01: The Client

Visit Manitou Springs

Colorado is full of quaint mountain towns. But none of them have an annual coffin race or fruitcake toss. Quirky doesn’t even begin to describe the unique character of Manitou Springs.

How do you turn a convention and visitor site with hundreds of partners into an engaging, immersive experience—as quirky as the town of Manitou, itself? The Rangers were tasked with transforming this online “book of lists” into the digital embodiment of Manitou’s unofficial tagline: Keep Manitou Weird.

Unexpected colors and patterns, funky fonts, punchy messages and subtle elements of surprise-and-delight await around every corner of the new Visit Manitou Springs site. This is definitely not your grandmother’s visitor bureau.

02: Our Approach

Break the rules

Whenever you’re creating something new, you have to know the rules in order to break them. Visit Manitou’s website needed to reflect the quirky, but playfully delightful vibe of this little mountain town. Overlapping elements help tie narrative to imagery—while unexpected patterns and flourishes express the authentic, whimsical nature of Manitou Springs.

Bright pops of color, subtle elements of surprise-and-delight and playful patterns inspired our teams’ creativity.

Personality Camp helps clients find the boundaries of their organization’s characteristics. Turns out—”indulgent and unconventional” are perfectly “Manitou.”

Overlaps help immerse visitors in the story of Manitou—where language and imagery meet at the intersection of this quirky town.

The turning point

A "typical" day in Manitou

Typical being ironic—because there’s nothing typical about any day spent in this eccentric mountain town. After Personality Camp, the Visit Manitou Springs team embraced the town’s eclectic nature—crafting common phrases you might here when in Manitou, including:

“I’m telling you, you can’t speed in a peanut.
“Oops, I got some fruitcake on my printer.”
“I forgot my miso and my tofu…I forgot everything!”

03: The result

Quirky, yet organized

The playful brand and subtle animations may draw visitors in, but the thoughtful structure of the site organizes attractions, activities, restaurants and more by audience and interest. Now families, friends, couples and individuals can find their Manitou. The site also features:

A robust calendar of events automatically generated by partner submissions
Custom landing pages for Manitou's most popular events—like the Emma Crawford Coffin Races
Feautured partners within each category to generate advertising income and prioritize activities, hotels and restaurants for visitors
Custom categories to search and sort by amenities, interests, and type of traveler

When the Design Rangers say “we don’t do websites, we tell your story”…believe them. Often website projects get bogged down in technical details and overlook the main point…your website should be an extension of your authentic self that tells your story. The Design Rangers helped us articulate our “uniquely Manitou” personality and then designed our website to reflect that personality. To Chris & Jenny and the entire Ranger team…thank you for guiding the way, keeping us on track and creating a website to be proud of.

– Cathy Clayton, Marketing Coordinator

Keep exploring

JRC Commercial Roof Services

Forge Evolution

Discover your authentic self

Attend Personality Camp

We offer a single-day intensive camp for our clients who want to bring their brand’s personality forward. Find out if you’re the right scout for camp!

Let's start a project

Meet with a Ranger

Every Ranger-led expedition starts with a 45 minute, complimentary Discovery Session where we get to know you and your goals.