Alchemy RG Portfolio Site

A custom artist portfolio with elegant content management for a retired finance professional turned visual artist.

UX Design Content Strategy CMS Development

Project Overview

Raj Gupta, a retired finance professional pursuing an MFA at the School of Visual Arts, needed a portfolio site that would showcase his diverse body of work while being easy to update and maintain himself.

His extensive collection of artwork needed an organized presentation that would differentiate from a typical folder structure, with an engaging visual experience that would highlight the quality of his work.

Our challenge was to create a sophisticated portfolio with intuitive organization, while ensuring Raj could easily manage content updates without technical assistance.

100+

Artwork pieces organized

5 min

Content update time

The homepage features an animated showcase that elevates the presentation beyond a simple image gallery, creating an immersive experience that draws visitors into Raj's artistic vision.

Sanity CMS interface for Alchemy RG

Custom Content Management

Raj needed complete control over his portfolio content with the ability to organize work into nested collections and easily update pieces as his body of work expanded.

We implemented Sanity CMS with a custom recursive tree structure that allows for unlimited nesting of portfolios, creating an intuitive organization system that's both powerful and easy to use.

This approach gives Raj the flexibility to organize his work conceptually rather than chronologically, creating meaningful connections between pieces while maintaining a clean navigation structure.

Our Process

How we created a custom portfolio system that balances aesthetics with functionality

1

Discovery & Content Strategy

We analyzed Raj's existing Google Drive of artwork to understand his organization needs and developed a content strategy that would showcase his work effectively.

2

CMS Architecture

We designed a recursive schema in Sanity CMS that allowed portfolios to contain other portfolios, with leaf nodes representing individual artwork pieces.

3

Frontend Development

We built a Next.js server-rendered application that dynamically generates the navigation structure from the CMS while optimizing for SEO and performance.

Technical Approach

Creating a solution that balances aesthetic presentation with practical content management

Recursive Tree Structure

We implemented a self-referencing content model in Sanity that allows portfolios to contain other portfolios, creating a flexible organization system that adapts to the artist's needs.

Server-Side Rendering

Using Next.js, we created a server-rendered application that generates the site structure from the CMS data, ensuring excellent SEO while maintaining fast load times.

Dynamic Media Handling

We implemented responsive image loading with automatic optimization to ensure artworks display beautifully on any device while maintaining fast load times.

Custom Media Scripts

We created custom scripts to automate the import of Raj's extensive Google Drive archive into the Sanity CMS, saving hours of manual content entry.

Results & Impact

How our portfolio solution has empowered Raj to manage his artistic presence

Content Ownership

Raj can now update his portfolio independently, adding new work and reorganizing collections without requiring developer assistance.

Improved Discoverability

The intuitive navigation structure and SEO optimization have increased visibility of Raj's work to curators and art enthusiasts.

Professional Presentation

The animated showcase and clean design create a gallery-like experience that elevates the presentation of Raj's artwork.

"Pax Media understood exactly what I needed as an artist. They created a portfolio that not only showcases my work beautifully but gives me complete control over how it's organized and presented. The system is intuitive enough that I can manage everything myself, which was essential to me."
RG

Raj Gupta

Visual Artist, Alchemy RG

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