Aura

Context

Freelance project sourced through Malt. Aura is a communication agency that reached out to me to build their website on Webflow. This was my first "big project" as a freelancer.

The problem

Aura had their art direction defined and a few desktop mockups of what they wanted, but no website. They needed someone to take those mockups, build a full website from scratch, set up a CMS so they could manage content autonomously, and make everything responsive and animated.

The catch: mockups only existed for desktop. Every mobile and tablet adaptation had to be designed on the fly during development.

The solution

I built the entire website in Webflow from scratch, co-working with the client on pages structure and content organization.

Key deliverables:

• Full Webflow development with custom animations and interactions
• Fully operational CMS so the team could publish and edit content without a developer
• Responsive adaptation of all pages (designed mobile layouts from scratch since only desktop mockups existed)
• Custom sections with tailored animations that matched their art direction

The responsive work was the biggest challenge. Taking a highly customized desktop design and making it feel intentional on mobile, without any mobile mockups to reference, required making design decisions in real time during the build.

Outcomes

The client was really happy with the results. I also provided after-sale training to make sure they were fully autonomous with the website: how to use the CMS, how to publish content, how to make minor edits without needing me.

For me personally, this project was a confidence milestone. It was my first big freelance project, and having a client trust me with their brand's online presence, then being satisfied with the delivery, proved that I could execute at a professional level independently.

Retrospective

Looking back, this project set the tone for how I approach freelance work: over-deliver on autonomy. Don't just build the thing, make sure the client never needs you again for day-to-day operations. That mindset earned trust and referrals.

Learnings

Responsive is a design job, not just a dev job. When you only have desktop mockups, adapting to mobile isn't "making it fit." It's making real design decisions about hierarchy, spacing, and flow. That's a skill I carried into every project after.

Over-deliver on handoff. Training the client to be autonomous with their own website isn't extra work, it's the actual deliverable. The website is worthless to them if they can't update it.