Suits & Sandals Case Study
Craft and Code for an Evolving Agency
- Industry
- Creative Services
- Role
- Design & Build
Capabilities
- Web Design
- Engineering
As co-founder of Suits & Sandals, I needed our site to reflect an evolving agency without waiting for a full rebrand. The opportunity went beyond launch: connect design, content, and development on a platform the team could keep building on.
6 weeks to launch
I took on the responsibility to design and develop our new site. The first 2 weeks was spent gathering references and prototyping ideas. Coming out of Webflow and into Payload CMS I was able to craft an editorial experience optimized for how we work internally.
Reference gathering
One week sprint to produce prototypes and sample frames visualizing key moments on the site
Using Paper desktop with Impeccable and various custom skills to generate multiple UI concept designs
Crafting the backend custom shader plugin to refine the editorial experience.
Exploring different views and patterns for composing custom shaders on Payload CMS
Give content room to travel
Separate content from presentation
I chose Payload and a headless architecture so content could serve the website, custom tools, and AI features. The tradeoff was more setup upfront for greater flexibility over time.
Build in parallel
With content independent of the interface, new initiatives could move forward before the full site was finished.
Turn visual details into reusable tools
Consistent motion, considered interactions
A reusable animation system kept motion consistent as the identity evolved.
Mobile interactions received the same attention, with a focus on making the site feel native.
Texture built for reuse
A custom shader plugin made abstract textures quick to apply across long-form content, turning a visual treatment into a repeatable part of production.
Put the platform to work
Design guidance in the workflow
A Markdown design guide and custom Impeccable and Animate skills kept design decisions consistent through production, while a streamlined terminal interface simplified workflows and made the tools accessible to nontechnical teammates.
Impact
Days
Days per task before and after. Content went from eight sources (Google Drive, Figma, local files and more) to one, and the MCP server lets the team write to that one source directly. That is why the site now changes weekly instead of a few times a year.
Description and data table
Publishing new content took two weeks and now takes one to two days. Producing a case study took one to two months and now takes two weeks. The site used to change a few times a year, roughly once a quarter, and now ships updates weekly. Content used to be sourced from eight places, including Google Drive, Figma and files on people's computers, and now comes from one.
| task | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Gap between site updates | 90 | 7 |
| Produce a case study | 45 | 14 |
| Publish new content | 14 | 1.5 |
