Case Study
Cindy Derby
Author, illustrator, & creator of wonderfully peculiar worlds
Cindy Derby is an author and illustrator whose work begins with characters: oddballs, unexpected personalities, and strange little worlds that reveal themselves as she writes, paints, and experiments.
She came to Milk Parlor at a turning point in her career. After years of illustrating both her own books and stories by other authors, Cindy wanted her website to put greater focus on what she was building next: original stories, recurring characters, and creative worlds that could eventually extend beyond books into animation, performance, and more.
Project Highlights
Her original worlds, front and center
The new site shifts the emphasis from showing every illustration project equally to highlighting Cindy’s own books, characters, process, and creative point of view.
A website that feels alive
Custom layouts, animation, handmade textures, and Cindy’s artwork make the site feel less like a traditional portfolio and more like stepping into her wonderfully peculiar world.
A more sustainable return to selling products
Cindy’s redesigned shop gives her a home for prints, signed books, and future products, with third-party fulfillment helping remove the shipping workload that led her to close her previous shop.
Project Goals
Cindy wanted her new website to:
01
Position her as an original storyteller and creator of character-driven worlds, not primarily a freelance illustrator
02
Put her own books, recurring characters, and creative process at the center of the experience
03
Feel theatrical, handmade, alive, inviting, and a little strange
04
Bring back her shop in a way that could be easier to manage
05
Give school visits and speaking a clear place within her broader creative practice
The Before
Cindy’s previous Squarespace site had served her well, but it felt too basic for where her career was headed.
She had built an acclaimed body of illustration work, including a Caldecott Honor, but she no longer wanted every past project to carry the same weight. Her focus was shifting toward her own stories and characters, including new author-illustrated books and series already in development.
“I have the work, I have all the ideas, it’s just getting to that next level.”
—CINDY
She wanted someone landing on the new site to immediately understand her creative identity, not just scroll through a collection of finished work.
“I want my voice to really shine through in it... like, this is her world.”
Putting Cindy’s Own Worlds First
One of the biggest strategic shifts was deciding what not to treat equally.
Cindy was proud of the many books she had illustrated for other authors, but those collaborations no longer represented the direction she most wanted to emphasize. We reorganized the site so her author-illustrated books, original characters, and creative process could take a more prominent role, while the rest of her illustration work remained available for visitors who wanted to explore further.
Making the Website Feel Like Cindy
Cindy didn’t want a polished portfolio that could belong to any illustrator.
She wanted the experience to feel theatrical, wonderfully peculiar, handmade, alive, and inviting.
Her artwork became part of the interface itself through custom layouts, handwritten details, textures, movement, and small moments of surprise throughout the site. For the homepage hero, we incorporated an animation Cindy created into an illustrated scene that immediately introduces visitors to both the artist and the strange characters occupying her world.
Other custom interactions bring movement to featured books and portfolio sections without sacrificing straightforward navigation or Cindy’s ability to update the Squarespace site herself.
“Oh my god. It looks SO RAD!!!!!!!!
You are amazing!”
—CINDY DERBY
Bringing Back Her Shop
Running a print-on-demand shop
Cindy had previously sold fine-art prints, originals, books, and products online, but closed her shop when managing printing, packing, and shipping became too much alongside her books and family life.
She wanted to reopen it without recreating the same workload.
We designed the new shop as part of the website and connected it with FinerWorks so Cindy could use third-party print fulfillment rather than handling every order herself. The shop launched with the new site and can continue growing as she adds new prints, signed books, originals, and other objects from her creative world.
The REsults
Cindy’s new website points much more clearly toward the creative career she is building.
Cindy’s new website doesn’t simply catalog what she has already made. It points much more clearly toward the creative career she is building.
Her own stories and characters have greater prominence. Her process, painting, and puppetry give visitors a fuller understanding of the artist behind the books. School visits and products have clear places of their own. And the design itself communicates the unconventional, handmade energy that people already associate with Cindy’s work.
For the producers, publishers, creative collaborators, readers, teachers, and families discovering her work, the site now makes one thing especially clear:
You’ve entered Cindy Derby’s world.
Bring the many parts of your creative career into one clear home.
You’ve spent years building a body of work and creating new ways for people to work with you, from books and illustration to school visits, coaching, products, and more.
I’ll help you bring it all together in a clear, thoughtful website that feels like you and makes your best work easy to find.