The Blue Heart of Europe

The Blue Heart of Europe CSS Design Awards Winner sites gallery

Description

The Blue Heart of Europe beats in fast water and quiet pools. It lives in gravel beds where trout hide, in willow shadows where kingfishers flash, and in floodplains that breathe with the seasons. This project tells the story of Europe’s last wild rivers and the people who stand for them. You move through maps, films, field notes, and first person accounts that reveal what free flowing water gives to communities. Clean drinking water. Cooler valleys in summer. Fertile soil and migration routes that knit whole regions together. The page shows how these systems work and why they fail when concrete walls cut a channel in two. The experience is built for action as well as awe. Clear copy answers the questions visitors bring to search. What is the Blue Heart of Europe. Where are these rivers. Why are new dams a risk. How does restoration help towns downstream. Each section pairs plain language with evidence and gives a direct next step. Write to a decision maker. Back a local watchdog group. Join a weekend count of spawning fish. Share the film with a friend who loves wild places. Everything loads quickly and reads well on a phone beside the water or a laptop at a kitchen table. Good advocacy depends on trust. The site keeps design quiet and honest. Captions and transcripts make the material accessible. Alt text describes key moments for visitors using assistive tech, which also helps search engines understand the story. Structured data presents FAQs and partner profiles in results, and internal links guide readers to background pages on hydrology, biodiversity, and community benefits. Photos and video are credited to the people who took them. Partners on the ground review sensitive material before it goes live. The Blue Heart is more than a headline. It is a commitment to places where rivers still write their own path. The project sets a simple measure of success. More free flowing kilometers next year than this year. Safer spawning grounds. Better water quality. Fewer broken promises in permit files. The work is collaborative by design. Scientists, fishers, farmers, paddlers, guides, and students share what they see. Designers and developers turn that witness into context and momentum. If your search led you here, you likely care about landscapes that work as nature built them. Come learn what is at stake, see who is doing the work, and choose how to help. A living river is a public good. It deserves a voice that carries.

Color Palette

Black
Brown
Gray

Score

Overall Score

9.17/10

Content

9.5

Creativity

9.2

Developer

9

Design

9.2

Mobile

8.9

Usability

9.2