Cook 1
Dina Cook
Jennifer Courtney
English 2010
September 26, 2008
The Ronald McDonald House Charity Website
I found the Ronald McDonald House Charities website (www.rmhc.com) while doing research for my visual analysis essay. The name, “Ronald McDonald” is very well known; the name alone gives credibility to the website. Ronald McDonald House Charities is a not for profit organization that sponsors the Ronald McDonald Houses around the world. After seeing “McDonalds” almost every where one looks, big blazing signs, hamburgers, gold arches and clowns with long red hair on TV ads, I was expecting more of the same. I was pleasantly surprised to see a web page conservative in structure and dignified in content, reinforcing the credibility of the organization and what they represent.
Upon looking at the home page for the first time I was struck by the classic colors used, the uncluttered page and the clean and clear font. The website is easy to use, interesting, and professional in every aspect and a good source of information. My eyes were drawn first to the smiling little girl on the banner with a missing tooth on a background of multi-colored rich deep red. The “Ronald McDonald House Charities” is placed to the left and is conservative in size so as to leave the main focus on the child. My eye was then drawn to a nice grey menu with good contrast in the background, from which the site is driven. The four items on this menu explicitly state what this organization is all about: Donate to RMHC, Join the Family, Volunteer Your Time, Become a Corporate Donor. Several things were interesting to me and I believe lend to the credibility of this site. First, is the use of an acronym, RMHC rather than repeat the long mouth full of “Ronald McDonald House Charities.” I view this as an intentional effort to keep the focus on the mission of the organization and not on the commercial product.
I noticed that the home page was in the .com domain which I thought unusual in that most not for profit organizations use the .org domain, however, each menu item takes you to a subdomain of www.rmhc.org. The fact that it is a not for profit organization tends to lend additional credibility. The four menu items allowed me to locate the information I needed rapidly and efficiently. This shows an intentional and clear organization of the site and menus and I think it shows the care and effort that went into the design. Navigating to any of the four tabs brings up additional pages in the same format and in the same color scheme but with different pictures of children on the banner. It was also interesting that every face had a smile. Not the outrageous smile when one laughs or is excited but just a subtle and genuine joy.
At the bottom of the page is shown a copyright of the McDonald’s Corporation. links for donations, volunteers, grant information and IRS tax forms. The site provides address and phone numbers for contact information. Many sites now days do not provide this information and so this was nice to see. Second is the use of the word, “Family.” Throughout the website I saw the term “Our Family” used many times. They reference the organization as a “family”. They invite outsiders in to be a part of “their family.” Again there is a ring of genuines to the use of those words in this context. There is no feeling of pressure or being pushy using gimmicks to promote their cause.
They also use the abbreviation RMHC that stands for Ronald McDonald House Charity. This allows the author to incorporate the name of the charity very easily without overwhelming the reader with a mouth full of words. There is a very clear message right on the top of the home page that says “Help Change a Childs Life Today”.
This message is sure to impact the readers. Help save a life is strong statement that is going to tell the readers that the Ronald McDonald house needs help from the reader either by donating or giving of one’s time. A list of other suggestions is available under the “Volunteer” tab.
I feel the intended reader is going to be for a more mature audience, possibly someone looking for assistance from the Ronald McDonald house or people looking to volunteer or donate to the charity. This website is a great resource for families with sick children seeking medical treatment out of there home towns that may need assistance in their difficult times. The author of this website had intended this to be read my a variety of people, thus the reason for all the different tab options. There are tabs for donatons, volunteers, background information, and even tabs with testimonials from families that have been helped. The colors being used on the website are red and yellow which are the well known McDonalds colors. The author has included pictures of children and even video. This kind of interactive site will draw people further into the site. There is an additional tab that says “Media Room” (McDonalds).The media room has many other interactive and creative options like media material, RMHC video and even pictures.
There is a link in two different places on the site that say “Celebrity Friends” (McDonalds). This part of the website is to inform and show you all the celebrities that affiliate with the Ronald McDonald house. My feeling is that the author may be make an assumption that people that read this are impressed by these celebrities or even know who they are. This is something that may be targeted toward a younger audience.
I believe the author does a good job of giving the "Help" and "Welcome" message to its readers. I think the author of this website has the intentions of educating the reader, guiding the reader, and encouraging the reader to get involved. This website is set up in such a way that all this information is at your finger tips. What I really like about the site is it is not overwhelming me with to much to read or look at. It actually has minimal writing on the home page. The home page really consists of images as the main focus and gateways to further topics. There is not feeling of pressure or guilt for not participating. This site is a great place for credible information and has my recommendation.
Work Cited
Ronald McDonald Corporation. “Ronald McDonald House Charities Home Page”. 26 September 2008.<http://rmhc.org/.>
