From a redesign brief to a shipped marketing site
I was asked to redesign Cooperhire's website. In two months, I took it from a design brief to a live marketing site, CMS, analytics setup and content workflow, working as the only person on the build.
See the shipped site
Explore the live Cooperhire website.
The redesign became a product build
Cooperhire needed a new website, but a startup budget did not leave much room for an agency or a stack of paid tools. The old Framer setup cost about €150 to €200 a month for three to four seats, and larger changes made the release loop harder to manage.
I took ownership of the whole loop: shaping the direction, iterating on the design, building the front end and back end, setting up the CMS and analytics, and deploying the site. The goal was a site the team could change and extend without waiting on another tool or another team.
Two months later, the site was live on Next.js and Vercel. The team had a multi-editor CMS, a reusable design library and a content workflow that could grow with the company.
- Brief to live site
- 2 months
- Lighthouse score
- ~99%
- Saved per month
- €200
Brief to live site
Lighthouse score
Saved per month
The startup constraint was part of the design problem
The team wanted custom pages and a faster way to ship without paying for every new requirement. Framer had helped get the earlier site out, but it was not the right base for a large overhaul. The redesign needed a system behind it.
I worked directly with the founders to turn that constraint into the brief: make the product easier to understand and give the team a site it could change without a long release loop.
When a small team owns the marketing site, design decisions and shipping decisions cannot be separated.
- Role
- Product designer and solo builder
- Working with
- Cooperhire founders
- Timeline
- Two months, from concept to launch
- Owned
- Concept, iteration, design library, front end, back end, CMS, analytics, deployment and launch checks
- Built with
- Next.js, Vercel, Payload CMS and GA4
I shipped the whole loop
I treated the site as a small product, not a handoff. I built a component library as I worked so the pages shared the same visual language and new sections could be assembled without starting over.
That library supported the redesign, but it also made the next change cheaper. I carried the work through front end, back end, CMS setup and deployment, then tested the live result myself.
AI tools were part of the process. I used them to explore and move faster, then reviewed the output against the product and the live site.
The CMS became part of the product
The CMS is where the build paid off for the team. Multiple editors can update the site, and the content model leaves room for more pages and marketing work later.
I also connected the CMS to Claude. Founders can ask for content changes in chat and have them written into the CMS, without opening the admin for every small update. The same connection can support future marketing automation.
Small savings mattered too. I built the cookie-consent banner in-house instead of keeping a separate plugin, saving about $8 to $10 a month.
The migration held up after launch
Moving off Framer cut the monthly running cost from about €150 to €200 to roughly $25 to $30 for hosting and the remaining services. The cookie banner moved in-house and cut another $8 to $10 each month.
Traffic and performance stayed consistent after launch. There was no visible dip, Lighthouse is almost 99% and GA4 tags are in place so the marketing team can build proper funnels. The site is still running on the new stack, with the content workflow and tracking in place.