The Acreage
The Challenge
The Acreage at Osceola, the flagship charitable asset of Aveda founder Horst Rechelbacher’s Foundation, needed a website that could match the clarity and intentionality of its mission. As a nonprofit devoted to environmental stewardship, the arts, and wellness, they sought a platform that could better communicate their purpose while also making functional tasks seamless for visitors. Capsule was brought in to help reimagine the website, through a series of small, strategic UX/UI upgrades that would deliver a big impact.
Setting The Scene
Set on 360 acres of biodiverse land in the St. Croix River Valley, The Acreage is not just a destination but an evolving experience. The space serves as a regenerative ecosystem for ideas, creativity, and healing—inviting in artists, educators, researchers, and community members in need of reconnection. Its website needed to fluidly bridge a highly physical experience into a digital context, giving potential visitors, donors, and partners a glimpse into its mission and possibility.
The Solution
The website was designed to underscore The Acreage’s brand pillars: supporting the environment, supporting the arts, and supporting wellness. Whether signing up for an event, reading an article, making a donation, or simply exploring, the site needed to create a more efficient, clear experience, while elevating these central pillars.
Intentional Content Architecture & Storytelling
Restructuring the site from the ground up, Capsule worked through content auditing, stakeholder interviews, and sitemapping to evolve the site into a cleaner, more intuitive narrative. Each page now tells part of the larger Acreage story—its land, art, and people.
An Expansive Graphic System
Inspired by the surrounding landscape, we enhanced the Acreage’s digital identity with an expanded color palette, modernized type, and a modular layout system. Immersive, seasonal photography provides a visceral sense of being on-site and reinforces the brand’s grounded, sensory approach.
Simple, Hardworking Squarespace Development
The site was built in Squarespace for long-term sustainability and ease of use. Capsule handled front-to-back development, and launch support, making sure the site performs well and is simple for internal teams to update.
A small but hardworking final product, the new Acreage website teases the physical experience through a refined, elevated digital lens. It allows the brand to tell its story with clarity, invite deeper engagement, and support easy ongoing updates.
The Impact
This refresh didn’t require a full rebrand– just smart, intentional updates that clarified. From improved storytelling and event functionality to a flexible content system, the site now acts as a living expression of its belief in the power of the arts.
Even more, the refreshed visual system has extended beyond the website, informing the Acreage’s presence on social media, email, and in collateral. We’re thrilled to see this light-lift digital upgrade become a meaningful evolution of the brand’s ecosystem.
TESTIMONIAL
"We were very happy with the final product Capsule delivered. What we appreciated most was their ability to listen and respond to our ideas and needs. We wanted the website to capture the beauty and vibe at The Acreage while also articulating who we are and what we do. The team made several site-visits to personally experience the environment. The follow-up support helped our team continue to grow and expand our impact through the visually stunning website and thoughtful layout."
Greg Gentle Director, The Acreage
