Phase 2c.1 · Concept directions · Round 1 · Homepage only

Breckenridge Outfitters · three directions

Three structurally and aesthetically distinct homepage concept directions for Breckenridge Outfitters, a 30-year fly fishing outfitter on Main Street in Breckenridge, Colorado. Each concept is one design firm's answer to the same brief. They share the brand foundation (forest green primary, cream/oat base, real action photography, decorated heritage) but the structural answer to "what is this homepage" is different in each. Open all three in tabs and judge the structural choice first; the typography and dominant accent colour second.

First brief in the series that uses the new structured conversions field shape (primary[] + secondary[]). Both Flybook book-now and the phone call (970-453-4135) are listed as primary; both must be visible above the fold in every concept variant. First brief deliberately scoped to the homepage only. First brief written against a real client and a real existing site.

The variation matrix

How the three concepts differ

Self-validated against the matrix-first protocol rule: no pair of concepts may share more than one axis. A vs B share 0 axes. A vs C share 1 axis (mono_font: none). B vs C share 0 axes. Pass. Three structurally distinct directions, deliberately resisting the patterns from Saltwood and Querney rounds.

AXIS A · The Rotation B · The Roster C · The Trophy Case
display_font Spectral DM Sans Libre Caslon Text
body_font Inter (sans) Manrope (sans) Source Serif 4 (serif body)
mono_font none · small caps for season labels IBM Plex Mono · guide IDs, counts none · italic for year markers
accent_color #2F5266 · river blue #5e6066 · granite gray #c69b3d · trophy gold
scale_register dramatic 64-80px / body 17-18px controlled 42-52px / body 15-16px sparing 80px+ used twice / body 16px
component_vocab issue masthead, season strip, current conditions card, dated archive dense guide tile grid, search/filter UI, per-tile booking, "Orvis-trained" credential anchor timeline strip, decade markers, award medallions, year-stamp insets
footer_pattern issue archive · past conditions report dates team teaser · 3 featured guides + full roster link award archive · year list + Sterling Building
voice seasonal magazine editor team biography catalog heritage museum quiet
primary_conv_treatment Both CTAs in the issue masthead bar at the very top, framed as responses to the current conditions ("Book a trip for these conditions" + "Talk to one of us") Both CTAs in hero alongside the "Orvis-trained" credential anchor; reinforced by per-guide "Book a trip" buttons in every tile Both CTAs in hero alongside the heritage line ("Book a trip" + "Or call us first"); the framing is "thirty years of doing this gives you choices"
The three concepts

Open each in a new tab and flip between them

FROM THE RIVER · ISSUE 247
Steady water,
evening caddis.
SAMPLE · CONCEPT A
CONCEPT A

The Rotation

Seasonal magazine cover voice. The current conditions report is the hero. Trips and guides are framed by what the river is doing this week. The whole homepage reads like an issue of a weekly outdoor publication.

  • WIN   Most "alive" feeling. Updates weekly. Anglers will return for the conditions report.
  • RISK   Editorial cadence is real work. Iris-equivalent has to write the report every Monday.
  • FOR   A shop that wants its conditions report to be its primary content gravity
Open Concept A →
FLY SHOP & GUIDE SERVICE
Orvis-trained guides who know this water.
SAMPLE · CONCEPT B
CONCEPT B

The Roster

Team-as-product voice. The guide-tile grid is the spine of the homepage. "Orvis-trained" is the credential anchor. Every guide tile has its own book button. The team is the brand.

  • WIN   Foregrounds the differentiator nobody else has: an Orvis-trained team, all named, all bookable
  • RISK   A guide-tile grid is dense. Risks feeling like a database UI, not a fly shop.
  • FOR   A shop that wants the team to be the differentiator and the conversion
Open Concept B →
EST. BRECKENRIDGE · 1994
Thirty years on Main Street.
SAMPLE · CONCEPT C
CONCEPT C

The Trophy Case

Heritage museum voice. The 30-year history is the spine. A year-by-year timeline (1994 to 2025) walks visitors through the awards, the people, the building. The decoration is the architecture.

  • WIN   Honours the most-decorated-Orvis-shop angle harder than anyone else would
  • RISK   Looking backward might bury the "book a trip now" energy a busy summer needs
  • FOR   A shop that wants heritage and decoration to be the trust signal that closes a booking
Open Concept C →
How to curate

A short protocol for the designer

  1. Open all three in adjacent tabs. Flip between them quickly. Judge the structural choice first (rotation vs roster vs trophy case) before the typography or accent colour. The structural choice is harder to change later.
  2. Read the headline of each aloud. Concept A says "Steady water, evening caddis, fish on top." Concept B says "Orvis-trained guides who know this water." Concept C says "Thirty years on Main Street. An Orvis-trained team. Five Orvis awards." Which voice sounds most like Tim and Ned when you imagine them saying it out loud?
  3. Check the dual conversions. Both Flybook book-now and the 970-453-4135 phone number must be visible above the fold in every variant. Verify that's true. If any concept buries one of them in the lower third, it's a conversion failure and we regenerate that column.
  4. Ask the seasonal-versus-perennial question. Concept A is structurally dependent on a weekly conditions update. Concept B depends on the team staying interesting. Concept C depends on the heritage holding visitors who don't already know the brand. Which dependency feels most natural to maintain?
  5. Pick one, mix two, or reject all three. You can pick one wholesale, or pick one as the structural base and note elements you want to borrow from another (e.g. "Concept C's heritage framing in Concept B's team-grid shell"). Or reject the round entirely and request new directions. The matrix is cheap to iterate.
References for this round
BRIEF
pipeline-runner/src/src/classifier/fixtures/breckenridge-outfitters-brief.md

~1,600 words. Discovery-driven brief #3. Real client. Homepage-only scope. First brief with the new conversions field shape.

CLASSIFICATION
Stack A · high confidence · 0/5 triggers

Validated by breckenridge-demo.ts. Third real-brief validation of the deterministic classifier. Delegation correctly applied to Flybook + external retail catalog.

VARIATION MATRIX
matrix.yaml

9 axes (8 standard + 1 new primary_conversion_treatment), 3 columns, validated 0/0/1. The load-bearing artifact of this phase.