Forma Studio
- —UX Strategy
- —Visual Design
- —Frontend Development
- —Motion Design
- —CMS Integration
Forma needed a website as precise as their buildings — one that communicated spatial intelligence without resorting to the predictable aesthetics of architecture firms.
Architecture websites are almost universally broken. They're either portfolio dumps with no navigation logic, or sterile white boxes that feel abandoned. Forma deserved something that moved like their work — considered, purposeful, with nothing wasted.
SPACE AS INTERFACE
We approached the navigation as an architectural problem: how do you move through a building? You don't scan menus. You follow sightlines. The site works on the same principle — each section reveals the next through visual continuity.
THE GRID IS THE BUILDING
We built a custom 24-column grid system — borrowed from architectural drawing conventions — and let it govern every layout decision. Headings never break the grid. Images fill modules precisely.
— Zara Chen, Lead DesignerWhen the grid is right, you stop fighting the layout. Everything just wants to go where it belongs.
ARCHITECTURE IN TIME
Static architecture photography goes flat on screen. We designed a motion language that reanimates the stills — subtle reveals that echo the way light moves through a building across a day.
Every animation on the site runs entirely in CSS — no JavaScript animation library, no canvas. The result is a 98 Lighthouse performance score and zero layout shift.
AUDIT
Full review of 40 architecture firm websites. Identified the five patterns everyone defaults to — then built in the opposite direction.
STRUCTURE
Information architecture workshop with Forma's partners. Mapped the 40+ page site to a 5-route navigation system that works at any depth.
BUILD
10 weeks of design and development running in parallel. Weekly client reviews. Launched with zero post-launch bugs reported.