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Mauro Nappolini

Creative Developer

Six

Days

to Ship!

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Six days to design, build, and ship a complete portfolio template from scratch. The email arrived December 20th with a hard deadline: December 31st. Remove Christmas. Remove Sundays. Six working days remained. The timeline I gave myself wasn't generous, but it was clarifying. When time compresses, decisions sharpen. I saw it as a filter—one that eliminates everything except what truly matters.

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When you have six months, you can explore every option. When you have six days, you trust instinct. The constraint became permission to commit quickly and move forward.

Beautiful animations weren't optional. This is Framer. Motion design is the language. But I chose purposeful over complex: scroll triggers timed to reading rhythm, micro-interactions that feel inevitable. Craft with intention.

The hardest part wasn't technical. It was trust.

How do you establish credibility while documenting a rushed build? By being honest about constraints, transparent about trade-offs, obsessive about details. Remarkable work comes from knowing exactly what you're trying to say, then saying it with conviction.

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The moodboard that shaped every

typographic choice, every layout

decision, every spacing system—

constraint as creative direction,

editorial precision over decorative

excess.

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The moodboard that shaped every

typographic choice, every layout

decision, every spacing system—

constraint as creative direction,

editorial precision over decorative

excess.

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Seven Calendar days. Remove Sundays. Six working days. No extensions. No compromises on what matters more than work.


Editorial sophistication became the filter. Not technical complexity. Not feature richness. Editorial sophistication. The kind you see in Kinfolk or Monocle—where space and typography outwork decoration. With six days, I couldn't compete on breadth. I had to compete on point of view.


Typography became the entire visual language:

  • Satoshi for display

  • Fraunces for body

  • Near-black text

  • One accent color, used sparingly

  • 8px base unit, exponential scale

The constraint wasn't anexcuse for mediocrity—It was A forcing function for clarity
The constraint wasn't anexcuse for mediocrity—It was A forcing function for clarity

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Thirty-two hours isn't generous. It's barely four full workdays.

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But it's enough if you know what matters. Enough for a typography system that carries the entire design. Enough for animations that prove craft without theatrics. Enough to ship something remarkable if you're ruthless about cutting everything non-essential. The constraint doesn't limit creativity—it focuses it.


Every hour had to count. Every decision had to eliminate ten other decisions. This is what thirty-two hours of intentional work looks like when you start with strategy, not tactics.

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From forty reference pieces to

six final influences each one

shaping a specific design decision.

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From forty reference pieces to

six final influences each one

shaping a specific design decision.

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I designed thirteen versions before I was satisfied.

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Version Eleven won — Not because it was perfect—because it did one thing perfectly rather than three things adequately.


Large display type. Asymmetric alignment. Tension without chaos. Typography would carry the narrative. Images would provide proof.


That meant ruthless image selection. Every screenshot teaches something or proves a point.


Failed experiments taught more than successes. I tried dark mode, multiple accent colors, decorative elements—all felt like trying too hard. The typography already had presence.

One long scroll. Like a magazine feature that reveals itself as you read.


Mobile-first meant everything worked at 375px before expanding to desktop. Framer's strength is motion, but I couldn't waste time.


Three animation moments, executed well:

  • Animated page Load - GSAP

  • Section text reveal: scroll-triggered - GSAP

  • Image hover interactions - Framer Native

  • Hover states: 200ms - Framer Native

  • Custom Cursor - Framer Native


Restraint everywhere else.


Performance mattered. WebP compression. Lazy loading. Sub-2-second load on 3G.


Day five: functional. Days six and seven: pure refinement.

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Mauro Nappolini - Creative Developer & Advisor

Mauro Nappolini - Creative Developer & Advisor

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By combining strategy and creative development, I help businesses move from competing on price to competing on value.

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If you're ready to make that shift, let's talk.

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Your data is your own!

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