“Inventive design and a tight palette never looked so fun. The promise of the agency really comes through.” —Boo Wong
Overview: While the creative team at Redondo Beach, California–based design studio KUYA began to reinvent themselves after their previous venture ended, they knew they needed a portfolio site to introduce their studio to new and prior creative partners alike. The studio’s site encapsulates its quirky spirit and approach to creativity through bold typography, vibrant colors and playful animations, showing not only what its capabilities are but also reflecting its creative voice. As part of the KUYA studio and brand launch, the website makes a bold first impression on visitors and conveys the studio’s mission to spread joy through great work.
The site uses the JavaScript library React with Next.js as the front-end framework that integrates with Storyblok for the CMS.
The animated transitions use as much native CSS as possible to avoid performance issues that arise with DOM manipulations. The more complex animations use the animation library Framer Motion.
The site honors KUYA’s connection between its founder Michael Villa Sison and the Filipino American community through creativity and design.
Comments by KUYA:
What are your favorite details on KUYA’s site? “Though the site is chock-full of fun, animated interactions, some of our favorites happen right when you arrive on the site. The first thing visitors see is our YA! sticker animation, which serves as a playful, colorful intro that takes people to the homepage. From there, people can play with our logo, squashing and stretching the type by simply using their cursor to hover on each of KUYA’s letters.”
What was the most challenging aspect of the project? “Unlike most projects, this one was challenging because it was so personal. It was important for us to create something that can truly stand on its own, and in many ways, it pushed against contemporary design trends. KUYA needed to be a brand—and a website—that was true to us both as a company and as individuals. Discovering what that means through a very public medium was overwhelming at times but, in the long run, so valuable in helping us understand why we’re doing this in the first place.”
What would you do differently if you could start the project over? “Since this project was already a ‘relaunch’ of sorts, we were fortunate to have the time and experience to reflect on the things we’d like to change before even getting started. So, the short answer is we wouldn’t change a thing.”
