   |
 |
 |
&description=Sharks and Fishes and Frogs, Oh My! Plan A Visit!
The Berndt Group worked with the National Aquarium in Baltimore (NAIB) to create a content managed, Flash-based Trip Planner application with a high level of graphic design, interactivity and usability. We worked under an accelerated four month timeline to meet a Memorial Day 2007 launch (one of the Aquarium's busiest times). Since its launch, the application has seen over 95,000 uses. Goals for the site included establishing an online interactive experience for visitors of all ages and a marketing tool for Aquarium staff. Key audiences included families with school-aged children, children with Web browsing ability, educators, and members. Feature set highlights: Uses Reddot CMS, taking advantage of its in-context editing environment to manage data inside Flash as well as the Flash files and ajax form content; this data is dynamic, meaning its information changes depending on inputs inside the Flash. This data is all presented to the Flash via dynamically generated xml. The data flow is complex and interesting (and invisible to the user). Nested Structures inside Reddot CMS: dynamically assembled into asp files by the CMS when data is changed; asp files live on server and expose a small data set to Flash (dates and times); users select options inside Flash; Flash accesses an asp file, passing the user selected options; the asp file takes those options and builds a dataset from a flat set of data (non database driven) and exposes it to the Flash; the users interact with the data inside Flash and save their trip; trip data gets posted from Flash to another asp page that records it in a database for future retrieval; saved data is displayed to the visitor; visitor can use an ajax form to send an email that contains a link back to the page to retrieve the data from the database. The Trip Planner meets the Aquarium's high security standards and it provides a rich interactive experience on top of relatively complex schedule data. We also designed HTML email templates (as well as text-only versions) for the sent itineraries. The Flash itself includes a high level of Action scripting and interesting sound effects. The Berndt Group was honored with multiple awards for the Trip Planner, including a Horizon Award, Davey Award, WebAward and a W3 Award. We have worked on a number of other projects for the Aquarium, including designing Aqua Mail, the Aquarium's email newsletter, kiosk sequences and Web components for the Dolphin Play Show and Shark Quest exhibit, and an interactive CD-ROM about the Chesapeake Bay. Most recently we designed microsites for the Australia and Frogs exhibits. |
  |
