Site Description

Site Name

Ainsworth Favorite Things

Domain: www.ainsfavthings.net

Purpose Statement

A website focused on collecting and sharing the family traditions, stories and history of the Ainsworth family. This is an exclusively limited audience.

Background and Details:

The Ainsworth family has been spread to various locations across the country and several years ago they realized that they were losing part of their family heritage because they did not have much opportunity to spend time together. The grandchildren did not have the opportunity to learn from their grandparents, aunts and uncles lost touch, and cousins rarely met together. They realized that part of their identity includes their family origins and oral traditions.

The new website will bring together the stories of family experiences, likes and dislikes, funny anecdotes, "things momma told me", and a list of their favorite things, and give them a place for adding future material. Because it is web-based, they can add photos and videos as well as written content. This new medium will generate interest in the project, and the simplicity will increase participation.

Family members will be asked to contribute to the website on a regular basis. However, this is not intended to become the Ainsworth “Facebook”. The proposed plan is to introduce themes and ask for input on various topics, but still allow any of the family members to add additional content as they desire. Inclusion of a family blog has also been contemplated.

Target Audience

The target audience for this website is exclusive to the Ainsworth family – grandparents, parents, children and grandchildren. This group includes a wide range of age groups, interests, occupations and geographic locations.

• Age: 5 years to 75+ years (some younger but not considered for this audience)
• Gender: male and female
• Economic range: Average family income from $14,000 to $200,000+
• Education range:
  • College graduate
  • Some college (or currently enrolled)
  • High school graduate
  • Primary/High school
• Internet access:
  • PC/laptop
  • Tablet device
  • Smartphone
• Interests:
  • Outdoor recreation (hunting, fishing, camping, boating, skiing, hiking)
  • Cars & Trucks & Motorcycles (repair, hobby, customization)
  • Arts & Crafts (photography, videography, painting, sculpture, home crafts)
  • Pets (dogs, cats, horses, fish, hamsters)
  • Literature (reading, writing/poetry, writing/prose, book collecting)
  • Family history & Genealogy
• Occupations:
  • Retired
  • Homemaker
  • Electrical utility foreman
  • Insurance sales manager
  • IT Manager
  • Small business owner
  • Administrative assistant
  • Student
• Geographic Locations:
  • Arizona – Yuma
  • California – Simi Valley
  • California – Modesto
  • California – Escalon
  • Florida - ?
  • Georgia – Cumming
  • Illinois – Carol Stream

Personas

Male

Attribute	Details
Persona:	Brother (sibling)
Photo:
Fictional name:	Bob
Job title / major responsibilities:	Electrical Utility Foreman/Manager
Demographics:	Age: 58 years old Education: High school graduate, trade school, some college Ethnicity: Caucasian/White Family status: Married to first wife (38 years) Father of three children Grandfather of four children
Goals and tasks:	He is laid-back and easy-going. He accomplishes his responsibilities with care and integrity and expects subordinates to do the same. He prefers to avoid conflict. Spends his work time: Troubleshooting technical issues with electric grid Assigning workload for subordinates Performing work on difficult/unusual issues
Environment:	Uses a PC connected via broadband connection at home. At work he uses a PC connected via T1 or laptop connected via wi-fi. Also uses a smartphone on wireless network, occasionally connecting via wi-fi. He uses email frequently. He occasionally uses social media, but prefers to be an observer, rather than an active participant.
Quote:	“Of course I talk to myself. Sometimes I need expert advice.”

Female

Attribute	Details
Persona:	Niece (extended family)
Photo:
Fictional name:	Nancy
Job title / major responsibilities:	Administrative assistant
Demographics:	Age: 33 years old Education: High school graduate Ethnicity: Caucasian/White Family status: Divorced Mother of one child
Goals and tasks:	She is cheerful and enthusiastic, but easily distracted at work. She performs her job well, but has little drive to excel. Her responsibilities include: Answering phones and directing calls Filing paperwork Word processing General office tasks
Environment:	She uses a laptop connected to a broadband gateway via wi-fi at home. She also uses a tablet and a smartphone. At work she uses a PC connected via T1 to the corporate LAN. She has multiple personal email accounts, but social media is her preferred communication method. She is very skilled with social media and uses it frequently each day, every day.
Quote:	“Waking up before 7am should be illegal.”

Scenarios

For this exercise, I am using task-based scenarios:

1. A teenaged boy has an assignment to write a report on family members who have served in the military and needs a source of information.
2. A young girl wants to hear the story of “how grandma and grandpa met”.
3. A married couple wants a method/place to share their wedding photos with other members of the family who are far away, and to preserve them for future generations.
4. An adult man is diagnosed with a medical condition that may be hereditary and wants to know if other members of the family have had the same condition.
5. An adult woman wants to show her daughter pictures of her aunts, so she can see where she gets her beautiful eyes.
6. A young man wants to know if there are any videos of his deceased grandparents so he see them and hear their voices.
7. A woman wants to conduct a fun survey of the extended family to build family bonds.
8. An older man wants to view pictures of the family from previous years and reminisce.
9. The family historian needs a space to store family stories so they are accessible to everyone in the family.
10. A man working on his genealogy needs a source of information to clarify some questions he has about an ancestor’s record he found on FamilySearch.org.

Content Architecture

Content List

• Home Page
  • Text:
    • Introduction to Site
    • Overview/Purpose
  • Images: Photo of the family
  • Links: “Child” pages, Blog, About
• Families
  • Family (Overview)
    • Text: Description of who we are and what makes us distinct from every other Ainsworth family
    • Images: Photos of the family as a group, such as family portraits, reunions, gatherings, etc.
    • Videos: Video (and audio) files of the family as a group, such as family activities, reunions, gatherings, etc.
  • Family (A) – The Patriarch/Matriarch [This layout is typical for all “Family” pages]
    • Text: Description of the family
      • Names (including maiden name)
      • Birthdates
      • Marriage
      • Occupation(s)
      • Accomplishments and Interests
      • Places lived and/or visited
      • Children
    • Images: Photos of family, including individuals, such as portraits, weddings, reunions, gatherings, etc.
    • Videos: Video (and audio) files of the family as a group, such as family activities, weddings, reunions, gatherings, etc.
    • Links: Home, other “child” pages, Blog, About
      • Family (A.1) – First child of Family A
      • Family (A.2) – Second child of Family A
      • Family (A.3) – Third child of Family A
      • Family (A.4) – Fourth child of Family A
• Articles
  • Histories
    • Text: Biographies and histories of ancestors
    • Images: Photos of family members to accompany the histories
    • Videos: Video (and audio) files of family members to accompany the histories (if available)
  • Our Stories
    • Text: Personal stories from family members
    • Images: Photos of family members to accompany the stories
    • Videos: Video (and audio) files of family members to accompany the stories (if available)
  • Military
    • Text: Description of military service of family members
      • Branch of Service
      • Dates Served
      • Occupation(s)
      • Significant accomplishments
    • Images: Photos of family members in military uniform
      • Basic Training
      • Other military photos
    • Videos: Video (and audio) files of family members engaged in military activities
  • Missions
    • Text: Description of missionary service on behalf of a church (not limited to LDS)
      • Dates served
      • Location(s)
      • Significant events or contributions
    • Images: Photos of family members during missionary service
    • Videos: Video (and audio) files of family members engaged in missionary service
  • Medical
    • Text: Descriptions of significant or hereditary medical conditions of family members
      • For deceased family members, the cause of death
• Surveys
  • My Favorite Things
    • Text: Questions and responses of two (2) surveys sent to all family members
  • How I Met Your Mother/Father
    • Text: Questions and responses of a survey sent to all married family members
  • Life Has Taught Me…
    • Text: Questions and responses of a survey sent to all family members
• Blog
  • Text: A web blog of posts by family members
• About
  • Registration
    • Text: Explanation of registration process
    • Forms: A registration form for users who wish to contribute to the web site
  • Links
    • Text: Description of the links that appear on the site, such as hyperlinks to other websites
    • Links:
      • FamilySearch.org
      • LDS.org
      • YouTube.com
      • Websites that belong to family members
  • Terms
    • Text: Description of the terms for using the website, the content, and associated images, audio and video files.

Site Map

Style Guide

Color Scheme

Basic color scheme will be Blue/Green/Yellow – Full colors

Image is for color scheme reference only. This is not a wireframe.

Typography

Navigation

Navigation will be located near the top of the page, between the header and the main elements. It will be light green (#54D954) with darker green text (#009E00). It will also have a hover effect which will change the background color to dark green (#007C00) and the text to light green (#54D954) during the hover. Navigation will be uniform across the site.

Responsiveness