upstream Abby Gartner | Jason Schmitt | Emily Semba
why go with the flow?
Contents Development
Solution
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Project Summary
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Solution Summary
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Research
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Structure and Scale
Issues Addressed
Issues Addressed
Parent Organization
Benchmarking
Chapters
Audience Persona
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Development
Brand Associations & Mood Board Perception
Conceptual
Logo
Visual
Typography Photo Treatment
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Touchpoints Website App
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Case Study: CoD
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Project Summary
What is upstream? Upstream is an organization that supports the implementation and growth of Christian college ministries. Specifically, it provides Christian college student leaders with a prototype to personally initiate Christian ministries as well as the tools to help those ministries thrive. The prototype itself was developed to give Christian administrators basic guidelines for planning a ministry, applying a brand, budgeting and more. For nine weeks, our team of three collaborated to create this program in response to the lack of tools available to young Christian leaders. Our goal has been to create the wireframe on which Christ-centered college ministries can thrive.
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Research
What’s the Need? What needs are we addressing? First, our design stems from a clear lack of available guidance and tools for ministry implementation in a college context. Most college students who want to create ministry don’t know where to begin. Although Upstream cannot take away the difficulty of implementing a Christian program, it can at least provide individuals with an idea of how to do it Second, we believe that most college ministries do not meet major/college specific needs. Also, they tend to be focused on internal events/community and less focused on outreach and service. Upstream seeks to support ministries that find a better balance between internal events and outreach/service. In short, we love and serve people with no expectation to “convert” them.
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Upstream | Research
Audience Type This is the David Rose Model. We used it to study, categorize and ultimately target user groups.
(People groups 2 - 4 are inevitably more likely to become users. In this ministry, these three groups will end up outreaching to group 1)
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2.
Not ready to listen
Ready to listen
These individuals tend to have established views regarding religion and Christianity. Although they may politely listen to their Christian acquaintances, they are unlikely to take any Christian teachings seriously.
The people who are “ready to listen� are generally indifferent to religion but willing to objectively consider Christianity or take part in the Christian community.
3.
Ready to act
This group is generally comprised of people who have accepted Christianity as their own personal set of belief.
4.
Ready to advocate
Advocates are the group most likely to initiate and sustain a college ministry. They are easy to target.
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Benchmarking
Hope Community Church Hope Community Church has a very youthful, vibrant feel to their website and overall brand. The personality of their brand seems meant to appeal to a wide demographic, from younger students to middle-aged adults. They also have a very flexible brand, which allows the designs to carry a slightly different feel with each sermon series, while still being unified under the larger brand aesthetic. There are a few sans-serif and display fonts that the brand typically uses, and frequently employs the design strategy of using photos of people with text overlaid.
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Upstream | Research
Ignite Movement The Ignite Movement emphasizes building up students in their faith and empowering them to be sent out and carry the love of Christ into the world. Their brand personality is all about taking action and making an impact on the nations. To convey this notion, they frequently use photos of people in action. They also make references to their other ministry partners to emphasize that their organization is just one small piece in a much larger mission.
User User Persona: Phillip
Phillip is a sophomore at Cal Poly University studying philosophy and marine science. His parents are both atheist and he only visited church occasionally growing up. He holds the same beliefs as his parents, but is open to discussing and listening to other viewpoints. He is originally from North Carolina, where many of his friends were Christian and were very active in their faith. While he doesn’t personally agree with Christianity, he very much respects the faith and loves to engage in stimulating academic and intellectual conversations with those who believe in a higher power. Phillip is very involved with the debate team at Cal Poly, which takes up most of his weekends. However, he usually has free time during the week, and one of his friends who is a Christian consistently invites Phillip to the events at his church. While he is not planning on converting anytime soon, he joins his friend from time to time at events such as a casual Bible discussion or just-for-fun game night.
Age: 20 Major: Philosophy and marine biology Interests: Debate, Criminal Minds, hot sauce
Upstream | The Bigger Organization
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User Persona: Kinzie
Kinzie is an out-of-state freshman at NC State who is looking to get involved in a Christian organization. Because she is not from North Carolina, she does not yet have many friends at school and she is hoping to build relationships through a ministry. She attended her youth ministry on occasion in high school, and had a nominal interest in Jesus, but she remembers that the Christians at her high school always seemed friendly and kind. She would like to find a strong Christian community in college to get involved with to help her navigate the changes and trials of college life and be a steady source of support. Kinzie also does not have a car, so she would rather get involved with an on-campus ministry as opposed to one that frequently meets off campus. She would also like to find a church to attend, and wants to make lots of friends at various local churches so she can discover which one is the right fit for her. Because she is in architecture, she has lots of homework that requires her to be in her studio frequently. She does not have copious amounts of time to spare, so she prefers to find a ministry that have shorter meeting times and that gather near her design classes.
Age: 18 Major: Architecture Interests: Reading, visiting art museums, thrift shopping
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Upstream | Research
Upstream | The Bigger Organization
User Persona: Cameron
Cameron is a junior at Oregon State University who feels called to start a Christian ministry in his business school. He notices from his time there that most students do not know very much about Jesus, and he is compelled to spread the gospel story with them through initiating an organization where his peers can come to and discover more about God. He has been very involved in his church for several years, serving as a Bible study leader for a freshman small group. Because of his experience leading this smaller community and his close friendships with many of the church staff members, he has a general sense of how a Christian organization is run. His business education also helps him understand how organizations and non-profits are funded. He feels like the administrative and financial skills he has learned from his major will help him effectively manage and budget the resources needed for the ministry to thrive. However, James is unsure where to begin the process of implementing a ministry in the business school. He is somewhat introverted and although he has plenty of friends in his church, he doesn’t know many people in in the business school. Luckily, he has many mentors at his church that help give him advice and pray for him.
Age: 21 Major: Business Administration Interests: Backpacking, playing basketball, Golden Retrievers
Upstream | The Bigger Organization
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Upstream | Research
Development
Conceptual
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Upstream | Development
Visual
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Upstream | Development
The Solution
Upstream Mission Statement: Upstream is a Jesus-centered student community that aims to unify the body of Christ on college campuses, grow in intimacy with God, and share His love on their college campuses. We do this through the resources and events offered through chartered chapters of Upstream, and by equipping students with the resources they need to create and cultivate a customized ministry on their own campus. Vision: We want to empower college students - either as Christian leaders or as participants in Christian community. Our goal is to see greater love and greater freedom on campuses in the USA.
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Upstream | Solution
Organization Structure and Scale
The Parent Organization Purpose
Unique Functions
- Provide framework and suggested guidelines for Christian student leaders. - Provide information for students seeking an organization to join or visit.
- Use of the app does not require affiliation with upstream for the use of the ministry tools. Initiation tools. - The larger upstream organization has its own brand colors that cannot be used by the chapters.
Target User
Administration
- Christian college students seeking to initiate a ministry. - Students seeking to join an organization. - Patrons seeking to donate.
- Full time staff who run the organization and gain financial support from donations.
Primary User Interactions - Website: Provides detailed information about parent organization and chapters, charter application, store, etc. - App: Provides quizzes for ministry creation guidelines, messaging system, bulletin board, upstream news feed, etc.
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Upstream | Structure and Scale
User Interactions
Discover by word of mouth Intent: start a ministry
Discover website
View mission statement & about page
Intent: link current ministry with upstream
Find information about starting a ministry
Apply to become charterd with upstream
Download the app & log in to the app as an “administrator”
Intent: Utilize resources for chartered upstream chapters.
Research local upstream chapter
Visit store and shop for upstream items
Complete tests to generate guidelines for initiating ministry
Chartered
Visit local upstream chapter ministry Intent: get info about local upstream chapter
Use app solely for ministry purposes without upstream guidelines.
Download the app & log in to the app as a “member” Join ministry
Message local chapter leaders for info
Buy
Items will be delivered within 2 weeks
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Chapters Purpose
Unique Functions
- Create Intimate Christian community in the college context. - Empower members to live richly in their Christian beliefs.
- The app and brand colors can be utilized without being chartered with upstream. - Becoming chartered with upstream means that the chapter has access to brand collateral and templates for advertising. Additionally, chartering allows chapters to access more functions in the app - like communication with other chapters and a news feed from the parent organization.
Target User - College students within the specific college. - College students who fall into categories 2 - 4 of the David Rose Model (page 3).
Primary User Interactions - App: Provides quizzes for ministry creation guidelines, messaging system, bulletin board, upstream news feed, etc. - Events: There are available event templates for the ministry leader to chose from when developing the ministry.
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Upstream | Structure and Scale
Administration - Student leaders and volunteers
Brand
Associations and Mood Board Hip
Unique
College vibes
Adapt
Fresh
community
Intriguing
family
Metaphorical
Intimate
Welcoming
Unity
Grass roots
Perception The development of the ministry’s brand is centered around the perception. Our intent is that our target audience will be able to view the upstream branding materials with immediate recognition of a Christian message (fish symbol, text, etc.) but also experience the brand’s tone which is non-traditional, modern and unique. Love, fun and positivity are all concepts we wish to establish through the visual elements of the brand.
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Upstream | Brand
Logo Development
upst ream
up st re am
Logo Final
upstrea m
upstream
upstream
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Typography Kano Regular
Choplin Book
Logo and primary titles. There is a 2.5 px black outline on the text
Secondary headlines , menus and pull quotes
Avenir Book
t Body text, small prin
Colors & Customization
#48BFAE
#E6E7E7
#E6E7E7
The unaltered upstream color scheme. These colors are used for website and app before an upstream chapter
#D96356
#F9A664#
FAF290
#ACC956
#008895
#7F668A#
E6E7E7#
The color pallet used to customize the upstream logo. Due to the wide variety of University colors, the logo customization pallet consists of altered versions of each primary color. The chapter can choose a color for the logo that corresponds to their own university colors.
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Upstream | Brand
231F20
Photo Treatment
Photo treatment is designed to compliment the logo and provide another level of customizability to the chapters. The logo is restricted to just one color but the gradient photo filter brings in the primary and secondary color.
The photo content can be anything related to the community, objects, scenes and water (included in the idea of going “upstream�).
The overall perception of the photos/photo treatment is lightness and fun.
Collateral
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Upstream | Brand
Upstream App
Upstream Mobile
Home
The home page features a preview of the bulletin board posts, messages and upcoming events. The User can easily navigate the app using the top left icon to access the menu.
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Upstream | App
Events
The events are sorted by date: upcoming events are at the top. Members have the option of creating their own events.
Specific Event
The events don’t have to be formal. In fact, any type of event is encouraged whether it’s a simple school study session or a prayer walk in the city.
Settings/Profile
The profile settings and options are standard. The bio section encourages users to get creative.
Bulletin
This is a collaborative space where users can freely share, but their posts are organized and archived by category.
Quizzes
The quizzes are designed to generate ministry creation guidelines based on the user’s answer
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Upstream | App
Website
About Us When users first enter into www.Upstream.org, they are met with a cineagraph of water flowing in the background with the text rooted in place, representing the notion of staying grounded in one’s values even if popular culture relays a different message of what is right. The tabs on the right-hand side are the main means of navigation, with the menu bars reading bottom to top, further emphasizing the idea of swimming “upstream.”
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Upstream | Website
Upstream | The Bigger Organization
Connect Users can utilize this section of the website to search for officially-chartered Upstream chapters around the country and in their local area, by filtering by state or region, zooming in manually, or entering their zipcode. The map is color-coded to represent how many Upstream chapters are currently in each state. Once zoomed in, users can click on specific chapters to gather more information about the chapter. They can also contact the leadership team at that college or university if they would like more information about the chapter.
Upstream | The Bigger Organization 35
Leadership On this page, viewers can see the primary leaders both of Upstream as a whole and at each individual chapter. Users can scroll down to browse through photos and names of the various leaders, or find a specific leader or university using either the “Jump To:” button or the alphabetical sidebar on the left-hand side of the screen. When a leader’s photo or name is clicked, more information about that leader will be displayed.
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Upstream | Website
Upstream | The Bigger Organization
Beliefs Here, users can browse through the fundamental beliefs of Upstream. While Upstream is non-denominational, these beliefs are considered absolutely essential in shaping the mission and vision of the organization and its goals. Each core value will highlight when hovered over, and if clicked, users will be taken to another page where they can scroll through information about that belief category.
Upstream | The Bigger Organization
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Initiate On this tab, users can recieve more information about how to access the resources provided by Upstream to create a new campus ministry and to apply for their existing community to be officially chartered by Upstream. While all the tools and application are found within the mobile application, the website outlines what resources are provided for both unofficial and official Upstream chapters.
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Upstream | Website
Upstream | The Bigger Organization
Store In this section of the website, users can casually scroll through the various Upstream products and resources. Each product is customizable within the Upstream color pallette, allowing users to match the products to the color scheme of their school’s Upstream chapter. Anyone can view any of the items except for those in the “Apparel” section, which is only available to officially chartered Upstream members, which ensures that individuals representing the Upstream brand through wearable collateral match with Upstream’s identity and values.
Upstream | The Bigger Organization
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Upstream | Website
Case Study: NCSU College of Design
Case Study: NC State College of Design A walk-through of Cameron’s journey in creating a chapter to becoming chartered.
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Discover Upstream
Cameron is discussing his desire to create a Christian community in the College of Design at NC State with his pastor, Eric Rodriguez. They are relaxing next to a local lake. Eric mentions to Cameron that he knows of some college students at Appalachian State University who are also starting a campus ministry at their school through an organization called Upstream. He explains to Cameron that essentially Upstream allows students to create a new chapter of the organization on their own college campus, and that it gives students the resources to manage and customize the programs to the desired audience.
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Research Upstream
Intrigued, Cameron goes online to do some more research about Upstream and what the organization stands for. After a quick Google search, he finds the link to www.Upstream.org. He discovers that the vision of Upstream to unify Christians on college campuses and create tight-nit, family-like communities is exactly what he hopes to accomplish at NC State, and that he agrees with all the foundational beliefs of the organization. He checks the Connect page to see if there are any official Upstream chapters at NC State already, and he finds that there is not. On the Initiate page, he reads more about the resources available through Upstream to create a chapter on his campus. He thinks they will help him take some pragmatic steps to implementing his community, so he hits the “Create a New Chapter!” button. The website notifies him that he must download the Upstream app, which he does promptly.
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Creating a Ministry
Once on the app, he creates a new group ID for the NC State College of Design. He sees that there is a questionnaire he can take to help him get started in building his ministry. He takes the 4-section quiz, which asks specific questions about the group of students he wants to reach and the local spiritual and financial resources available to him.
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Upstream | Case Study
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Customize Ministry
The app gives him advice and suggestions for each category, and suggests that he start off with a fellowship brunch and prayer meeting. After a semester of these two events, the app suggests he add in a weekly Christian book study [insert timeline of events]. He notifies his peers about joining Upstream through the app, and it sends an email to his specified friends on his behalf.
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Becoming Chartered
After three months of hosting a weekly prayer meeting and fellowship brunch, he has gathered a core community of about 15 students in the College of Design that consistently meet both at the events and spontaneously throughout the week. He has just begun his book study, which seems to be gaining much traction and is bringing in new faces to the community. Currently, his chapter is running under the name “NC State College of Design Ministry.” However, Cameron decides that he wants to officially nest his chapter under the larger organization of Upstream, and rebrand his group to “Upstream NC State College of Design.” He goes to the app to apply to be chartered. This is a simple process that requires him to state his goals and vision for his community, the resources and accountability partners in his life, and how the community is currently functioning and thriving.
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Utilizing Official Upstream Resources.
Two weeks later, he sees in the Upstream app that his community has been approved as an officially chartered chapter! His ministry is now listed on the Connect page of the website and he can purchase official apparel for his group on the web store. He can now connect with other Upstream chapters through the app to see what other chapters are doing around the country! He downloads advertising posters for Upstream on the website, which he customizes and posts around campus to inform the College of Design of the Christian community he has created.
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