Wagtail

Wagtail is a widely used open-source content management system with a global community of developers, designers and content teams. The website needed to communicate the strengths of the platform clearly while serving multiple audiences, from first-time visitors to experienced contributors.

Working with the Wagtail team, we contributed to the design and front-end implementation of the site, focusing on clarity, usability and maintainability. The goal was to create a calm, well-structured experience that explained a technically powerful product without overwhelming users.

My role spanned interface design, component development and front-end implementation, ensuring that the visual language, interaction patterns and underlying codebase were consistent, accessible and easy to evolve.

Design & UX

The design work focused on supporting Wagtail’s values of simplicity, flexibility and editorial control. This included:

• Designing clear page layouts for product messaging, documentation entry points and community content
• Establishing consistent typography, spacing and hierarchy to improve scannability
• Supporting a wide range of content types, from marketing pages to technical resources
• Balancing brand expression with a neutral, developer-friendly aesthetic

Front-end Implementation

On the front end, the focus was on building a robust, maintainable system that the team could extend over time:

• Developing reusable, component-based templates
• Implementing responsive layouts across breakpoints
• Ensuring strong accessibility and semantic HTML
• Supporting performance and progressive enhancement
• Aligning front-end patterns with Wagtail’s content modelling and editorial workflows

Outcome

The resulting site provides a clear, approachable entry point to Wagtail while supporting the needs of its growing community. The combination of thoughtful design and well-structured front-end code created a flexible foundation that continues to support product growth, documentation, and community engagement.