Most CMS sites fail at design long before they fail at engineering
We see the same three patterns again and again in sites that underperform: designs built in isolation from the CMS, interfaces that editors cannot maintain, and accessibility treated as an afterthought.
A complete design practice for CMS platforms
Every engagement starts with research and ends with a design system your engineering team can actually build. No throw-it-over-the-wall Figma handoffs.
How we work
A four phase design engagement that lands you with a design system your engineering team can actually implement.
Discover
Stakeholder interviews, user research, analytics review, and content inventory. You leave with a written problem statement and a clear set of design goals.
Define
Information architecture, sitemap, and content modeling aligned with your CMS. Low-fidelity wireframes for every key template.
Design
High-fidelity Figma design with tokens, components, and responsive states. Interactive prototype for stakeholder review and usability testing.
Deliver
Design system handoff with tokens, components, and implementation notes. Optional build phase where our engineering team implements the design in Drupal or WordPress.
Frequently asked questions
What teams ask most before starting a design engagement with us.
Do you do design only, or design plus build?
Both. We can run a design-only engagement and hand off a Figma design system for another team to build, or we can carry the project through into a Drupal or WordPress implementation. Most clients prefer the second option because it eliminates the usual design-to-engineering translation loss.
Why do you focus on CMS platforms specifically?
Because CMS design is different. A Figma file for a marketing landing page does not have to worry about how an editor will create similar pages later. A CMS design does. We build with Paragraphs, Layout Builder, or block patterns in mind, so what we design is what editors can still build six months later without calling us.
What does a typical engagement look like?
A standard design engagement runs 6 to 10 weeks depending on scope. Discovery and research is one to two weeks, IA and wireframes is one to two weeks, high-fidelity design and prototyping is three to five weeks, and handoff is one week. If you want build included, add four to twelve weeks on top depending on complexity.
How do you handle accessibility?
WCAG 2.1 AA is the baseline on every engagement. We check contrast ratios during color palette design, we design keyboard focus states into components from the start, and we validate semantic structure during the design system phase. Accessibility audits at the end of a project are usually a sign that someone forgot to do it from day one.
Can you redesign an existing site instead of starting fresh?
Yes, and that is actually most of our work. A redesign has the advantage of real user data: we can look at how people actually use the current site, where they drop off, what they search for, and fix the specific problems instead of guessing. It also lets us stage the rollout instead of a big-bang launch.
Do you provide design systems or just mockups?
Design systems, every time. A Figma file full of screens without a component library is a one-time deliverable that decays the moment the project ships. A proper design system with tokens, components, and usage guidelines keeps your team aligned long after the engagement ends.
Start with a design discovery call
30 minutes on your project goals, users, and constraints. You leave with a clear view of whether a design engagement is the right move and what it would take.
Book a Discovery CallSee It In Action
How this plays out on real projects, and where to go deeper on the thinking behind it.