web design / brand surface
a bangkok-grade website that matches the real scale of your business, not the template of the cms underneath.
for bangkok teams that have outgrown a squarespace or a wordpress theme and need a brand surface that carries the operational reality. webflow or framer as the build layer, an in-house design system instead of a derivative theme, bilingual english + thai routing standard, line oa share-card aware.
request an intake call01 . what it is
a brand surface is not a template pick. that is the default most bangkok-based businesses are left with after their first website cycle: a wordpress theme bought for thb 3,000, plugins that fight each other on every core update, a local agency that quotes a rebuild every 18 months because the cms cannot carry the operations. the business changes underneath: bilingual english and thai content, new product lines, recruitment pages, sector content growing in volume. the template carries none of it.
i build on webflow or framer depending on where the centre of gravity sits. webflow for catalog-heavy, cms-heavy brands that want their content team working without a dev calendar. framer for brands where motion and interaction are the differentiator and the cms layer is lighter. both without plugin sprawl, both without theme-vendor lock-in, both without the upgrade lottery a wordpress build hands you.
the design system sits at the foundation. typographic scale, colour ramp, component library, motion tokens, alt-text discipline, schema markup. each of those is agreed before the first page is built and is delivered as a living styleguide your in-house team can hold. the site is not a marketing artefact to be refreshed every two years. it is an operational layer your content team works inside.
bilingual routing for english primary and thai when your audience needs it sits in the architecture by default, not as an afterthought. a thai customer should land on a native thai surface, not a translated en page. the seo architecture follows: per-locale indexing, hreflang correct, schema markup per language, line oa share-card metadata aware. expat-led bangkok businesses get an en-only build where that fits.
02 . who it is for
archetype 01
four venues across thonglor, ekkamai and phrom phong. a 6-year-old squarespace site that loses to lazada and shopee on commodity items. needs a unified booking surface that pushes to four google calendars, a clean english brand layer, and a small e-commerce front that works on mobile in 2 seconds.
archetype 02
shopify own-site converting at 1.8% (industry is 3 to 4%). needs a faster, ari-aesthetic brand surface that reads native in thai and english, ties cleanly to klaviyo and the marketplace funnel, and signals 'the next sundae school of thailand' instead of 'another bangkok shopify theme'.
archetype 03
100+ consultants, fortune-tier end clients, content velocity high (case studies, sector reports, methodology articles). editorial team needs to work without a dev calendar. every 18 months a rebuild quote is not an option. needs a platform retainer, not a project.
03 . what you receive
01
brand system. typographic scale, colour ramp, component tokens, motion tokens. delivered as a living styleguide in webflow or framer.
02
cms architecture. structured content model mapped to your editorial taxonomy (sector, methodology, format), not a generic post-page split.
03
bilingual routing. url prefixes per locale (/en, /th), hreflang correct, sitemap per language, og tags translated, schema markup per language, line oa share metadata aware.
04
seo foundation. heading hierarchy, schema markup for article, product, faq, breadcrumbs and localbusiness, og + twitter cards, robots.txt and sitemap.xml. lighthouse 95+ on mobile as acceptance criterion.
05
handover documentation. 20-page operational manual in english for your content team. one-pager for emergency restart. logins, dns routing, deployment flow explicitly written down.
06
analytics setup. ga4 or plausible, server-side where it fits, pdpa-compliant cookie banner, conversion events for the funnel, search console connected and verified.
07
90-day platform care. weekly uptime check, performance triage when needed, a small batch of cms changes per month on request.
04 . timeline
phase 0
week 1-2
kickoff workshop, brand system agreed, content architecture on the table, bilingual conventions locked in, technical stack choice (webflow vs framer) underwritten.
phase 1
week 3-5
homepage, two main templates, mobile and desktop versions. content team review at week 4. design system delivered as a figma styleguide for sign-off.
phase 2
week 6-9
webflow or framer build with cms architecture live, bilingual routing, schema markup, content migration. acceptance tests on lighthouse, wcag and cross-browser.
phase 3
week 10
dns migration, ga4 connected, search console submitted, handover documentation delivered, two content training sessions. 90-day platform care starts.
05 . pricing
by scope, fixed price per phase. three shapes: site refresh, platform build, or platform retainer. i start with a paid discovery week, then a fixed sow with a fixed delivery date. transparent quote in your inbox inside 48 hours after a 30-minute intake call, not a three-week proposal cycle.
06 . proof
case study
dtc supplement brand on next.js + supabase. brand surface plus headless commerce, claude embedded in the customer service flow and the content engine. lighthouse 95+ on mobile, conversion-focused checkout, multilingual content from day one.
case study
branded landing surface for a consumer wellness product, framer-built, motion as the differentiator. design system delivered as a living styleguide. the same motion discipline ships into any bangkok dtc brand that needs to feel premium against a mass-market shopee feed.
07 . questions
01
webflow or framer, not wordpress, why?
wordpress works for some use cases. for a brand surface that needs to run five years, in two languages, without plugin sprawl, webflow or framer give a much calmer upgrade path. less vendor lock-in on themes and plugins, faster out-of-the-box page speed, a cms a marketing team can actually hold. most bangkok agencies still default to wordpress because that is what their team can build. i build where the next five years are easier, not where the next quarter is cheapest.
02
what about pdpa for analytics and forms?
pdpa-compliant cookie banner, retention settings explicit, server-side analytics where it fits (less third-party loading, less consent friction). form submissions logged with a written purpose-of-processing notice. data subject rights endpoint wired if the volume warrants it. the governance layer is part of the build, not an afterthought.
03
english only or english plus thai?
either. expat-led bangkok businesses default to en-only. thai-native dtc brands and any business with a thai-speaking customer base get en + th with proper hreflang. the architecture supports adding thai later if you launch en-only first. waiting six months is fine. doing both in a way that does not break seo when you flip the switch is not.
04
are you physically in bangkok?
yes. piexels has a bangkok founder presence in the sukhumvit corridor and a thai entity in formation with a local partner. site visits, coffee meetings at roast thonglor or common ground are part of the engagement. utc+7 timezone, english-first communication, 24-hour response on email.
05
how does payment work for bangkok clients?
usd primary on the invoice, thb equivalent shown. stripe usd for expat-led clients who prefer it, wise usd for international transfers, thai bank transfer in thb for thai-native clients. terms: 50/50 upfront/on-delivery for projects under usd 25k, 30/40/30 for projects above. invoiced in usd from the eu entity until the thai entity is fully boi-registered.
06
when is a rebuild better than a retainer?
if the design system fundamentally no longer fits where the business is going (new markets, new product lines, m&a). if everything that changes fits inside the existing system, a retainer is cheaper and faster. most bangkok smbs do not need a rebuild every 18 months. that is an agency-economic artefact, not a customer need.
08 . further
ready for an intake?
book a paid discovery, credited toward the build if you proceed. five working days after payment: kickoff workshop, architecture choice, content inventory, sow draft. line official account fallback for thai-first contact.