Designer - Web Developer
The Latin Dance
End-to-end product design and full-stack development of a scalable platform for the Latin dance community
The Latin Dance is a web platform designed to bring together the UK Latin dance community by helping users discover dance classes and events in one place. From concept to deployment, I ideated the entire lifecycle of the project, combining product thinking, design, and engineering to deliver a scalable and user-focused solution.
I crafted the brand identity and logo to reflect the energy, passion, and cultural richness of Latin dance, followed by the creation of a cohesive design system and visual language to ensure consistency across the platform. Through research and product design, I defined the core user journeys, focusing on discoverability, ease of use, and engagement for both dancers and instructors.
On the UX/UI side, I designed intuitive interfaces that balance aesthetics with functionality, optimising the experience across devices. I then brought these designs to life through front-end development using React and Next.js, building a fast, SEO-friendly, and responsive application.
On the back end, I architected and developed a robust system powered by PostgreSQL, ensuring efficient data handling and scalability. I also implemented CI/CD pipelines to streamline deployments and maintain code quality, alongside managing cloud infrastructure to ensure reliability and performance.
Additionally, I integrated Cloudflare for image storage and delivery, optimising media performance and load times across the platform.
This project showcases my ability to take a product from idea to production, covering branding, product strategy, design, full-stack development, and cloud operations.
Performance-Driven Architecture & Lighthouse Excellence
Performance was a core priority in building The Latin Dance, resulting in a fast, responsive, and highly optimised platform. Built on Next.js with a server-first approach, most of the application is rendered on the server, ensuring users receive fully formed pages quickly while minimising the amount of JavaScript sent to the browser. Interactive elements are selectively enhanced on the client side, keeping the experience smooth without unnecessary overhead.
The platform uses a smart mix of real-time rendering and strategic caching. High-traffic pages such as the homepage, class directories, and events listings are periodically refreshed to balance freshness and speed, while more dynamic, user-specific areas are rendered on demand. Additional caching layers optimise database queries and frequently accessed content, ensuring consistent performance even as the platform scales.
These optimisations resulted in outstanding Lighthouse scores: 96 Performance, 100 Accessibility, 100 Best Practices, and 100 SEO, demonstrating a high standard of technical quality, speed, and search engine optimisation.
Mobile-First Design for a Modern Dance Audience
The Latin Dance platform was designed with a mobile-first approach, based on the expectation, validated after launch, that the majority of users would access the site from their phones.
The interface prioritises clarity, touch-friendly interactions, and streamlined content, allowing users to quickly find relevant information without friction. Navigation, filters, and calls-to-action were carefully structured to work seamlessly on mobile devices, while still scaling elegantly to larger screens.
This approach not only improved usability and engagement but also reinforced performance and SEO benefits, resulting in a platform that feels natural and responsive across all devices, with mobile users at its core.
