When most people think about building a website, they immediately consider well-known platforms like WordPress, Squarespace, or Wix. These tools are popular for a reason, but they often fall short for creatives who need a flexible, professional portfolio.

That’s where Craft CMS comes in. While it may not be a household name, it’s the platform I recommend and use for the majority of portfolio sites at Josh Attwood Studio. Why? Because it combines flexibility, ease of use, and SEO power in a way that other platforms struggle to match.

Craft CMS is a content management system (like WordPress or Squarespace) but designed with customisation in mind. Unlike template-driven platforms, Craft gives developers complete control over the design and structure of the site—without locking clients into rigid layouts.

For creatives, this means your website can truly reflect your style and practice, rather than forcing your content into a one-size-fits-all template.

1. Custom Structures for Portfolios
   Every creative’s portfolio is unique. Craft CMS allows me to design custom content types—whether that’s projects, exhibitions, case studies, or media galleries—so your site fits your needs exactly.
2. Easy Editing
   Despite being highly flexible, Craft is simple to use. You get a clean, intuitive interface to update text, images, and projects without any technical knowledge.
3. SEO Control
   With Craft, we can implement advanced SEO tools (using plugins like SEOmatic) so you have full control over metadata, sitemaps, redirects, and image optimisation. This gives your site the best possible chance of ranking well in search engines.
4. Scalability
   Your website can grow with you. Whether you start with a simple portfolio and later add a blog, shop, or events calendar, Craft is built to expand seamlessly.

WordPress

• Pros: Huge ecosystem of plugins, well-known.
• Cons: Can become bloated, harder to secure, and plugins often conflict. For creatives, the editing experience can feel cluttered.

Squarespace/Wix

• Pros: Quick setup, template-based, no coding required.
• Cons: Limited flexibility, less SEO control, sites risk looking generic.

Craft CMS

• Pros: Full design freedom, streamlined editing, advanced SEO, lightweight code.
• Cons: Less well-known, requires a professional build (but that’s where we come in).

We worked with Heart Agency who needed a portfolio site to showcase multiple artists. Wordpress had been too restrictive—they couldn’t structure their projects the way they wanted. By moving to Craft CMS, we built a flexible system where each artist had their own profile, complete with case studies, imagery, and SEO-friendly descriptions. The result: a site that is well designed, loads quickly, and ranks well in search engines.

As designers and developers working in-house, Craft CMS gives us the flexibility to deliver custom websites without compromise. It’s robust enough for complex projects, yet streamlined enough for a one-week portfolio build.

For our clients—artists, architects, photographers, filmmakers—that balance is ideal. They get a professional site that looks bespoke, works flawlessly, and is easy to manage.

If you’re looking for a website that’s fast, flexible, and designed around your creative work, Craft CMS is one of the best platforms available. Unlike DIY builders, it won’t limit your vision, and unlike bloated systems, it won’t slow you down.

👉 Explore our Website in a Week package to see how we use Craft CMS to deliver custom portfolio sites in just seven days.