Client
Case Study – Web Design & Development / Small Business
Building the Website for the Studio That Builds Websites
Creaticn exists to level the playing field for small businesses online. The studio’s own website had to prove the point — clearly, honestly, and without a single line of jargon.
Creaticn (Self)
Industry
Web Design & Development / Small Business
Location
Rochester, New York
Services
Web Design, Web Development, Hosting & Maintenance
Platform
WordPress
Timeline
4 weeks
The Challenge
The Hardest Website to Build Is Your Own
When Brajon Andrews and River Hoffman made Creaticn official in 2022, they faced the challenge every creative studio eventually confronts: building a website for themselves. It’s harder than it sounds. The work you do for clients comes with a clear brief, a defined audience, and someone else’s goals to design toward. Your own site has none of those guardrails — just a blank canvas and the weight of needing to represent everything you stand for.
Creaticn’s positioning was clear from the start: a two-person studio exclusively serving small businesses, offering honest pricing, plain-English communication, and websites actually built around client goals rather than whatever was easiest to sell. The challenge was translating that positioning into a website that felt as direct and trustworthy as the studio itself — without tipping into overselling, visual noise, or the kind of agency-speak that Creaticn was founded to push back against.
The site also needed to do real work: communicate services clearly, build confidence in prospective clients who had likely been burned by generic or overpriced web work before, and make starting a project feel as low-friction and low-risk as possible.
What We Did
Designed to Reflect Exactly What Creaticn Is
Building creaticn.com meant applying every principle the studio holds its client work to — clarity over cleverness, purpose over decoration, and a design that earns trust rather than demands it. The process included:
- Positioning & Messaging Strategy — We defined the core message — ‘We build sites small businesses actually need’ — and built every page around it. No jargon, no vague promises, no inflated scope. Every word was written to speak directly to a small business owner who has probably been let down by a web agency before.
- Custom Web Design — We designed a clean, dark-toned aesthetic that feels modern and credible without being flashy. The goal was a site that looks like it was made by people who know what they’re doing — because it was.
- Web Development — We built the site on WordPress — the same platform we recommend to most clients — practicing what we preach. Clean code, fast load times, and a build that’s easy to update as the studio grows.
- Services Architecture — We structured the services page to give prospective clients exactly what they need to make a decision: what’s included, what’s optional, and what to expect at each hosting tier. Transparent scope, no mystery pricing.
- Portfolio & Social Proof — We built out the Work section to showcase completed client projects, giving prospective clients immediate evidence of range and quality before they ever reach out.
- Frictionless Intake Flow — We made starting a project as simple as possible — a clear CTA, a straightforward form, and a 24-hour response commitment that removes the anxiety of reaching out to a web studio for the first time.
What Was Built
Every Page Earning Its Place
creaticn.com is a focused, no-waste website — built the same way Creaticn builds sites for clients. Here’s what lives inside it:
| Homepage | A direct, no-fluff introduction to what Creaticn does, who it’s for, and how to get started — designed to convert curious visitors into project inquiries |
|---|---|
| Services | A clear breakdown of Web Design, Hosting & Management (Basic / Standard / Pro tiers), and Branding — with transparent scope and common add-ons for each |
| Work / Portfolio | A showcase of completed client projects giving prospective clients immediate proof of quality and range across different industries |
| About | The honest origin story of Creaticn — how Brajon and River met, why they started the studio, and the values that shape how they work with every client |
| Start a Project | A frictionless project intake flow that captures the right information upfront and promises a response within 24 hours — keeping the barrier to entry as low as possible |
The Outcome
A Studio Website That Proves the Point
creaticn.com doesn’t just describe what the studio does — it demonstrates it. Every design decision, every line of copy, and every interaction reflects the same values Creaticn brings to client work: honesty, clarity, and a genuine focus on what actually helps a small business grow online.
| 5+ | Years building websites together before making it official as Creaticn |
|---|---|
| 20+ | Small business projects completed across nonprofits, first responders, education, and more |
| 2 | Person team — every client gets direct access to the people actually doing the work |
| 24hr | Response time guaranteed on all client communication, no exception |
The studio takes on a limited number of projects each month by design — so every client gets both sets of eyes on their work, and direct access to the people building it. That’s not a constraint. It’s the model.
In Our Own Words
”We started Creaticn because we kept seeing the same problem: small businesses getting overcharged for cookie-cutter sites that didn’t actually help them grow. We do things differently — straightforward process, real communication, and websites built around your business goals rather than whatever’s easiest to sell
Brajon Andrews & River HoffmanCo-founders, Creaticn
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