Rising Tide is an organization that aims to innovate and inspire within their local community of Fort Worth, Texas by giving entrepreneurs and startups a place to create contacts and build beneficial business relationships. They do this is by hosting regular tours around local businesses, large and small, to inspire others and also to show off what is happening within their own town.
As an innovation company that hopes to inspire a new way of thinking among others, it is important that their website emphasizes this through its layout and visual features. The aim of the website is not only to give information about Rising Tide and its mission but also to act as a hub for businesses to submit their availability for local tours and to broadcast this information to others within the local community.
Unique Layout
Focusing on Rising Tide's desire to stand out, we started by brainstorming and sketching ways that their website could break the mold of a typical website layout without feeling unintuitive. We achieved this by giving every aspect of the website a slight overlapping feel, to lift the elements off the page rather than blending them into the background. In the same way Rising Tide gives local businesses a platform on which to show themselves to others, we gave each element its own platform on which to lay.
As for colors, we wanted to keep the variance very minimal. The only requirement on Rising Tide's behalf was to use their current light blue colour. To harmonise with this, we chose a slightly darker teal colour. Then, we added in a bright red-orange colour to contrast, allowing us to pull attention where we needed it and to break up the flow. Finally, we opted for a slightly washed out black throughout the site because the use of pure black felt too harsh.
The primary function of Rising Tide's homepage is to help users find upcoming events. This is why we dedicated the top section of the screen to a live map and featured tours area. As the user scans through the featured tours carousel, the live map will move from location to location, showing where each tour is taking place.
Clicking any of the tours within this area will remove the overlaid "information" section and show the location of the tour on the map, while the rest of the information falls down, revealing the rest of the tour details. Below the featured area, there is a place to show off all of the entrepreneurs and startups that are a part of the Fort Worth community. These may be people that have signed up to host a tour, or those that have already done so in the past.
Tour Page
Each tour will have its own "Tour Information" page. This is a place to give any details about the upcoming tour, as well as for the hosts to explain a little about who they are, what they do and to share their social links and website for visitors to find and possibly interact with them online before or after the tour.
This page also allows the hosts to upload updates and news to their page, giving them a place to share information and events with people who may be interested in them. This is a helpful way to connect passionate people with the businesses they resonate with.
Entrepreneurs Page
Everyone who hosts a site or becomes a member of the Fort Worth community will have their own profile page, a place to give information about themselves, share their passions, successes and even failures within the business world.
The aim of this is to help people connect with others of similar interests or industries. This also helps to educate people about the great things happening in the Fort Worth business world.
Rising Tide brings together the business owners and entrepreneurs of the Fort Worth, Texas community. We created a website that reflects the innovation of this vibrant area, while also providing an interface that makes it easy for community members to share their ideas and connect with each other.
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