Often organizations make a mistake in thinking that all they have to do to create a web-based presentation is to create a link to a PDF file.  If budget is tight and something needs to be done immediately, this can work.  But if an organization wants to truly persuade an audience, they need to do better than that.

Recently we had the opportunity to work with the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder to turn a static PDF into something that truly engages soldiers and their families.  The original PDF was designed as a printed pamphlet and it served that purpose well: rich in content, well laid out, and full of pictures.  But NCPTSD knew that a good design for print does not translate into a good design for the web, and they wanted something that their viewers would watch and be inspired by.

We created “Returning from the War Zone: A Guide for Families,” an on-line presentation that uses a simple user interface, transparent navigation, friendly narration, colorful graphics, and video stories that put a face on the serious issue of posttraumatic stress disorder.  Though the content was derived from the PDF version, we revised it dramatically to work in an on-line environment, chunking the information, rewriting it for narration, and providing much of the information through video storytelling.  Check out the finished product and notice how much more compelling this is than a static PDF.