The digital team at Beekeeper Group has unveiled a new project we have been working on with The Solar Foundation. The Solar Foundation had a great deal of data relating to solar jobs in each state and wanted to display it in a creative and interactive way. The solution was a clickable map of the United States that populates all the data for each state. Built on Drupal, the map not only provides an easy and clear way to display the data for a front end user, but it’s also easy for an admin to update.
How we did it
The Solar Foundation already had a great website in place, and they wanted this map to be a new addition. We designed the map and interior state pages to mirror the branding used on The Solar Foundation’s existing site. When a user clicks on a given state, a lightbox opens with basic information about the solar jobs in that state. If the user is interested in learning more, a button in the corner of the lightbox takes them to an internal page with more data. We also built functionality for printing and sharing data for each state.
From an administrative perspective, adding and revising state data is a simple process. Each state has its own content area for adding important facts that can be displayed in the lightbox and internal page. In addition, there is a space to upload a PDF that is linked with the sharing functionality we described above.
The finished product is something we are very proud of. It can be challenging to display a large amount of data in a way that is both fresh and easy to navigate. The solar map we helped build accomplishes both of these goals. Have a question about our design or development process? Let us know in the comments below!
