Responses by ET Studio.

Background: This website was conceived as a natural extension of architectural studio Nine to Five, translating its design approach into a clear, recognizable digital experience. We began by developing the visual identity as the foundation of the entire system; therefore, the site is not just a container for projects but a cohesive space where language, structure and content work together.

The website’s target audience includes clients and professionals in the fields of architecture and design who are looking for a studio with a contemporary, structured approach focused on quality.

Design core: The site is defined by a clear visual language, built on the balance between bold elements and essential reduction. The structure is clean and highly legible, and the design avoids decorative elements, focusing only on what is truly relevant. Nine to Five’s projects form the core of the experience: they organize navigation and define the content hierarchy. The interface supports exploration without interfering, maintaining clarity and focus at all times.

Favorite details: One of the site’s most successful aspects is how the visual identity extends organically into the interface, creating continuity between brand and digital experience. We are also pleased with the level of precision in visual control: spacing, proportions and rhythm have been carefully calibrated to build a balanced, coherent experience. Another key point is the site’s ability to highlight content without unnecessary layers, letting the projects define the overall tone.

Challenges: Working through reduction while maintaining a strong identity. Reducing elements without losing character required careful attention to structure, hierarchy, and the relationship between content and layout.

Navigation structure: We designed the navigation to be direct and easy to understand, without unnecessary layers. We combined horizontal and vertical scrolling to create a dynamic yet clear experience, allowing users to move freely while always maintaining orientation.

The experience is built around subtle interactions and smooth transitions that support exploration without interrupting it. The structure is designed to minimize friction, making the journey feel natural while keeping content at the center of the navigation.

Technology: The back end runs on Strapi, an open-source CMS. We chose it mainly for its flexibility in creating reusable content modules, giving Nine to Five real autonomy over how images, videos and text are arranged across the work section.

We built the front end with Nuxt, which pulls content through Strapi’s GraphQL API. The trickiest part of implementing Nuxt was handling horizontal and vertical scrolling on the same site, so we built a dedicated wrapper component that manages the two using Lenis for smooth scrolling and GSAP ScrollTrigger for animation.

Loading and menu overlay transitions are handled with GSAP Flip, which makes it easy to animate elements between different layout states.