Thoughtforms · Freelance

A digital home for a firm
that builds better ones

Thoughtforms has been building award-winning sustainable homes since 1972. Their digital presence wasn't keeping up.

Role

UX Design Lead

Client

Thoughtforms · Freelance

Scope

UX · Information Architecture · Visual Design

Thoughtforms has built custom homes since 1972. Their website didn't tell that story.

Thoughtforms is an award-winning, sustainable custom home builder based in Acton, MA. Their craftsmanship is exceptional — meticulous, thoughtful, built for the long term. But their digital presence wasn't reflecting any of that. They needed a site that felt as intentional as the homes they build.

I partnered with a design agency to lead the UX work — wireframes through polished visual design — before handing off to development. The site is still live today at thoughtforms-corp.com. My job was to make a 50-year-old craft-focused firm feel at home on the web.

The Challenge

A 50-year brand without a digital voice

Site didn't reflect the quality or craft of the physical work
Deep content hierarchy — Team, Portfolio, Sustainability, Services, Advice, Stories
Portfolio needed filtering by style, type, location, and room
Brand equity built over decades had to be preserved, not erased
Multiple user types — prospective clients, current clients, job seekers, partners

Top-level navigation sections with deep sub-pages

1972

Year Thoughtforms was founded — a brand with history to honor

My Role

UX Design Lead · Freelance

Information architecture UX wireframes — Sprint 1 Polished visual design Navigation system design Portfolio filtering UX Developer handoff Design agency collaboration

Process

UX through visual design

Architecture

Mapping the content hierarchy

The site has six major sections with deep sub-navigation. The first challenge was designing a navigation system that made all of it discoverable — without overwhelming a first-time visitor. Dropdowns were designed to show structure at a glance.

Wireframes

Sprint 1 — 10 page layouts

Sprint 1 covered the full site skeleton — homepage (two concepts), team hierarchy, portfolio filtering, contact, and core templates. Every page was annotated with interaction notes and component callouts for the development team.

Visual Design

Brand translation

Thoughtforms' identity is built on craft, sustainability, and New England character. The visual design had to feel premium without being cold — warm photography, open layouts, and a navigation experience that honored the depth of their work.

The Hard Part

The portfolio filtering problem

Thoughtforms has built hundreds of projects across decades. The portfolio needed to be browsable by style, construction type, location, and room — simultaneously. Designing a filtering system that felt natural rather than overwhelming was one of the core UX challenges of the project.

The Live Site

Still running. Still right.

The site launched in 2021 and is still live today at thoughtforms-corp.com. The navigation system, portfolio filtering, team hierarchy, and sustainability section are all in production — exactly as designed.

thoughtforms-corp.com/team

Team page — Our People, Partners, and Architects sections

thoughtforms-corp.com/sustainability

Sustainability section — Green Building, Innovation, What We Do

Outcomes

A site that finally feels like the work.

The redesigned Thoughtforms site launched in 2021 and remains live today. The navigation, portfolio filtering, and team hierarchy all shipped as designed. For a firm that builds things to last — it was fitting that the digital experience reflected the same standard.

10+

Page templates wireframed in Sprint 1

2021

Launch year — still live and unchanged in architecture

1972

Founded — 50 years of craft now visible online

Lessons Learned

What I took away

Craft brands need craft-level IA

A firm like Thoughtforms has earned complexity — decades of projects, people, and expertise. The UX challenge wasn't simplifying that complexity, it was organizing it so any visitor could find what they were looking for without feeling lost.

The filtering system was the product

For a portfolio site with this much content, the filtering experience is what makes or breaks the site. Getting the taxonomy right — style, type, location, room — was more important than any single page design.

A digital home for a firmthat builds better ones