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Role

Brand Design

Web Design & Dev

Year

2022

Industry

Photography

Platform

Squarespace

Project Overview

Keiki-Lani Knudsen is a Las Vegas–based photographer known for her vibrant, expressive work in festival, wedding, product, and portrait photography. Her style is bold, colorful, and technically precise, yet her previous website didn’t reflect the creativity or professionalism that defines her work.

I collaborated with Keiki on a full brand and web refresh, leading branding, web design, creative direction, and strategy. The goal was to build a digital presence that felt as magnetic and polished as her photography, a site that would support her next level of growth, not hold her back.

The finished product not only aligned with her vibrant style but also caught the attention of the broader design community. It was featured in a Squarespace newsletter showcasing standout websites. This project represents the kind of thoughtful, intuitive, and collaborative design I strive for: work that doesn’t just look good, but feels like a true extension of the person behind it.

The Challenge

When Keiki came to me, her website felt like a DIY patchwork. It was visually disconnected from the vibrancy and professionalism of her photography. It lacked a cohesive brand identity, used a plain white template with minimal styling, and didn’t showcase her artistry in a way that felt grounded or intentional. The design leaned heavily into a generic wedding aesthetic that didn’t reflect her colorful, expressive voice or the full range of her creative work.

Because of this, Keiki rarely shared her site. It wasn’t something she felt proud of, and it certainly wasn’t working for her. It didn’t feature her latest portfolio, failed to attract new clients, and lacked the strategy needed to support her growth. Without a strong digital foundation, she was doing the heavy lifting herself, relying solely on her raw talent and hustle to book work. She was ready for a website that could match her level of skill and speak for her without needing constant explanation.

My Approach

Brand Design

We began with a brand intensive rooted in color psychology, visual inspiration, and strategic storytelling. My goal was to craft a brand that reflected the vibrancy and depth of Keiki’s photography, especially her signature use of light and movement. Her photos are dynamic, emotionally rich, and visually powerful, so I designed a brand that would support and amplify that without overpowering it.

Using a moodboard grounded in her imagery, we explored tone, type, and color to build an identity that felt expansive, alive, and grounded in nature. I pulled in shades of green and gold to mirror themes of growth, joy, and illumination, while also subtly nodding to her Taurus sun sign. The typography brought in boldness and refinement, giving the brand structure and contrast to balance the emotional energy of her photos. Every decision was made with intention to help her visuals feel supported, elevated, and truly seen.

Web Design & Development

With the brand identity solidified, I moved into the web design phase with a clear intention: to create a digital space that reflected Keiki’s creativity and professionalism, while letting her stunning photography be the hero. Her old site didn’t just feel outdated, it actively worked against her, making her hesitant to even share it. My goal was to flip that narrative and give her a site that made her feel proud, confident, and fully represented.

I used my Leo Squarespace template as a base and customized it through my Template Remix process. It’s a strategic approach where I reimagine one of my original Squarespace templates through the lens of the client’s brand. This process allows me to adapt the look, feel, and structure of the template using brand-aligned design decisions and front-end tweaks, so the final site feels completely custom and deeply resonant with my client’s vision.

The layout was designed to highlight her work with clean, spacious portfolio sections and intuitive navigation. Every element—from gallery interactions to color usage—was chosen to reflect the bold, joyful energy we built in her brand.

We focused on organization, clarity, and visual storytelling, creating a site that could do the heavy lifting for her business and finally match the level of her talent.

The Outcome

The transformation was immediate. Keiki went from hiding her old website to proudly sharing her new one as a true reflection of her artistry. The updated branding and website gave her the professional edge she needed to position herself confidently in the photography space, allowing her talent to speak clearly through a thoughtfully designed and user-friendly platform.

Shortly after launch, the project was featured in a Squarespace newsletter, recognizing the design as a standout example within the creative community. That external validation mirrored what Keiki shared personally:

“The website Alex designed for me is stunning, colorful, and modern. It truly showcases my photography better than I could have ever imagined… It embodies everything I could have asked for.”

This project is a perfect example of what I aim to create: work that blends clarity, emotion, and strategy to help clients feel seen, supported, and empowered to grow.