The business had a loyal following and glowing reviews, but the website didn’t reflect any of that. It felt small in the wrong way: more hobby than business, more ‘nice idea’ than something you’d pay for or tell your friends about.

How do you make a local creative business feel like a million bucks without losing the thing that makes it special? What sets it apart from the dozens of “wine and paint” nights nearby?

Finding a sweet spot

The project started with an intensive research phase. I looked at how other workshop businesses around the country present themselves online, from community art groups, to pottery studios, and even wellness or fitness spaces, more broadly. Most of them blend together. They tend to go for cookie-cutter templates, loads of stock imagery, and vague promises about “unleashing your creativity.”

Make & Mind needed to feel different because it is different. These aren’t drop-in painting nights with free prosecco, but structured short courses and events built around wellbeing, being in conversation with nature, and connection. Crafting is the vehicle, not the destination. And the website had to communicate that immediately.

Designing within constraints

There was very little existing copy to work with, let alone any brand guidelines. So I spent time in conversation with the founder, Vicky, to understand what the workshops involve and how they feel to the people who attend them. From there, and from studying how similar businesses position themselves, the brand voice became clearer and easier to define. Warm and honest but not precious.

The design had to solve a practical problem too. There wasn’t a library of professional photography to pull from, and the business runs on one person’s time and energy. So every decision was shaped by those constraints. I used a dithering technique on the available imagery, reducing photos to a somewhat stylised pixel palette that ties directly into the brand colours. What could have felt like a limitation became a deliberate visual identity.

Built in Framer, the CMS was kept simple enough for the founder to update on her own. That meant no blog to maintain or complex content structures but a clear system for adding and managing events and courses.

The result is a website and the foundations of a brand identity that strike just the right balance between being deliberate, inspiring and credible. Combined, these elements give Make & Mind the online presence of a brand with ten times the budget and reach, and allow its attendees to finally witness the same level of craftsmanship in person that they see online.

Behind the scenes

Designed in Figma and built in Framer.

Currently awaiting launch in 2026.