The Blue Ocean - web design, print design, communications and photography from SouthCoast Massachusetts.
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American Sail Training Association
Project scope:
Based in Newport, Rhode Island, The American Sail Training Association (ASTA) is a nonprofit organization focused on youth education, leadership development and the preservation of the maritime heritage of North America. Along with sail training activities, they are also organizers of the TALL SHIPS CHALLENGE® Series. ASTA contacted The Blue Ocean to help them improve the impact of their Internet communications.
In addition to needing an attractive site redesign, ASTA had many other functional goals it wanted to obtain as part of their site redesign. The Blue Ocean built an online database of hundreds of ASTA member vessels for site visitors to enjoy, each with comprehensive descriptive fields. A custom built back-end CMS allows each ASTA member the ability to manage their own member vessel page. Permissions-based content areas allow port authority or event planning personnel even more access to information on ships’ security, personnel, and systems information. A member registration tool created by The Blue Ocean integrates with ASTA’s ecommerce infrastructure, allowing ASTA members and member vessels to renew their memberships or make donations online.
Other features on the ASTA website include a dynamic “help wanted” section which ASTA members manage themselves and a series of attractive e-postcards that visitors can personalize and send to friends to build traffic to the ASTA site.
All of these website improvements helped ASTA evolve its site to a solid communications tool not only that provides a wealth of information on its Tall Ships fleet, but allows site visitors an emotional online experience that more closely approximates the thrill of seeing or sailing upon the Tall Ships themselves.