The Creating of Collected
30 June, 2010
Fhewwh...
It's done.
Almost 10 months ago I bumped into Nathan Taylor on the 2nd level landing in the Hub building at Hills. I had kind of been avoiding him because he has a way of stressing me out with his big ideas. He had been throwing ideas around for a new Hillsong Creative blog site, which sounds great, but was a bit of work. "Jimmy! - I've got a new idea for a new website," he yells... 'Here we go,' I think. He was about to take things to a "whole nuther level".
That was the day Hillsong Collected [or 'voices' depending on who you ask - internal joke] was conceived. It's been a journey to say the least. And somehow I feel it's far from over.
The Need
We were definitely in need of a centralised blogging site for Hillsong Church. We have / had blogs all over the place. Being a multi-campus church it is easy for people & campuses to do their own thing, only to get lost in the 'noise' that is the internet and Google.
The Vision
The purpose of this site is to unify & 'Collect' all of Hillsong's blogs into one central place for easy viewing and access by you, and for this site to be 'Collected' and condensed into bite size packages delivered right into your email inbox weekly. Hopefully, as the popularity of this site grows you will be able to tailor your own 'Collected For You' so that you receive the content you love every week.
The How
After the Photoshop files were delivered, we began to build this site using Drupal (a wonderfully powerful content management system), as we coded & developed the site, Adam Moore began the process of gathering content & uploading it onto Drupal.
We hit so many road bumps during development, from files mysteriously being deleted from the server, to links breaking over night and modules resetting themselves! Ah, the life of a web designer! I felt like we were taking 3 steps forward, then 2 steps back. Hillsong Collected was originally due to be launched in February this year, and then April, and then June the 4th [3 weeks ago]. Nath, the creative director for the project was adamant that every design element had be perfect, although this was challenging (when you just want to get something out the door), this was something that helped me grow as a young web designer / developer.
So here we are, on the verge of global launch... I'm happy and I'm excited for the potential of this site. I hope you love it too. Let me know what you think.
james.
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Hillsong Collected is a blog. It is an ongoing collection of thoughts and stories from the leadership and key team of Hillsong Church around the world, conveniently packaged in three different streams.
We want to inspire and encourage everyday people that your efforts and contributions can and will make a difference. So take a look around, make yourself at home and check back often.
For more information about Hillsong Church and our community initiatives please visit hillsong.com
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