Case Study 03

South Fork
Water Board

Website redesign for a wholesale water authority serving Oregon City and West Linn — designed around their "simplicity is brilliant" philosophy and the natural heritage of the Clackamas River headwaters. Pure water since 1915.

Visual DesignBrand GuidelinesUtility / Special DistrictADA / WCAGNature-FocusedFigma

Overview

A water utility that isn't about water treatment

South Fork Water Board has supplied pure water to partner cities Oregon City and West Linn since 1915. They're a wholesale authority — they don't serve individual residents directly — which shapes everything about how the site needed to communicate. Their audience is informed, their organization is small, and their philosophy is clear: "simplicity is brilliant."

The brief was to design a site that felt like their water source — the pristine headwaters of the Clackamas River — not like a mechanical treatment facility. Nature over infrastructure. Clarity over complexity. Heritage over modernity for its own sake.

Challenge

Designing within an existing brand

South Fork had established brand guidelines — logo, colors, and visual identity — before the web project began. Unlike projects where the designer builds from scratch, this one required working faithfully within an existing system while still creating something visually distinctive and web-appropriate.

The brand's forest green and light blue palette was already defined. The task was implementing it in a way that felt purposeful on the web — not just technically compliant, but genuinely expressive of what the organization is about.

Process

Brand guidelines first, layout second

Brand guidelines reviewKickoff & discovery briefNature-first design conceptHero imagery selection — Clackamas River headwatersHomepage / Interior / InteractionsADA contrast verificationRevision cycleDeveloper handoff

Design Decisions

Nature over mechanics

Every visual choice reinforced the same idea: South Fork's value is their water source, not their infrastructure. Imagery, language, and color all pointed toward the Clackamas River rather than pipes and pumps.

Hero imageryPristine headwaters of the Clackamas River — not a treatment facility, reservoir, or equipment photo. The visual first impression communicates purity and source, not process.

Heritage messaging"Pure Water Since 1915" integrated into the hero — 110+ years of service establishes trust without needing to explain it. The number does the work.

Color applicationForest green and light blue from the brand guidelines applied with restraint — accents and hover states, not heavy fills. The brand colors enhance, not dominate, the natural imagery.

Navigation simplicityWholesale board structure, not a full citizen services menu. Board Meetings, Active Projects, Water Quality, Master Plan — four links to four things that matter to this organization's actual audience.

Newsletter integration"Water Connections" newsletter prominently featured — their primary community communication tool. Card-based layout designed for easy CMS updates by a small team.

Design Screens / Revision 1 / Desktop 1440px

South Fork Water Board homepage — Clackamas River hero, forest green accents, pure water heritage messaging — Homepage

South Fork interior page — clean content layout, optional sidebar, board meeting documents — Interior Page

South Fork interactions page — navigation hover states and interactive elements — Interactions

Outcome

Simplicity delivered

The finished design reflects exactly what South Fork asked for — a site that feels like their water source, not their equipment. Clean structure, natural imagery, established heritage, and a content management setup that a small wholesale board can actually maintain. Simplicity, as requested, is brilliant.

1915

Pure Water Since 1915 — 110+ years of service distilled into a site that communicates trust through restraint. Nature-first design working within established brand guidelines.

View Design in Figma

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