SendThemToMars.org
SendThemToMars.org was our second public personal project. SendThemToMars.org was created to raise awareness and money for space research (yeah we're Trekkie's - no we did not like ST Enterprise). Our methods for doing this focused on two primary methods: direct money bundling through sales of SendThemToMars.org merchandise through CafePress, and sales of "Tickets to Mars."
The tickets to Mars were our personal way of bundling money and lobbying politicians at the same time. The idea was that, when people bought a ticket to Mars, the recipient would be a politician like a Senator or Congressperson. We thought that if politicians began receiving large quantities of tickets to Mars, they would realize that people would like to see more of our efforts (and money) used on space technologies and so, once their understanding of this took hold of them, they would make legislation that would have a similar outcome.
The design of the SendThemToMars.org site was obviously space/Mars oriented. To give the impression of space and Mars, we decided to have the site on a black background with the content section displaying a panorama of the surface of Mars. In the left hand column there was a rocket with the engines burning at full blast headed to Mars. The idea with this arrangement centered around the concept that humanity needed to spread out through the cosmos and that Mars is the next logical step and best space destination.
The site was a fluid width design with a closed and active theme to compliment the lack of large amounts of rich media. For layout, we decided to have a single column design with navigation on top and content blocks on the bottom. This arrangement allowed the content, and not the blocks, to achieve the greatest level of viewer focus.
The site itself had many interesting features but in the end we decided that we needed to pursue something that would have a greater chance of financial success. Hence CollectiveColors.com. We would like to resurrect SendThemToMars.org at some point when we are in a better position to take such a gamble, however now is not the time.