Client Spotlight: Ruby Falls and ZIPstream

At Papercut we have been lucky enough (and proud) to have a long-lasting relationship supporting Ruby Falls and Rock City with their digital efforts. This year we have been hard at work overhauling a large number of their sites, including the Ruby Falls main site and that of its sister attraction, the Ruby Falls ZIPstream.

A Papercut First

All of the attractions in the Ruby Falls and Rock City family draw their visitors in with the opportunity to see a unique natural wonder, but they also support their main attractions with other family friendly activities. At Ruby Falls, the main draw is the awesome underground waterfall. Visitors get to descend 26 stories below ground to see the falls, walk through caves, and check out truly peculiar and interesting rock formations. Not all of the fun is underground, though. Above ground, you get a panoramic view of the Chattanooga valley, a pretty cool zipline course, a cafe to eat snacks, and a playground for kids. It’s a great experience for the whole family.

These projects were really exciting because they provided a first for us here at Papercut. When creating the new Ruby Falls and ZIPstream sites, we wanted to find a way to quickly and effectively capture the beauty of the underground waterfall and showcase the WHOLE experience of Ruby Falls for first-time visitors. We came up with the idea of adding a quick-paced video to the homepage of each site, and we teamed with a local videographer to make it happen.

The Ruby Falls video focused not only on the visual experience of seeing the falls, rock formations, and breathtaking above-ground views, but it also had snippets of visitors experiencing Ruby Falls. The ZIPstream video focused more on the excitement and energy of the adventure seekers on the zipline. It was crucial that the ZIPstream site appeal to a wide target audience of kids, teens, adults, and even an older crowd. We captured this in the video by including shots of visitors of all ages enjoying the zipline experience atop lush, green Lookout Mountain.

Two Sites with Cohesive Designs

The videos added unique visual interest to the new sites’ homepages and now serve as great marketing pieces for Ruby Falls and the ZIPstream.

Along with the video we wanted little pieces of the designs to reflect one another and subtly indicate that the attractions are related. We used a topographical texture on both sites and the same typeface for the body copy. These similarities hint that the two projects belong together but still allow them to form their own identities with unique color palettes and shapes.

Fun and Challenging Projects