Design Rangers Camp Blog

Design Rangers began working with Cave of the Winds in October of last year. 2011 is the 130th anniversary and Grant Carey, owner & GM, was looking to update the cave’s website, marketing materials and develop identities for a new attraction and a special anniversary dinner theatre.

The Cave of the Winds’ website has been an amazing and fulfilling creative challenge – we feel a bit like we now have a third child! We threw our heart and soul into the creative development of this site and now we have let it go out into the world, to be all that it was designed to be.

Cave of the Winds’ previous site:

Cave of the Winds’ new site:

Click here to go to the new Cave of the Winds’ website and do a little exploring on your own!

How many people have been to an amusement park? Any one will do… From hometown favorites to the Six-Flags giants, these parks bring back memories of excitement and adventure (and perhaps a bit of queasiness). Young or old, everyone can recall their favorite ride or attraction and how it made them feel. The adrenaline rush that fuels the giddy laughter. The taste of cotton candy or an ice cream cone on a Summer day.

The rides, the rush, the ice cream, it’s all been crafted to take you to another world. Every detail has been thought through and any deviation from the theme can change the experience. Design plays a large role, from the art-deco signs at Lakeside Amusements in Denver to the alternate reality that is Disney, the look helps create the world you’ll be living in for that day.

It’s these images and memories that helped inspire the logo for the Cave of the Winds’ newest attraction, the Wind Walker Challenge Course. The Wind Walker, a ropes course that will let participants traverse and dangle precariously (but safely) out over the floor of  Williams Canyon is sure to attract thrill-seekers and cave-dwellers alike. Opening in Summer 2011, the Wind Walker needed a design that captured the experience while extending the sense discovery and exploration present in the rest of the property.

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As some of you may know, Chris and I are members of the American Advertising Federation Colorado Springs’ (AAFCS) board. We’ve enjoyed being a part of this amazing team and becoming a part of the AAFCS community. The ADDYs Awards are a huge event for us as well as the AAFCS & after attending many ADDY celebrations over the years I did find myself wondering how all of it comes together -  the answer is LOTS of hard work by LOTS of amazing people.

Design Rangers volunteered to design this years ADDY program and I found myself taking the lead as Chris was/is wrapped up in several big web projects. Carleen Clearwater, the ADDY chair, provided me with the cover artwork and then pretty much just set me loose. Her main objective was to make it cool and make it different, way different, than any program ADDY attendees had seen before. (more…)

In the Summer of 2010 our good friend Tammy Oler began talking to us about creating a new business that would focus on marketing and organizational strategy for companies, non-profits, and entrepreneurs. She asked us if we would be interested in doing the identity work and website design, we of course said yes! (Well, let me tell the truth here – we agreed to the identity work and said that we were too busy to dedicate the time to her new website. Then, after hearing about all of the cool ideas she had for the website, Chris couldn’t resist and we agreed to that as well.)

In the fall, Tammy sent us an email with the business name – StellarEngine. I immediately fell in love and became super excited to work on her identity. The crazy thing is, after presenting her with 12 different type-only logos, she chose the one I “saw” in my head the very first time I heard the name StellarEngine. (more…)