Ink, sage, and a red trail.
Gorge Events looks like a field map someone left on the tailgate: pale sage paper, ink lines, a blue river, and a red trail to wherever the good thing is happening. Here is how it fits together, if you are writing about us, linking to us, or just curious.
The logoTwo hills, a peak, the river.
Do
- Use the mark and the name together. The mark alone works where space is tight, like an avatar or favicon.
- Keep the lettering ink and the river blue. On a dark ground, swap to pale ink and the lighter river.
- Leave clear space around the mark at least as tall as the river wave.
- Keep the mark at least 40px wide on screen so the second hill and the river stay legible.
Please don’t
- Stretch itThe peak is a peak, not a plateau.
- Recolor itThe trail red is for routes and pins, not the mark.
- Tilt itThe river runs level. Mostly.
- Crowd itGive the hills some room to breathe.
ColorEvery color has a job.
The map
Ink on sage paper. Dark mode keeps every role and changes the values.
- Sage ground
#E8EBDDThe page itself - Panel
#F6F7F0Frames and cards - Forest ink
#2D3328Lettering and lines - Trail red
#C0392BRoutes, pins, underlines - River blue
#3577A1The Columbia - Contour tan
#A07D4FElevation lines
The categories
Every category has a hue. It fills the tile where another site would put a stock photo.
- Live music
#3577A1River blue, again - Festivals
#C0392BTrail red, again - Comedy
#A66728Late-summer grass - Food pop-ups
#587A41Orchard green - Outdoors
#2E6E60Fir shade - Other
#5C5A8ADusk over the Washington side
TypeA trail sign and a pencil note.
Barlow Semi Condensed
400 to 800. Headings, event names, body copy, buttons. Heavy and a little narrow, like a trail sign.
Good things are happening.
Source Serif 4 Italic
400 italic. Towns, secondary dates, and taglines. The handwriting in the margin of the map.
Hood River, The Dalles, White Salmon
VoiceLike a neighbor, not a billboard.
- Short and warmWrite like a neighbor leaning out a truck window, not a tourism board.
- Local, both sidesOregon and Washington are one place here. Name the town every time.
- Facts firstDate, time, place, cost. The charm goes in the tagline, never in the details.
- No hypeNothing is epic, curated, or a must-see. If it is good, say what it is.
| Say | Not |
|---|---|
| Good things are happening. | |
| Come hungry. | |
| No free comedy this weekend. | |
| Somewhere in Mosier |
- Two states. One good place to be.
- Life’s good out here.
- A calendar for both sides of the river.
- That’s the lineup.
- Worth planning around.
Design languageA field map, lived in.
Square frames, hard shadows
Panels are drawn in ink with a 4px offset shadow, like a map sheet lifted off the table. No rounded cards, no soft blur.
The trail
A dashed red line joins each day’s events and stops at the last one. It leads to the pin on every event map.
Contours
Tan elevation rings sit behind the top of every page. They are decoration, not survey data.
The river
A blue wave under the mark and across every map. It laps slowly and never floods the page.
Tiles, not photos
A block of category color with a short hook stands in for the photo most listings do not have.
Inhabitants
Small figures doing Gorge sports live on the page. They idle while you look and hold still if you prefer less motion.
The playgroundGo on, poke it.
Same roles, new values. Every color in the system has a dark twin.
The trail always ends at a pin. That is where the thing is.
Pet the river. Hover the mark and it laps a little faster.
Deal the tiles. Hover the deck. No stock photos were harmed.
Live music: Just listen.
Write a hook. Three words, give or take. Most listings have no photo, so the hook does the work.
- SunSunday windsurfer
- MonMonday snowboarder
- TueTuesday camper
- WedWednesday paddleboarder
- ThuThursday kiteboarder
- FriFriday cyclist
- SatSaturday hiker
Seven days, seven sports. Each weekday has its own figure on the calendar. Hover one to make it hop.
The regulars. The kite surfer, the hiker, and the snowboarder live by the intro, the end of the list, and the footer. The water off every day rule never stops.
Writing about the calendar or need the mark for a poster? Say hi on Instagram and we will send the files.