Cairns Web Design

For the majority of non-profit organizations, online fund-raising has become one of the most important sources of income, especially the last 10 years. Designing an inspiring and appealing donation page can certainly make a big difference in converting large numbers of visitors into donors. But, unfortunately many non-profit organizations simply overlook this much more mundane aspect of online appeal while paying loads of attention and time in developing innovative and inspirational online content. In this round-up, we are showcasing some exceptionally designed donation pages for your inspiration.

1. Save the Children

This website has a very sleek design with beautifully designated avenues intended for assistance. There are plenty of courses of action for users that could have made it a cluttered mess, but the design keeps it all very well-organized.

2. Keep a Child Alive

This sleek design makes use of large buttons with a variety of ways to contribute to the mission. A slight grungy effect is used in order to highlight areas of the page. Overall the design is simple and impressive.

3. Manna FoodBank

In this website, you can see the use of a natural color scheme that fits with their mission. The call to action button with the slightest change in color definitely stands apart.

4. Red Nose Day

The Red Nose Day site makes use of a simple two-tone color scheme that symbolizes the passion for the mission. The red colors spreading through the donation page drive people to take action.

5. Oxfam

Here the design of the donation page focuses the entire attention on the obligatory mission and calls to the readers.

6. Habitat For Humanity

The design of this website’s donation page is simple and clutter free; and focuses only on the mission.

7. Witness

The Witness donation page is mainly covered with the text and relevant information with a nicely designed call to action button that is placed right at the upper right corner.

8. Make-A-Wish

In this web design, although it is constructed well, there is a lack of distinction for its calls. The blue turns out to be rather awe-inspiring with the amount of information it contains.

9. American Heart Association

This stylish donation page mainly draws the attention of their users towards the calls. They picked their color scheme quite smartly and the subtle uses of white with the blue definitely look great.

10. Giving to Johns

Giving to Johns Hopkins pushes their cause with a very stylish and appealing donation page that stands out mainly because of its alluring contrast in colors on the header and call to action button.

11. Doctors without Borders

This design of a donation page stands out in our collection as it utilized tabbed windows in order to separate the different paths that users can take to dig in.

12. ASPCA

Here is another example of a subtle donation page. ASPCA uses purple for their calls that truly stands out from the overall orange design colors. With such a soft coloring, ASPCA imparts a sense of comfort that in turn eases the readers into the cause and taking action.

13. Susan G. Komen for the Cure

Susan G. Komen for the Cure website uses a brilliant color scheme that symbolizes their true passion for the mission.

14. Natural Resources Defense Council

The Natural Resources Defense Council uses a very simple approach. They bring overly large and bold call to action buttons into play that make their donation page stands out from the rest. This no frills approach puts pure focus on the mission.

15. Invisible Children

The Invisible Children donation page is as inspiring and touching as their mission is. In order to connect with their mission effectively, they utilize large images of the children the world tends to overlook.

16. Donate Life California

This is a somewhat unusual design for a donation page but this one really stands out from the rest of the site because of its pink calls to action buttons.

17. Charity: Water‘s

With the help of this understated design, Charity: Water‘s keeps their donation page extremely simple and focuses only on the mission.

18. Humane Society‘s

Large images and bold buttons are used to draw the users’ attention towards the main cause and convince them to take action.

19. Action for Children

This website has an attention-grabbing, large and appealing call to action area. This call to action area offsets the donation area satisfactorily and efficiently pulls the reader to it.

20. MJFF

MJFF brings warm and inviting colors into play in order to engage their readers. The color scheme works well and the gradient on the actual donate button makes it stand out.

21. The Nature Conservancy

The Nature Conservancy uses a quite unusual approach for their donation page. They placed two subtle calls under the header where users are likely to expect the navigation to be.

22. Kiva

Kiva has a very simple, sleek donation page that focuses on several routes to help users. The boldly colored call to action buttons are truly attention grabbing.

23. Operation Warm

Here you will notice a nice, friendly color scheme that varies throughout the page. Though the main calls to action mix together with a majority of the site because they are the same color while the secondary calls are a bit more obvious because they break from the blue.

24. Mozilla

Mozilla features a delicate donation page design with an innovative header that accompanies their website. Their fans and users can donate to keep their mission active.

25. Network for Good

Network for Good has got a fantastic design that possesses three courses of action that their readers may pursue. Each of them holds a large, attention-grabbing call to action button.

26. Virgin Money Giving

Here is a unique donation page that is divided into categories in order for users to find the kind of charitable organization they are seeking to support.

27. Planned Parenthood‘s

Here a form is used for the main appeal with more subtle calls placed in the upper right corner. Overall the design is simple and effective leading the reader into the ‘action center’.

28. World Food Programme

World Food Programme uses a very subtle design for their website with an online form to help their users donate for their cause to keep it alive.

29. Red

In this web design, you will see minimalism in a new style as this donation page features overly large typographical elements that truly work well to draw the users’ attention to the action areas.

30. Amnesty International

Amnesty International design of the donation page focuses the entire attention on the obligatory mission and calls to the readers.

31. Dalit Freedom Network

Dalit Freedom Network uses a very natural and earthy color scheme that works well with their mission along with eye catching and appealing call to action buttons.

32. Take The Walk

The boldly colored call to action buttons in this design truly stand out from the other donation page designs. The color scheme is also very appealing.

33. Practical Family Living

Another excellent example of a subtle donation page design that works very well for the mission. All the design elements are in perfect balance making this design stand out.

34. Housing Works

What makes this design stand out is its excellent color contrast as well as call to action button. Housing Works pushes their cause with an extremely trendy and tempting donation page.

35. Children’s Rights

Children’s Rights donation page is designed by keeping the overall design simple and clutter free. The call to action button is moderately sized and positioned at the center of the page.

37. Project Rescue Foundation

In this web design, you will see a unique approach for designing donation pages. An online form is also there to help you donate to their cause.

38. Custodial Abuse

Here they use a large image to connect with their cause in a simple but effective way as they are working for a very sensitive cause.

38. Memphis Zoo

This rather remarkable design for a donation page truly stands out from the rest of the site due to its excellent and vividly colored calls to action button.

Have you ever thought that the reason behind you not getting any design jobs is not the amount of skills you have, but the résumé you send to companies? Think that when companies post job openings hundreds of applications come in day by day and the HR manager needs to sort the bad ones out first. What if your résumé, even if you are a great designer, fails to make the second round?

The goal of the companies is to determine if you really are the person on your résumé, and they do this by first looking at your basic skills. Most of the hiring staff only want to contact applicants on the phone, because this is easier for them and more effective, so they will try to get you on the phone soon after your CV passes the initial basic requirements.

They also look at how dynamic a person is and try and determine a bit about their personality – previously working in groups is an advantage, as graphic and web designers have to do this every day at their jobs. If your personality and the basic skills get the OK, then the HR manager will probably ask technical employees more about your coding skills. Although it is a very quick process, it all starts with your résumé and if the one you submit is not good enough, you will never get a phone or direct interview.

1. Tell them where to find you

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I do not mean your home address – this is something you should have in your CV anyway. I’m talking about your portfolio. If I want to hire somebody, I definitely do not want to spend time searching for him on Google. I am not hired to do this, if you are not smart enough to provide it yourself, your CV goes to the shredder. List your web page in the header of your résumé, so it is the first thing the hiring staff notices.

Keep in mind you also need to show your work. If you say you are good in HTML5, the company needs to be able to be convinced before you will be called for an interview.

2. Follow people to stay in touch

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An important asset of a job candidate in the design field is to be in touch. It is important to use websites for inspiration, to follow other fellow designers on Twitter and exchange opinions with developers. Many companies ask during the interview who you follow in the design industry, either on Twitter, Dribble, Facebook or other media. I am not saying you should prepare an answer only for the sake of it, I am saying you should actually follow people in the industry.

Another question you might get asked is what did you do in the last year to become a better designer. This is a key one because it will show your potential employer you are really interested in what you do and are passionate about it. Moreover, it will show you continuously work to improve yourself and this is something managers like to hear. You can take different courses on the internet or pay for subscriptions on Lynda.com. Code School and A Book Apart are some other great resources you can use.

Image by Lifetracks volunteer group.

Your résumé should show that you are interested and look to grow as a designer or developer. You should be able to adapt to new techniques and show that you always have a hand on what is new in the industry.

3. Notice the job description

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When applying for a graphic designer job, knowing ASP.net doesn’t help too much. It is an advantage, but it is not what you will be evaluated on. It is a good idea to write a personalized cover letter for each job you apply for; make sure it is unique and reflects why you wish to work for that company in that specific opening. Although you think they will not, I assure you HR managers notice when people send mass e-mails, so as said before, avoid doing it. You can create a good, strong impression if you write a unique e-mail to each job posting – as a matter of fact, as all of them are different, it would be stupid to send the same application to all of them.

4. No signs of experience

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How do you expect to get a job if you have no experience in the field you apply for? I am sure there are job openings for inexperienced people, but they do not mean newbies. If the work you did before is not something you are entirely proud of, you can always create your own project. Use your skills to create a template and sell it on ThemeForest or any other similar website. Do you have a lot of client work that doesn’t show your creativity? It’s never impossible to make something on your own – a hiring manager will appreciate the fact that you design in your free time as well. If you think your portfolio can be improved, do it before sending out your résumé.

Image by Susanne13.

5. Show you are a designer

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When you send out a CV for an engineer job, it can be a basic word format with no template. But when you apply for a design job, why not put your creativity skills to work and make a great template for your résumé? If you are able to design a stunning template for your CVs, this will scream creativity, care and attention to details and will move you to the top of the list right away. If you don’t have time for this, use a digital tool such as Zerply. The templates they offer look great and the portfolios uploaded there are very easy to maintain. Another tip is to send PDFs instead of Word documents and sending out your whole website (if it works as a classic résumé) can be effective as well.

Conclusion

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These were only a few basic tips to improve your CV. Remember that while there is no direct contact between you and the company, the résumé is the only piece of work that will bind the two of you. It is always worth spending two hours on building a stunning CV than using two hours for sending out default templated résumé.

Keep in mind you need to show creativity and willingness to improve and your résumé will pass into the second round. Now if you are a good designer and have the necessary skills, you will pass through the third round and will be able to meet the hiring manager in person. But tips for a face-to-face interview another time…

Until next time, let’s stir up a discussion here. Do you have some other tips to give all of us for improving our CV?