Brand Message Playbook
Design by Tiago
Your words, before anything is designed
Your brand, your words and your site, all from one person
Usually this takes three people, and you end up carrying messages between them. Here it is one person, from the first conversation to the day your site goes live.
What I do, start to finish
Four parts, in the order they happen. One person does all of them, so nothing gets lost between steps.
1Brand direction
Before anything gets designed, we work out who you are for, what you stand for, how you are different, and how you sound. You get it back written down, and everything after is built on it.
What you stand for
Who your people are
Moodboards to react to
Colours and type
What you stand for
Who your people are
Moodboards to react to
Colours and type
2Copywriting
Once we know who you are, I write the exact words the site will use, headlines, page copy, buttons, the lot, in your voice, the way you would say them out loud. You get it back as the Brand Message Playbook, the words your brand repeats everywhere, and you approve every word before a single page is designed.
Every page, word by word
Headlines, buttons and forms
Your Brand Message Playbook
Every page, word by word
Headlines, buttons and forms
Your Brand Message Playbook
3Web design
Then I turn that direction into a site built around what your visitors need to do. Every layout, every type choice and every movement is there for a reason, and the reason is always your visitor. Movement is how a site breathes: slow arrivals, transitions that finish, and nothing fighting for attention in a world that already fights for it enough.
Every page planned first
A style only yours
Right on every phone
Movement made for your site
Every page planned first
A style only yours
Right on every phone
Movement made for your site
4Development
I wrote code for five years before I learned design, so your site looks good and holds up when people use it. You can edit everything yourself. Want something more, an app for your courses, or a booking system built into your site? I can build that too.
Custom tools when you need them
Works with what you use
Fast, and easy to find
0€ a year in hosting
Custom tools when you need them
Works with what you use
Fast, and easy to find
0€ a year in hosting
Clear from the start
What is in the price and what is left out, said before you sign anything.
1What is included
A website designed and built around your work
Brand direction and words, agreed before anything is designed
A way to update the words and photos yourself, without asking me
Changes are free, because you are the one making them
Works properly on every phone, tablet and screen
Motion that is intentional, and never in your way
Built to be found, by Google and by AI assistants
A recorded walkthrough and written notes, so you can do it alone
0€/year to keep the site online, from the first day
2What is not included
A logo drawn by hand. When a project needs a logo, I create it with AI tools, guided by the brand direction we agreed. If you want one drawn from scratch, a brand designer is the right person.
Builds on "rented" platforms. If it charges you every month to stay online, I am not the person, unless your shop is big enough to need Shopify.
Content marketing & social media.
Ongoing content updates. Maintenance from 50€/month, unlimited edits and updates, if you would rather not touch it.
What it's built on
I build with Ship Studio, which works like a bento box: a compartment for each tool, and one box holding them together. Each project gets the tools it needs, without one platform's limits.
The stack you'll never have to manage
Claude Code
Writes the code, with me directing it
Next.js / Astro
The site itself, or the app, fast by default
Sanity, or Payload for a very large archive
Where you edit your own site, whenever you want
Stripe + Sanity, or Shopify for a shop
Stripe + Sanity for a small shop
Shopify for hundreds of products, with a monthly fee
GitHub
Every version of the site, saved since day one
Vercel or Cloudflare
Where the site lives, at 0€ a year
There is a longer version of the thinking behind this in this journal post.
Where I learned this
Five years writing code, then design, branding and copywriting, and now AI on top of all of it.
2014, Five years
Computer Engineering, BSc and MSc
Where it started. Five hard years that taught me discipline and how to build a problem solving mindset.
2018, Five years
Frontend developer
Five years at a tech startup, writing the code people actually used, every day, as part of a team. That is where the craft became second nature, and where I learned to work well with other people.
2024, Since then
Freelancing, and new dad
Learned a new set of skills around running a freelance business, and started taking on projects in my niche. Now I take every project from start to finish with the client, from the first call to the handover.
2025, Two years
Flux Academy
Freelancing, Brand Mastery, Core Design Skills, Webflow and Copywriting, plus the AI Design and Ecommerce AI sprints, where I combined everything I learned here with my past experience, to create faster and better.
2026, Today
Right now
Three projects at a time, and every client so far has come from the wellness world.
What makes the difference for you is that I was already in your world, long before any of it was work.