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Case study
Turning Visitors into Explorers
Software Development
Strategy
Website Design
Website Development
Digital Infrastructure
Tourism Lethbridge is the destination marketing organization for Lethbridge, Alberta. We rebuilt their website, then brought their gamified tourism app, Explore Lethbridge, across the finish line: one cohesive design system, a refined Python platform, and points-and-rewards exploring at 350+ locations.
Detail
The brief
Tourism Lethbridge is the destination marketing organization for Lethbridge, Alberta. When we first met, their digital presence was spread across disconnected systems, and even small updates leaned on outside help.
Project one was the website. We rebuilt tourismlethbridge.com in Webflow, consolidated those systems, and handed the marketing team a site they could finally run on their own.
That work went well enough that they came back with a bigger ask.
Field note
First, the website
The new site puts Lethbridge's stunning photography front and center, and gives the team full control of pages, stories, and campaigns. Publishing happens in-house now, no tickets required.
It also set the visual language that everything after it would build on.
Detail
Then came the app
Alongside the website, Tourism Lethbridge had been building something ambitious with the University of Lethbridge: a gamified tourism platform where visitors check in at local spots, earn points, and redeem them for real rewards.
The foundations were genuinely good. The point system was smart, the flows made sense, and the core build was there. But the project had wound down with launch still out of reach, and the team needed it ready soon.
So they asked us to bring it home. One month later, Explore Lethbridge was launch ready.
Detail
Many styles, one system
The app had grown under many hands, and it showed. Bootstrap, plain CSS, and Tailwind all lived in the same codebase, each styling its own corner of the product.
We anchored everything to the design language of the new website: one Tailwind system, one component library of 50+ shared pieces, used by every screen, email, and dashboard in the platform.
Detail
Built like software, because it is
Underneath the friendly blue and yellow sits a serious Python platform. We refactored and optimized the backend while keeping the solid data model that was already there.
- A Flask service layer with 18 dedicated services and 56 database models
- Redis caching and Celery background workers keeping every page quick
- Proximity-verified check-ins with fraud detection to keep the points honest
- An installable PWA with offline support and push notifications
- An admin suite with executive dashboards, review moderation, and email tooling
- Fully containerized with Docker, from local development to production
Field note
Check in, earn, redeem
The whole platform turns on one simple loop. Scan a QR code at a location, prove you are really there, earn points, and trade them in for local rewards.
Themed packages and campaigns string those check-ins into adventures, from Indigenous experiences to local shopping trails.
Measured outcomes
By the numbers
A few favourite figures from the platform so far.
- 1 month
- from stepping in to launch ready
- 350+
- Lethbridge locations served on the platform
- 10k+
- points earned by visitors exploring the city
- 100k+
- visits across the website and app
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Detail
Still exploring
Launch was the start, not the finish. We have worked with the Tourism Lethbridge team ever since, growing the platform with significant analytics capabilities, email tooling, and a steady stream of refinements.
A website that tells the city's story, and an app that gets people out into it. That is a digital front door we are proud to keep building.
In closing
Have a city worth exploring?
We help municipalities, tourism boards, and DMOs turn their destination into a digital experience visitors love. From the website to the platform behind it, we build it, launch it, and grow it with you.
