The Battery Plant Database
Case Study
Client: The Battery Conservancy
My Role(s): Creative Director, Designer, Developer
Featured Examples:
- Battery Plant Database Homepage
- Battery Plant Database Plant Profile Page
- Battery Plant Advanced Search
- Battery Plant Database Graphs
The Battery Conservancy is responsible for many things, one of which is the design, planting and upkeep of one of the best urban gardens in the nation. It is truly inspiring to walk the gardens at the tip of Manhattan, looking from the harbor and the Statue of Liberty down to the blooming flowers and grasses.
While doing various projects for the conservancy, it became very apparent that there needed to be a centralized location for all the plants and specific information about them. To make a long story short, I created a custom database with a back-end CMS and, after the horticultural staff entered in all the plant data and images, a front-end for users to access all the information.
The project is only in Stage 1, so to speak, and there are plans for extended and improved features and usability, but for the most part, I am very happy with the way this turned out. The database opens up useful information to a large population of urban horticulturalists and gardeners in general.
Users can search through the plants in the gardens of the Battery by either a single quality (name, bloom months, zones, light requirements, families, etc) or by combinations of qualities. They can also simply browse through all the plants. Users can also view visualizations (aka charts) based on the plant data.
This project wouldn’t have been possible without the help of Steve Lagerstrom, Sigrid Gray and Alyssa Siegel of the Battery Conservancy.
