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Explore HubWebsiteHospitality marketing

The website is the first pitch.

A live site on its own domain in nine days, with every enquiry going straight to the inbox.

  • SpeedLive in 9 days
  • Where it standsLive at explorehub.co.za
  • Year2026
  • What we builtBrand-led agency website with motion, SEO and analytics

Explore Hub sells websites, content and digital growth to hospitality, travel and transport brands, so its own website had to be the first proof. We designed and built an editorial, motion-led site that explains the offer in three services, shows who it is for and how a project runs, and puts every enquiry straight into the inbox.

Visit explorehub.co.zaHow it works

[01] The business before

A new agency, nothing to point at yet.

An agency that sells beautiful websites gets judged on its own first, and Explore Hub had nothing to point at yet.

  1. Who it serves

    Explore Hub builds websites, content and digital growth for lodges, travel operators and premium transport brands. Its founder started it with a clear offer and a long list of services, and needed a website that could carry them.

  2. What she asked for

    Something simple that showed everything Explore Hub does. She sent us her notes on the business, a rough mock-up and the Framer template she liked best, Damas.

  3. The catch

    Explore Hub was new, so it had no client logos, results or reviews it could publish yet. The stats and project names in the mock-up were placeholders.

  4. The real brief

    The site had to feel premium and convincing without inventing proof.

How it ranBefore

  • DocumentA long list of services, written up before there was a website.
  • TemplateA reference site she liked, built for someone else.

What was breaking

  1. 01

    A new agency with no client logos, results or reviews it could publish yet.

  2. 02

    A long list of services that was hard to scan.

  3. 03

    Placeholder stats in the mock-up that could never go live.

[02] What we built

Built to feel like a place.

An original site in Next.js: three colours, two typefaces, three services, and what an agency needs from launch day.

  1. Damas, then our own

    We took the bold type, floating navigation and layered images of Damas as a starting point, then designed and built an original site in Next.js. There is no template underneath.

  2. One step at a time

    Four steps explain how a project runs. The placeholder stats and project names stayed off the page.

Three colours and two typefaces.

  • Forest green#063d30

    Deep forest green carries the brand.

  • Bone#f4f4f1

    A warm bone gives it space.

  • Sun yellow#f6d72d

    Kept for actions and emphasis.

  • TypefaceAnton

    AaTurn places into destinations.

    Sets the big condensed headlines.

  • TypefaceManrope

    AaWebsites, content and digital growth for hospitality, travel and transport brands.

    Keeps the reading text quiet.

Every image sits in the same flat double frame, with painted yellow brush marks and a fine grain across the whole page.

Flat double frame, close-up of the real Home screen
Flat double frameEvery image sits in the same frame.
Yellow brush marks, close-up of the real Home screen
Yellow brush marksPainted marks that add a hand-made touch.
Fine grain, close-up of the real Home screen
Fine grainRuns across the whole page, so it feels printed rather than flat.

Three services you can scan

We grouped the long service list into three.

  1. 01

    Websites and guest experience

    Build & book

  2. 02

    Search, ads and AI visibility

    Get discovered

  3. 03

    Social, content and brand

    Create & connect

Explore Hub, screen: Three services
Three services. A long list of services, grouped into three that a lodge owner can scan in seconds.

Who it is for

A Stay, Explore, Move switch shows who Explore Hub is for.

01 / Hospitality

Lodges and hospitality brands.

02 / Travel & experiences

Tour and travel operators.

03 / Premium transport

Premium transport brands.

Ready from launch day

The contact page checks and rate-limits every enquiry, then sends two branded emails through Postmark.

  • Page titles and descriptions
  • A share image
  • Structured data
  • A sitemap
  • Google Search Console
  • Google Analytics 4
  • Every enquiry checked and rate-limited
  • Email to the Explore Hub inbox: the full brief and a reply button
  • Email to the sender, confirming it arrived

01 / 03

Agency website

For lodges, tour operators and premium transport brandsexplorehub.co.za

An editorial, motion-led site that explains the offer in three services, shows who it is for and how a project runs, and treats the phone as a first-class layout.

  • Three services, grouped for scanning
  • Stay, Explore and Move sections
  • Four-step approach, one chapter at a time
  • Phone layout with its own artwork

5 real screens · tap to enlarge

  • Home

    The promise, the offer and the next step land in the first screen, with the scenery doing the selling.

  • Three services

    A long list of services, grouped into three that a lodge owner can scan in seconds.

  • How we work

    Four steps, one at a time. Scroll, hover, tap and keyboard all move the same chapter.

  • Home on a phone

    Visitors are likely to arrive from Instagram and WhatsApp, so the phone gets its own layout and artwork.

  • Services on a phone

    Each service stacks as its own card, with a portrait image made for the phone.

Screen 01 / 05

02 / 03

Enquiries

For new clientsWeb and email

A short contact form with a budget choice. Branded enquiry emails, with spam checks and rate limits, are built in and switch on with the mailbox.

  • Budget choice on the form
  • Spam and rate-limit checks
  • Branded enquiry emails, ready to switch on

2 real screens · tap to enlarge

  • Contact

    A short form with a budget choice that goes straight to Explore Hub. Branded enquiry emails are built in, ready for when the mailbox goes live.

  • Contact on a phone

    The same short form, sized for a thumb.

Screen 01 / 02

03 / 03

Search and analytics

For explore HubGoogle

Search Console verified and the sitemap submitted at launch, with GA4 measuring which sections lead to enquiries, without sending personal data.

  • Search Console and sitemap
  • GA4 with an enquiry key event
  • Search-ready titles and share cards

[03] How it works

From first look to a brief.

The homepage reads like one editorial page, and the motion guides the eye without ever blocking the reading.

The details that move

Recorded on explorehub.co.za

  • Staged reveal

    “Turn places into destinations” arrives with a staged reveal.

  • Curtain scroll

    The rest of the page slides up over it like a curtain. At the end, the page lifts away to reveal the footer.

  • Letter-flip navigation

    Navigation labels flip letter by letter on hover and keyboard focus.

  • Sticky step panel

    In How we work, one sticky panel follows the active step.

  • Bottom blur

    A soft blur at the bottom of the screen hints that there is more to see.

  • Reduced motion

    Visitors who ask their device for reduced motion get all the content without the animation.

  • Designed for the phone

    The phone version is designed, not squeezed: the menu unfolds out of the floating navigation and the service cards stack. Every scene has its own portrait artwork instead of a crop of the desktop image.

  • Analytics that respects people, recorded on explorehub.co.za

    Analytics that respects people

    GA4 counts call-to-action clicks and completed enquiries, with a completed enquiry as the main conversion. Nothing anyone types into the form is sent to Google.

  1. Visitor

    The promise and the scenery land in the first screen.

  2. Visitor

    Three services, each with who it is for.

  3. Visitor

    How a project runs, in four steps.

  4. VisitorKey step

    A short form with a budget choice.

  5. Explore Hub

    The brief arrives with what they need and roughly what they can spend.

Real screenHome

[04] What we changed

Let the website be the proof.

A borrowed template look and a long service list became an original design system and three services you can scan.

Before: Document, Template. Now: Live at explorehub.co.za.Drag, or use the arrow keys

  1. 01

    Before: A borrowed template look.

    Now: An original design system: forest, bone and yellow, framed images, brush marks and grain.

    Explore Hub, screen: Home

  2. 02

    Before: A long list of services.

    Now: Three services a lodge owner can scan in seconds.

    Explore Hub, screen: Three services

  3. 03

    Before: No logos or results to show yet.

    Now: Who it is for and how a project runs, explained one step at a time.

    Explore Hub, screen: How we work

  4. 04

    Before: An email address and hope.

    Now: A short form with a budget choice, straight to Explore Hub.

    Explore Hub, screen: Contact

[05] What changed

Live in nine days.

From a list of services in a document to a live site on its own domain in nine days.

Explore Hub, phone screen: Home on a phone
Home on a phone. Visitors are likely to arrive from Instagram and WhatsApp, so the phone gets its own layout and artwork.
First commit to Live on explorehub.co.za
9days
First commit to Preview link sent
1day
Three services you can scan
3
From first look to a brief.
5steps

Where it stands

Live at explorehub.co.za

Liveexplorehub.co.za

28 Jul 20266 Aug 2026

Dates from our project records and release history.

  1. Commit

    First commit.

    then, +1 day
  2. Preview

    Preview link sent.

    then, +8 days
  3. Live

    Live on explorehub.co.za.

    explorehub.co.za

    Explore Hub, screen: Home

Dates from our project records and release history.

  • Explore Hub has one link that explains the offer and looks the part.

  • The services read as three clear offers instead of a long list.

  • Search Console and GA4 were in place from launch day.

Who owns what

  • Hostingx Create, on our Vercel account
  • DomainExplore Hub
  • MailboxExplore Hub

  1. One link that sells

    Explore Hub now has one link that explains the offer and shows the standard of the work.

  2. Briefs go straight through

    When a lodge or tour operator is ready to talk, the brief goes straight to Explore Hub. GA4 shows which sections move people to get in touch.

  3. Why we loved it

    For us, it is the kind of project we love: a strong idea, real craft in the details, and a site that sells the feeling before anyone reads a word.

Built with

The tools behind it.

See the full toolbench
  • Next.js
  • React
  • TypeScript
  • GSAP
  • Google Analytics
  • Google Search Console
  • Vercel

Next case · 10 / 19

All work

Thatchwood Farm Pub

The website feels like the pub.

Thatchwood is a farm pub near Magaliesburg with sport, weekly events and functions, and it lived on Facebook and WhatsApp. We built a loud, practical website that shows what's on and sends every enquiry to the right place, already explained.

Read the case

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