THE CLIENT

Gemma Cairney

THE DETAILS

Brand Refresh
Identity Design
Website Design

Gemma Cairney is a seasoned broadcaster, radio host, author, and all-around creative force. She came to me ahead of the publication of her fourth book, The Immortal Sisterhood, wanting a website that could do three things: make the book incredibly easy to find and buy, connect visually to the touring performance project inspired by it, and feel unmistakably like Gemma at this particular moment in her life.

We also needed to move quickly. The book was coming out in a matter of months, and Gemma was about to have her second child.

WHAT WASN’T WORKING

We were essentially starting over, both visually and structurally.

Gemma had a strong instinct for what she wanted, but it needed translating into an actual digital world. One of her references was a website interns had built for her nearly 20 years earlier. She wanted the new site to feel artful, playful, and full of wonder.

Her creative brief summed it up perfectly:

“I want it to feel like I ride rainbows all around the world.”

WHAT I DID

Gemma has a huge body of work online, but rather than letting that dictate who she was supposed to be, I focused on what she showed me: photographs she loved, visual references, old work, and the things that still felt meaningful to her.

I dug through the internet and managed to resurrect pieces of that 20-year-old website, including some of its hand-drawn elements. We brought those forward into the new site, connecting an earlier version of Gemma's creative life with the one she was stepping into now.

From there, I built a strange, joyful little world around her—layering photography, found elements, scans, animation, illustration, and interactive moments, including a custom card-pulling feature.

Underneath all that playfulness is a very practical structure: The Immortal Sisterhood is front and center, the tour is easy to find, and buying the book is never complicated.

THE WORK

Homepage animation / screen recording
Full homepage
Desktop + mobile comparison
The Immortal Sisterhood book section
Book tour / performance section
Custom card-pulling interaction
Grid of found, scanned, and hand-drawn details
Original 20-year-old website alongside elements reused today
A few close-up moments that show the layers, movement, and weird little details

WHAT CHANGED

Gemma now has a site that feels like an extension of her creative world rather than a résumé of everything she's done.

It connects the book, the performance, her history, and everything that might come next—while still doing the very practical job of helping people discover her work and buy the book.

And, most importantly, Gemma saw it and shouted from the rooftops.