A founder's map from brand to site to product
Move from a clear identity, to a site that explains it, to a product interface that behaves like the same idea. Keep one sentence stable across all three.
By Hanabi
Topic
Studio Practice
How to hire, brief, and work with a design and development studio.
Case-study pages that do more than show screenshots
A case study should name the constraint, the decision, and what changed in the work. Screenshots illustrate those sentences. They are not the whole piece.
By Hanabi
Questions to ask about performance, access, and ownership
Ask who writes, who builds, what you will own, how reduced motion is handled, and how the site stays within Core Web Vitals. Specifics are the answers to trust.
By Hanabi
How to read a studio portfolio
Evaluate a studio portfolio by the problem, the restraint, and whether they built the work. A gallery of screenshots with no decision is decoration.
By Hanabi
What a same-day response should mean
A same-day response is a human email that names the next step, sent the day you write. The design itself stays on the project schedule.
By Hanabi
Fixed project or ongoing partnership
Choose a fixed project when the launch has an edge you can describe. Choose an ongoing partnership when the product keeps changing and you want the same people on it.
By Hanabi
How to give design feedback without restarting the project
Give feedback against the goal: clearer, more serious, or easier to scan. Redesigning in the margin restarts the work unless the goal itself was wrong.
By Hanabi
What to have ready before kickoff
Before kickoff, gather the accounts, a rough offer, access to the current site, and the name of the person who can approve. Missing access spends the first week on waiting.
By Hanabi
Quality, clean code, flexibility, speed, and communication
Quality, clean code, flexibility, speed, and communication are behaviors you can see on a project. Each one shows up in the work, the repository, or the way a change is handled.
By Hanabi
Communication habits that keep a build on track
Keep a build on track with one shared channel, decisions written down, and a cadence both sides keep. Clear updates and honest timelines prevent late surprises.
By Hanabi
Scoping a project when the idea is still loose
When the idea is loose, name what you do not know and scope a first slice that will teach the rest. A scope that pretends the whole product is clear will slip.
By Hanabi
What a good intro call should decide
A useful intro call ends with fit, a rough shape of the work, and a yes or no on writing a proposal. It is a decision meeting, not a free strategy workshop.
By Hanabi
Studio, freelancer, or in-house for a first serious site
Use a freelancer for one narrow skill, hire in-house when the work never stops, and bring in a studio when a defined launch needs design and production code together.
By Hanabi
How to hire a design and development studio
Hire a studio whose portfolio matches the work, whose own people will do it, and who will leave you owning the repository, the domain, and the content.
By Hanabi
The handoff that makes a redesign usable after the studio leaves
A website design handoff is the repository, a content map, and a place the brand files live. Without those, the redesign stays dependent on the studio.
By Hanabi