Chapter IV
The work
Three sites the studio built, still in use, still open to anyone who wants to check them.
04 / 04
What this chapter is
Three sites,in use right now.Not case studies.Addresses. Open oneand check this page.
A portfolio usually shows the best frame of something that no longer exists. Every site in this chapter is running at a public address, and the address is printed beside it.
The marks are the studio’s reading, not the client’s. Each one points at a decision visible in the capture it is struck on, checkable twice: against the plate, and then against the site.
Nothing here claims a number. No lift, no conversion, no award. The argument is the build itself, which is why the evidence is never retouched.
What is a portfolio worth once the work is live? If the site still loads, the case study is the address, and everything else is decoration.
Contents
- Artifact IWayla NYCRestaurant · 04
- Artifact IICafe Mandalay HillsCoffee Roaster · 05
- Artifact IIIBismillah Drugs IncHealthcare · 06
- Read the page
- Mark the decisions
- Open the live site
How a site is read
Every mark in this chapter was struck the same way: open the live site, shoot it at a fixed frame, and write down only what is visible in the shot.
00
The capture
- Headless Chromium
- 1440 × 900, at 2x
01
The first screen
- What loads before a scroll
02
The two asks
- What the business is for
- Filled controls only
03
The apparatus
- Address, hours, phone
04
The honest gap
- What it declines to claim
05
The check
- Every link resolves
Restaurant01 / 03
Artifact I
Wayla NYC
home-style Thai cooking on the Lower East Side, with the table, the bar and private events on one path
www.waylanyc.com. Open the live site, opens in a new tab
Booking never leaves the masthead
One room, shot once
Hours before the scroll
A restaurant system where booking a table and reading the menu are never more than one move apart, at any depth.
www.waylanyc.comCaptured 18 September 2026Dionysos · bronze · Roman · 50 BCE–50 CE
Coffee Roaster02 / 03
Artifact II
Cafe Mandalay Hills
an organic coffee roaster’s site, from the slope the beans grow on to the cup
www.cafemandalayhills.com. Open the live site, opens in a new tabWhat opens

- I
A nav that names the argument
Four sections, and one of them is Love for Earth. The sustainability case is given a place in the navigation rather than a paragraph at the bottom, because it is the reason to buy this coffee.
- II
The roast, on the plant
The first screen is coffee cherries on the branch, with the roast named over them. Origin and product are one image, which is the whole claim this roaster makes.
- III
It does not pretend to sell
The shop is not built yet, and the site says so where a basket would be. A storefront that takes no orders is worse than an honest one that is coming.
A roaster’s system that gives sourcing and sustainability the same weight as the product, and does not pretend to sell before it can.
www.cafemandalayhills.comCaptured 30 September 2026Demeter · terracotta · Athens · 400s BCE
Healthcare03 / 03
Artifact III
Bismillah Drugs Inc
a neighbourhood pharmacy that answers in five languages, with refills, delivery and care under one sign
www.bismillahdrugs.com. Open the live site, opens in a new tab
A pharmacy set out as its own shopfront: the language, the refill and whether the door is open, before the first scroll.
- I
The language is a control
Five languages sit behind a switch in the masthead, beside the one filled button. The headline makes the promise in words, and the sign along the foot of the screen spells pharmacy in all five.
- II
Open or closed, answered first
The band under the masthead carries the address, a number to call and a line that changes with the hour: whether the shop is open now, and until when. Most visits are for that answer.
- III
The shop, drawn as it stands
The picture is the storefront on Broadway, drawn: the fascia sign, the window decals and a door sign that reads open or closed in step with the band above. The page is the shop’s sign, not a brochure.
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hello@dotlace.studioAvailable for new projects · Creative Studio · New York