A beautiful website is only useful if the team can keep it alive. Too many sites launch looking perfect, then slowly drift as nervous editors avoid touching anything. For us, handover is part of the design process, not an afterthought on launch day.

Build for editing from day one

The way a site is built decides how easy it is to edit. We follow a few simple rules on every Framer project.

• Anything that repeats becomes a component with clear properties.

• Every type size and colour uses a shared style, never a one-off value.

• Content that changes often, like projects and articles, lives in the CMS.

• Layers are named for what they are, not left as Frame 47.

These rules feel slower at first, but they pay off quickly. When the team wants to add a new case study, they fill in a CMS form instead of duplicating a page and hoping nothing breaks.

Design with real content

Placeholder text hides problems. Long names, short headlines and missing images all appear the moment real content arrives. We test every template with awkward content before handover, so the team never discovers a broken layout on their own.

The handover session

Before launch, we record a short walkthrough of the project. It covers where everything lives, which components to use and what not to touch. Then we sit with the team while they make their first real change and publish it.

1. Add a new item to the CMS and check it on the live site.

2. Update text and images on a static page.

3. Duplicate a section and adjust it for a new purpose.

4. Change a colour style and watch it update across the site.

Doing these four tasks together builds confidence quickly. Most teams rarely need us after that first session.

Leave a light set of rules

Finally, we leave a one-page guide inside the project itself, not in a separate document. It explains the main components, the text styles and a few simple dos and don’ts. Short enough to read in five minutes, and close enough to the work that people actually read it.