Case study
Cedar Rapids Kayaking
A passion project: an interactive kayaking guide built to push craft, not to ship a client site.
- Client
- spen studio
- Services
- Website development · UI/UX
01 / Challenge
Not every piece of work is a client brief. Cedar Rapids Kayaking was a place to blend outdoor obsession with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Bootstrap — a site that was never meant to go live, and was built as if it might.
Cedar Rapids Kayaking starting frame
The first screen that had to carry the business case.
02 / Insight
The constraint was atmosphere: a river guide that felt as considered as the place itself, including an interactive map and editorial pacing.
Put-inRapidTake-outProcess reconstruction
The river is the nav
The guide had to feel like the valley: routes first, then safety and the towns along the water.
- Routes
- Safety
- Stops
03 / System
We sketched the experience, then coded an interactive map of routes with informative pop-ups, animation, and content for safety and local attractions. Everything was built responsive, then tested and tightened for speed.
Process reconstruction
Route map
Interactive pins, pop-ups, and editorial pages were treated as one river instead of a stack of articles.
- Map
- Pop-ups
- Safety copy
- Local stops
04 / Execution
We sketched the experience, then coded an interactive map of routes with informative pop-ups, animation, and content for safety and local attractions. Everything was built responsive, then tested and tightened for speed.
Process reconstruction
Guide interface wire
A reconstructed layout of the map: the water as structure, content attached to place.
05 / Outcome
A portfolio piece that shows what happens when craft is the only constraint: interaction, atmosphere, and a complete guide for a river that exists on the screen as clearly as it does in the valley.
Cedar Rapids Kayaking after launch
The finished system, held together as one experience.