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Every client I've worked with has asked for the same thing in the first message: "I need a website."
What they actually need is usually something more specific, and they don't know how to articulate it yet.
Here's what I've seen across 5 shipped projects:
They ask for: "A beautiful website with lots of animations." They need: A clear value prop above the fold and one CTA that's impossible to miss.
They ask for: "Something like [competitor's site]." They need: The opposite. A way to stand out from that competitor, not blend in with them.
They ask for: "Can we add more sections?" They need: Fewer sections with better content. Three strong blocks beat seven mediocre ones every time.
They ask for: "Make it pop." They need: Contrast. Bigger type on the headline, more whitespace around the CTA, one accent color instead of four.
They ask for: "I want it to feel premium." They need: Restraint. Less text, more breathing room, slower pacing, and a font that isn't trying too hard.
None of this means clients are wrong. They're describing a feeling they want visitors to have. My job is to translate that feeling into decisions: what stays, what goes, what gets bigger, what disappears entirely.
The best client conversations happen when I stop taking requests literally and start asking "what's the outcome you want from this page?" Then we work backward.
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Same prompt. Two builders.
One site made with Lovable, one with Google AI Studio. A Flemish still-life snack brand, gilt frames, GSAP scroll, the works.
Which one is better?
33 voted
67%
16 voted
33%
49 votes
Closed
A few things we’ve been working on this month.
Different industries, different problems, but the same goal: making complex products feel simple, clear, and trustworthy.
Fintech → Investment Banking → Geospatial AI
More projects are still in progress.
Full case studies coming soon.
This is the kind of work I enjoy seeing — simple, focused, and actually thought through.
Hi Contra 👋 I'm Victoria, a website designer and architecture student in Buenos Aires.
Architecture taught me to think about light, material and how people move through a space. I bring the same thinking to websites.
To practise, I designed four concept sites for brands that don't exist (yet):
✦ Maison Ardent, a Parisian perfume house
✦ Oxblood Records, an indie record label
✦ Fuego Lento, a parrilla in Palermo
✦ Kōra Atelier, a ceramics studio in Kyoto
Each one started from a full brief, as if the client were real.
Now I'm taking my first commissions: custom landing pages in Figma, desktop and mobile, from $30.
Portfolio: https://victoriadiaz-studio.netlify.app
Which of the four would you want to see in detail next?
