1 · Brief
You send a paragraph, a deck, or a Loom. We respond within two business days with a tier recommendation and a cost envelope.
Output: signed engagement letter, milestone schedule, payment plan.
Berta Atelier — process
A six-stage method, the same on every project.
No mystery, no upsell. The same six stages run on a Signal one-pager and on a Sovereign multi-property platform — only the depth changes.
The flow
Each stage has a defined entry artefact, a defined exit artefact, and a written sign-off. Nothing slips silently from one stage to the next.
2 · Sketch
Information architecture, page list, content model, and a typographic direction. A static reference page in your branding before any production work begins.
Output: sitemap, content schema, type and colour reference, one hero composition.
3 · Build
Hand-written HTML, CSS, and JS deployed to a private preview URL. Daily commits to your repository (or ours) with preview deploys per pull request.
Output: live preview URL, GitHub repository, CI/CD pipeline, draft copy in place.
4 · Review
Structured rounds of revision against the original brief. Each tier specifies how many — Signal one round, Atlas two, Doctrine three, Sovereign by sprint.
Output: revision log, accessibility audit report, Lighthouse readout.
5 · Ship
Custom domain, DNS, analytics, search-engine submission, and a 30-day post-launch defect window. You receive an editor's manual and a handover walkthrough.
Output: live site, sitemap submitted, editor's manual, handover recording.
6 · Care
Optional, monthly. Monitoring, security updates, monthly content edits, quarterly performance review, and a direct line for incident response.
Output: monthly status note, quarterly Lighthouse and accessibility re-test.
Tools and stack
Pragmatic, hand-written, and standards-first. We do not start from a template marketplace.
Frontend
Hand-written semantic HTML, modern CSS (custom properties, container queries where useful), vanilla JavaScript by default. React, Astro, or SvelteKit only when warranted by the brief.
Type and design
Cormorant Garamond + Source Sans 3 as the house pairing, or a bespoke direction. Figma for sketches; final composition happens in code.
Content
Markdown, MDX, or a flat-file content schema by default. CMS only when editorial volume justifies it (Sanity, Decap, Contentful where the brief demands).
Hosting
Netlify, Vercel, or Cloudflare Pages by default. Your existing infrastructure if you bring it. Care plans do not lock hosting to us.
Payments
Stripe Checkout and Payment Links by default. Lemon Squeezy or Gumroad on request. Customer portal where the model warrants it.
Analytics
Plausible or Google Analytics by default; cookieless options on request. We do not install anything that you would not be comfortable disclosing in a privacy notice.
AI integrations
BYO-key Claude / OpenAI / Ollama integration where relevant. Prompt-cache configuration, rate limiting, and a server-side review surface — not a frontend that exposes your key.
Repository
GitHub by default. CI/CD with preview deploys per pull request. The repository is yours, with a clean commit history, on delivery.
Accessibility
WCAG AA as a baseline, automated audit (axe / Pa11y) plus a manual keyboard-and-screen-reader pass. Documented exceptions, not silent gaps.
Commercial terms
Payment
50% on signature, 50% on launch for Signal and Atlas. Three-stage milestones (signature, preview, launch) for Doctrine and above. Care plans monthly in advance with a 30-day notice period either side.
Ownership
You own the code in full on delivery. The Atelier retains a non-exclusive right to feature the work as a case study unless you ask otherwise — please tell us in the brief if you need a fully private engagement.
Confidentiality
We sign mutual NDAs on request. Pre-publication content, financial figures, and unannounced products are treated as confidential by default.
Cancellation
Cancellation before stage 3 (Build) refunds the unspent balance, less a sketch fee. Cancellation after stage 3 invoices for work done to that point. We will not hold a project hostage to recover an additional milestone.
What we will not do
We do not run paid advertising, do general "marketing retainers", or operate social-media channels. We build and maintain the website itself, and we hand over cleanly to whoever owns those functions for you.
What we will say no to
Any brief that requires us to deceive end users, operate hidden fees, or build dark-pattern conversion flows. Any brief that asks us to skip accessibility. Any brief that asks for an offensive use of generative content.
Ready to start at stage 1?
Send a brief, a pinned URL, or a single paragraph describing what you want to ship.