Georgetown, Texas encourages you to “Live Here” with their new website

Convention and Visitor’s Bureaus or CVBs as they are known in the travel and tourism industry are great clients. Not only do we have a chance to learn about different locales, but we also enjoy the creative freedom that comes with crafting vibrant and charismatic sites.

Last year we were awarded the design project for the City of Georgetown’s 2011 Visitor Guide and website. For the visitor’s guide, I was able to add verbal flair to the events and happenings, while Karen sprinkled her creative dust all over the pages developing a printed piece that is more of a keepsake than a disposable navigation tool.

Since the initial design project, we have had the opportunity to work with the Georgetown CVB many more times. In fact, this year we spiced up the brochure for 2012, designed new banners and wrote copy for an upcoming coloring book. However, most recently we had the great fortune of designing a new site for the city, this one is more specifically targeted towards Living in Georgetown.

Erin, the programming whiz working for Georgetown pulled us onto the Live Here website project in hopes of creating a complementary website to the one we created for Visit Georgetown. The idea for the new site was that it would act as a hub from which a visitor can begin their search for city-related information. The nitty-gritty details will not be housed on the Live Here site, but instead outbound links will lead users to specific city owned sites.

Bouncing from one site to another can be a bit disorienting for a visitor, but by creating a website that is aesthetically similar to another the visitor is less likely to feel as if they are on a completely different or wrong site. With that in mind, we fashioned home and sub page shells that mirrored the look and feel of the Visit Georgetown site. The photo banners offer a similar layout featuring the familiar Red Poppy flowers and texturized backgrounds, while the main difference lies in the color palette and photo selections.

The goal with this site wasn’t to recreate the wheel but instead, to make a visitor feel at home no matter where they go within the City of Georgetown’s website system. There are still Georgetown sites that have yet to be touched by the Rhyme & Reason Design creative wand, but for those looking to live or visit the City we’ve helped establish a welcoming environment.