A homepage, and the template underneath it

The homepage was the most-argued-about page in the company and the least owned. Ten people had a view: two VPs, the head of content and communications, marketing operations, demand generation, two developers, two designers. I was the only person assigned to it.

Every stakeholder wanted their section above the fold, and the page had a fixed go-live date. A design review that ran on taste would have gone in circles until the date arrived and someone senior simply chose.

I treated the homepage as the first instance of a template, not as a page. Written into the brief before any design work, in January 2024:

“This is meant to be the first iteration that we can build upon, and hopefully use as a template to unify the branding efforts of both the web team and brand and content team. Other page templates throughout the website will be easier to update once this initial homepage concept is up and running.”

Project brief · January 2024
I presented the contested section three ways, with reasoning rather than preference. The Solutions block went out as cards, as tabs and as a slider — each with a written analysis of how it behaved responsively and what it cost. Framing options with trade-offs moves a review from taste to judgement, and it lets senior people decide something rather than react to something.

I gave them a working preview, not mockups. Stakeholders got a live URL: “if you use it you will probably see me working in there making the updates.” Arguments about hypothetical pages end when people can click.

I put the plan on a calendar. Nine dated tasks between 8 and 24 January, including named follow-ups for individual stakeholders, a readiness check, and a PDF overview produced for an executive meeting — ending in Go Live.

The redesigned homepage, live 24 January 2024, on the date planned.
A 15-section rationale document arguing every decision from user journey through to lead generation.
A per-section stakeholder feedback deck capturing what each reviewer asked for and what happened to it.
A product-page template extending the same system, then rolled across the site over the following seven months.
Closing note on the thread, unedited: “I did run into a very unexpected issue upon publishing but the page is live and working.” Worth keeping — it is what shipping actually sounds like.

“Great job bringing stakeholders together for the HP redesign launch… This is definitely a portfolio piece that is one that you can put on your resume.”

Andres Mercedes · goal-setting review, February 2024
And a year later, on what the underlying system did rather than what the page looked like:

“Query block implementation, custom post types and starter templates to the site overall has increased productivity times across multiple departments.”

Andres Mercedes · year-end review, January 2025
That second quote is the one that matters. The homepage was the visible part; the template was the point.