The Proposal

20% Project Written Proposal

     1)   What is your project?

My goal is to design and develop a website that will serve three purposes: 1) To provide a sort of ‘escape’ from a negative or stress-inducing environment, , such as at work, at home, or even browsing the Internet, and 2) To act as a recovery agent for those suffering from intense stress or an anxiety attack, and 3) To provide information on mental illness. More about it in the first blog post.

    2)   Who will you work with?

I plan to work on my own, for the most part (which could either be a really good idea or a really big mistake). However, I have chosen a mentor to assist me. My mother has extensive knowledge of and experience with web design, so I’ve asked her to help with the aspects that I’m unfamiliar with.

   3)    Who is the audience?

The target end users could be anyone from students who are stressing over school, or an adult with a demanding job who just needs a mental break. Those who suffer from any sort of mental disorder could also benefit from the website if they are beginning to feel anxious or feel an attack coming on.

   4)   Why is this project worthwhile?

For many, recovering from a panic attack, etc. is difficult, to say the least. You may not be in the right environment for you to relax and let it pass or have the resources to help you do that. This website will hopefully make that a little bit easier, and to me, that’s enough in itself.

Aside from that, I want to make a sort of ‘happy place’ for anyone to escape to. Face it, we all need a break every once in a while.

As for archiving information, mental illness (for the most part) is still not seen as a legitimate medical condition that doesn’t require the same care and treatment as a physical condition. I hope that if more of us can be well-informed on the subject, we can all have a better understanding of it.

   5)   What do you expect to learn from this project?

Well, the obvious answer is web design. I need to learn about web hosting, web design, domains, and maybe even a little coding (yeah right). But a significant portion of this process will be learning about stress and mental illnesses and the best methods to help relieve anxiety. This could involve some psychology and physiology. Everything will be taken into consideration, even the fonts and color scheme.

   6)   What product will you have to show at the end of the year?

Something that at least looks like a website? A website.

   7)   What sort of expenses will be involved?

A small fee for web hosting and a domain name (unless I can find a free one, but I'm not too optimistic).

   8)   What sort of equipment will you need?

A computer (check), Internet (check), web design program (check), a functioning brain (check...wait...yes, check).

   9)   What is the timeline for completing your project?

I want to finish the actual website up and running by early to mid-May, but I won’t launch it until I have a sufficient amount of content. I hope to have that done relatively quickly after the design is finished. After it’s live, I would do my best to continue adding content as I find it. Cross your fingers.