Redesigning Daphne Hemily Advisory

Role: Platform strategy, UX & content design, end-to-end build
Team: Independent
Timeline: 2026 · Launching June 2026
Platform: Lovable · Sanity · GitHub · Netlify

A platform, content, and brand rebuild for a Toronto executive coach, serious while maintaining warmth, built for editorial autonomy. Daphne's old site undersold her practice and was too light for the senior clients she's built for. Together, we fixed that.

01TL;DR

The bet

02Challenge

Plain-language statement of the real problem and why it mattered. One sentence on business stakes, one on user stakes, no jargon, no setup, no marketing.

03Research

Research & discovery

Before any design, I ran a platform and content audit: where prospective clients dropped off, how Daphne's offerings had evolved, and what stack would still serve her in five years without forcing a rebuild. Three findings shaped the work.

The voice undersold the practice

The existing copy was warm but generic. Daphne's real register, clinical yet warm, direct, credentialed, human, was missing from the page, which made the work read as lighter than it is.

The new first impression: a direct, credentialed headline and a trusted-by band with McKinsey, MSF, and the University of Toronto.

Return on investment section with cited coaching statistics and client outcomes — Proof over adjectives: cited ROI figures and client outcomes replace generic warmth, so the page reads at the level Daphne works.

Service pages were organized for Daphne, not her clients

The architecture mirrored internal service categories, not the decisions executives were actually making. Reframing each page around a client decision clarified the path to inquiry.

Animated services section switching between Strategic advisory, Executive coaching, and Facilitation — Services in action: each tab opens with the leader's situation, what they walk away with, and a client quote, all in one view.

Who I work with section describing leaders navigating change and critical decisions — A 'Who I work with' section frames the site around the client's moment of change before any service is named.

Platform lock-in was the real long-term risk

A proprietary builder would have shipped faster but capped Daphne's editorial autonomy. A headless CMS plus a flat-file deploy pipeline traded a week of setup for years of independence.

Animated scroll through the full live daphnehemily.com homepage on desktop — The full live homepage, every section editable by Daphne in her CMS with no developer in the loop.

Animated scroll through daphnehemily.com on a phone — The same content system, fully responsive on mobile.

01
The voice undersold the practice
The existing copy was warm but generic. Daphne's real register, clinical yet warm, direct, credentialed, human, was missing from the page, which made the work read as lighter than it is.
The new first impression: a direct, credentialed headline and a trusted-by band with McKinsey, MSF, and the University of Toronto.
Proof over adjectives: cited ROI figures and client outcomes replace generic warmth, so the page reads at the level Daphne works.
02
Service pages were organized for Daphne, not her clients
The architecture mirrored internal service categories, not the decisions executives were actually making. Reframing each page around a client decision clarified the path to inquiry.
Services in action: each tab opens with the leader's situation, what they walk away with, and a client quote, all in one view.
A 'Who I work with' section frames the site around the client's moment of change before any service is named.
03
Platform lock-in was the real long-term risk
A proprietary builder would have shipped faster but capped Daphne's editorial autonomy. A headless CMS plus a flat-file deploy pipeline traded a week of setup for years of independence.
The full live homepage, every section editable by Daphne in her CMS with no developer in the loop.
The same content system, fully responsive on mobile.

05Impact

Outcome & impact

The measurable results and what changed for people.

Currently in build, launching June 2026, so the story here is what the rebuild set up, not yet shipped metrics.

A voice that matches the practice: copy and positioning rewritten in Daphne's clinical-yet-warm register, so the site reads at the level she works.
Architecture organized around client decisions: service pages reframed around the choices executives are making, clarifying the path to inquiry.
Editorial independence by design: a headless CMS and flat-file deploy pipeline that let Daphne run the site for years without a rebuild or vendor lock-in.