating soul for individuals and practitioners
- Incubating soul for individuals and those promoting the work of soul
- Incubating soul for personal and professional growth
I am currently the only one of us actively working on this initiative and feeding suggestions to graphic design and web development, so if anyone else from the board wants to be involved as part of this, let me know. I’ll be sending updates to everyone periodically but hope to have the new look and feel up by the time we open the site to the public on Sept. 15.
Replies
Wow, I think I would have to break this down into different, 'digestible', parts! Quite a bit here, but I know we can do it!
This is the issue of creating word from Image...Jung struggled with this one too! If we can imagine first, the words and format would follow. Maybe, we need to be hunting for examples on the net.
The search continues...
I would love to help with this task of yours, if you find my ideas have merit for you. The brand is so much about aesthetics. Much of what you're trying to do with the look and feel of a website is speaking to people on a visceral, evocative level.
As to your first point, above, I think a subtle "entry" into the website is appropriate, sort of a "come hither" glance, as if from Psyche herself. This might mean less of everything--maybe just poetic terms for our different categories of offers that would float in a circular pattern, with "home" at the center--people could click on one of the terms. In the same vein, the way categories are shown might actually express some key depth concepts (like a circular feel for circumambulation, or a path format to express the individuation journey). What I'm saying badly is that it could be cool for the imagery and colors of the site to actually be a visual expression of what depth psychology (and the Alliance) stands for. Perhaps the site should have a "lunar," introspective look, versus a "solar" active look. Maybe the homepage "wrapper" that you speak of could have a more subdued version (the lunar part that draws us in) of the Alliance colors and then link to the bolder (more solar) part of the site where all the action takes place.
I'm not nuts about the word "incubating" for two reasons--it's long been appropriated in the business context, so that it's overused and elicits eye-rolling there; also, I experience it to be intellectual and not poetic, like I experience soul to be. However, it does represent the concept of nursing what is emerging. Did you rule out "arousing" or "awakening"? Perhaps you felt those were more trite, however, they also conjure what all of our services and offerings are about. Perhaps "Arousing soul for personal and professional growth," something like that.
I hope this is helpful. It's just one opinion. I know how much thought you put into these things, and I appreciate that you are the marketing expert among us.
Thank you for this Dorene,
I have been musing about this and agree that the term "incubating" may be more related to our own process as we work with the images.
I also agree with Donna that image first will simplify and clarify our direction.
- A very simple, elegant and aesthetically beautiful home page. Simplicity allows for easier navigation and draws the eye and the imagination toward possibility and I think potential, possibility, emergence, opening, hub, pathway, portal; indeed an image that circumambulates or moves outward from a central core...A circular image as of a beehive or the globe...
- A Logo will be important that can serve as a brand that is easily recognizable.
- buff, yellow/gold or light background color that draws one into it. This tends towards the solar but perhaps, that is appropriate to our goal of reaching outward.
Anyway, lots of room to play here as we circumambulate, incubate, and ultimately give birth and new life to our new page.
..it is a good time to play with color, image and word...Inviting the poetic imagination to steer us is a great idea!
Let's keep playing and see what awakens..
Just some of my thoughts and musings...
Good thoughts and musings, Eva!
What about the word cultivating, Bonnie? As in cultivating the emergent. Any resonance with that?
Just some MORE thoughts and musings . . . . ;-)
Bonnie and all, hi:
I love all of the new ideas and initiatives. The ideas of a new home page, a link going to the events page from an events link, and a new logo all appeal to me. also, keeping the new page and the other sites relatively consistent sounds like a great idea, too. I'm especially in favor of anything that streamlines the home page (more along the lines of the bare-bone Google search page) and makes it more aesthetically appealing. All of your suggestions and plans sound like great ideas.
I have to say, though, that I still prefer “Engaging the World with Soul” to any of the new suggested taglines. I could give analytical reasoning to support my feelings about that, but essentially, I just like the phrase “Engaging the World with Soul."
In any case, Bonnie, I continue to be amazed by the range and depth of work that you continue to do on all of this. I support whatever you want to do!
All the best,
James
Bonnie, does the link above show the new website look (it looks the same to me)?
It is hard to vote for a tag line until I see the new logo and website design, because the tag line should include language that evokes the logo image (IMHO). For example, are you going with the image of an egg? If yes, then "incubating" is a good word to use within the tag line; however, if you are going with the image of a bee, butterly, flowers, etc, I think the tag line should include something to do with their imagery and/or function.
I am wondering what happens if we play with "incubation" and "dreaming" and maybe a springing outward image...a movement, a buzzing an offering, something that reveals...the generosity that is at the heart and soul of The Depth Psychology Alliance...?
Thanks Craig and Eva for weighing in so quickly. Just an observation--the tagline will always (presumably) be used in conjunction with our name "Depth Psychology Alliance"--so people will know that "soul" will be in association with psychology, even if they don't know what "depth psychology" is specifically.
And for the record--I still (and will probably always) like the term "depth" psychology because even if people aren't familiar with it, it does suggest WHAT it is---psychology that is "deep" and so will potentially appeal to anyone who is interested in psychology and wants to find deeper meaning
Hi Bonnie,
I am also sitting with this; incubating, concur with Craig...
Incubating Soul/Psyche/Depth Psychology...and how to give it wings..
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next