-5.4-

I looked at the link to Google's branding, and here are some patterns I noticed:
-The product was flat, and had simple shading
-Most icons were geometric shapes
-They used a simple colour palette
-Logos/icons had to be recognizable with any dimension size
-They even took account of the amount of padding around the logos!

I also looked at what others were posting. While looking through a blog (I forget who's) the person mentioned that the educational section of Gofundme didn't have much. I checked it out, and I found this funding project:
http://www.gofundme.com/4890wk

I was puzzled how she got $2000+ in 8 days, since there are many other kids like her that need help, so I decided to analyze her page.

Techniques:
-A short, but sincere background story as to why she needs the money (positive outlook)
-A photo of the person in need
-Credentials (honors student)
-FACEBOOK and TWITTER share button

I also looked at the given site 11 Tips for Crowdfunding and the line "people invest in the filmmakers as much as the project" stood out to me.

I'm not sure how this connects to our goal, but all this talk about crowdsourcing reminded me of this science game, Foldit (Wikipedia link). The game is a 3D puzzle game in which the user folds proteins into the most efficient configuration possible. If I remember correctly, a few hundred thousand users are playing this game. Scientists are using the results for various experiments, getting results faster than if computer software did the work!