String Sprouts
Music Training for the Masses
String Sprouts is a program conceived by the Omaha Conservatory of Music that began as a way to get music education to young children in low-income and underserved areas. The program began as free for low-income families and has grown to include a tiered payment system for families that are above the poverty line ensuring that those near the line can also receive music education.
The Conservatory reached out to us to design and build a new website for the String Sprouts program. In addition, they also needed help with the integration of a new initiative to provide their materials digitally for families, schools, or music teachers around the country to host their own String Sprouts program via an annual subscription.
During the strategy phase of the project, it quickly became apparent that the complexity of the offerings would confuse users if the site spoke to both the local Omaha program and the nationally focused online subscription program on the same site. We recommended breaking the information into two sites. Everyone on the team readily agreed it was the best path forward.
The local and national sites utilized identical structures where possible. For pieces unique to a segment of the program we designed individual modules and systems. With the program geared toward children ages 3-6, we kept the design bright and fun with liberal use of colored backgrounds, music- and plant-related illustrations, animated strings instruments, and program photography.
Web development was a heavier lift for this project. With the project expanding from one site to two, multiple spreadsheet import integrations, map pins, ecommerce, and subscription management, the backend of the site holds significantly more complexities than you might see at first glance. The Omaha site also had us working with a third-party vendor who was connecting the program’s custom learning management system through the cost estimator, online application, and material access. Add to that a robust system of block module components, and the String Sprouts program has a site that will easily flex as they continue to grow and expand around the country.
