Independent practice · one designer, start to launch
River Studio builds small, sharp sites for consultants, studios and independent operators — designed, written into shape and shipped by the same person you brief.
Engagements
Scope, timeline and starting rate are stated up front. If your project sits between two of these, say so in the brief and you will get an honest recommendation.
01 / Single page
One page that does one job: explain the offer and collect enquiries. Right when you are testing a new service or running paid traffic.
02 / Most common
Four to eight pages for a practice that has grown past a single page. Services, work, about and contact, with a structure you can add to later.
03 / Ongoing
For sites that keep moving. A fixed block of hours each month for new sections, campaign pages and the small fixes that otherwise wait.
How a project runs
Most of the risk in a website project is unclear scope. This sequence settles it early, so the build phase is quiet.
STEP 01
A short call to understand the offer, the audience and what the site has to achieve. You get a written scope with pages, fee and dates — no open-ended estimate.
From youHalf an hour, and anything you already have: notes, old site, slide deck.
STEP 02
Before any visual design, the page order and the message of each section get agreed in a plain outline. Cheap to change here, expensive to change later.
From youOne round of comments on the outline, within about a week.
STEP 03
Design happens in the browser, so what you review is the real thing at real sizes. You get a private preview link that updates as work lands.
From youLogo files and photography, plus two rounds of feedback on the preview.
STEP 04
Forms tested, links checked, speed and accessibility reviewed, then the site goes live on your domain. Handover includes a short walkthrough recording.
From youDomain access, and a decision on the go-live date.
Selected work
Three projects from the past year, with the problem each one was hired to fix.
01 — Full site build
A six-person interior practice with three years of projects trapped in a social feed. The new site puts the project archive first and lets the team publish a case study without a developer.
02 — Landing page
A single page for a fixed-fee monthly service. The pricing was rewritten as three plain tiers and the enquiry form now asks the two questions that make a first call useful.
03 — Retainer
Ongoing work on a technical site: a specification library, a rebuilt services structure and a monthly block for new campaign pages.
Name and screens withheld until their rebrand goes public. Happy to walk through it on a call.
Working together
The things worth knowing before you commit, rather than after the first invoice.
Questions
The starting rates above are real floors, not teasers. The final figure depends on page count, how much copy needs shaping and whether you need a CMS. You get one fixed fee in writing after the brief call, and it does not move unless you change the scope.
Two weeks for a landing page, four to six for a full build, measured from the day the outline is approved. The usual delay is waiting on content, so if your dates are tight we agree what goes live first and what follows later.
I write structure and section copy from your material — notes, transcripts, an old brochure, a recorded call. That is included. If you want long-form writing such as full case studies or service pages from scratch, it is quoted as an add-on.
Yes, for the parts that change. Full builds include a simple editor for repeating content such as projects, posts or team entries. Fixed marketing pages stay in my hands, because that is where a well-meant edit usually breaks a layout.
A half-hour call, anything you already have about the offer, your logo files if they exist, and one person who can approve decisions. Photography can come later; placeholder crops are used until it arrives.
Often. If you have brand guidelines or Figma files, I build to them. If an agency owns strategy, I take the build. Say so in your brief and the scope is written to fit the boundary.
Start a project
A few lines is enough. You will get a reply within one working day with either a recommended engagement or an honest pointer elsewhere.