Jaime Sainz is a sound designer with growing international recognition, with credits on major productions and awards to his name. He needed a portfolio that matched that level of credibility — but like many creatives, he didn't want to deal with the limitations and maintenance overhead of WordPress or plugin-dependent CMS solutions. He needed something he could manage entirely on his own, built to grow with his career.
Designed and developed independently as a freelance contractor. This was my first project built outside of the PHP/Laravel stack I had used for years — a deliberate move into React, Next.js, and Payload CMS.
Since Jaime works under his own name and had no existing visual identity, I needed to bring some personality to the site without inventing a brand that wasn't his. The solution was a wave motif — a subtle but intentional reference to sound — woven into the homepage animation and repeated across several elements throughout the site. It gives the experience a coherent feel without overpowering his work.
On the technical side, I chose Payload CMS as a headless solution so Jaime would have a clean, modern admin panel without any of the WordPress friction. Next.js on the front end made it a natural fit for performance and SEO.
The platform is built on Next.js with Payload CMS handling all content management. Jaime can log in and manage his entire portfolio independently — adding new films he has worked on, including poster, IMDb link, trailer, and production details, along with his specific role on each project. Awards can be created and linked directly to the relevant film, so his recognition is always tied to context. His about page, selected works, and filmography sections all update automatically from the admin panel.
On the SEO side, the implementation covered technical metadata within Next.js, structured data, Google Search Console setup, and Google Analytics integration.
The homepage features a custom JavaScript wave animation — a design choice that gives Jaime a visual identity rooted in the idea of sound, present subtly across the site without distracting from his work.
Jaime now has a portfolio that reflects the level of his career — visually considered, fully self-managed, and built to scale as he adds new projects and awards. The SEO foundation ensures his work is discoverable as his international profile continues to grow.
