Case study 03Personal brand platform with a built-in CMS
Dr. Nikhil Agarwal
A modern digital home for senior leaders, run without a developer.
A fast, elegant personal website for a senior academic and board member, with a content studio built into the same project, so he can publish press, articles and appointments himself in under a minute.
Visit the live site (opens in a new tab)- Built for
- Dr. Nikhil Agarwal, Managing Director, FITT, IIT Delhi, and Independent Director, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
- Built by
- CODA
- Duration
- 5 days
All project details
- Built for
- Dr. Nikhil Agarwal, Managing Director, FITT, IIT Delhi, and Independent Director, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
- Built by
- CODA
- Industry
- Academia, public sector and technology leadership
- Duration
- 5 days
- Platform
- Web, mobile-first, light and dark themes
01Overview
A public record, scattered across the internet.
Senior academics and board-level professionals are covered by the press, publish op-eds, speak at events and sit on boards. Their public record ends up scattered across newspaper links, LinkedIn posts and PDFs.
- Newspaper links
- LinkedIn posts
- PDFs
- Op-eds elsewhere
- Event pages
02The problem
The usual fix ages quickly.
The traditional fix is a WordPress site, and it ages quickly. The result is a personal brand that goes stale just when it matters most, such as after a new appointment or a major interview.
- 01
Plugins that need constant care
Every plugin needs updates and security patches, forever.
- 02
Themes that look dated
The design ages, and stays that way until someone redoes it.
- 03
Slow on phones
Heavy pages load slowly on the device most visitors use.
- 04
Hard to update
Editing is difficult for someone who is not technical, so updates simply don't happen.
03Our approach · four steps
Design. Build. Secure. Host.
Editorial, restrained, and built around the name.
We designed an identity that suits a leadership profile: a serif typeface for reading, one navy accent, generous whitespace, and the name as the hero. Every screen was planned for phones first, with light and dark themes.
What we delivered
- Brand and visual system
- Page architecture: Home, Press, Writing, About, Speaking, Contact
- Editorial typography system
- Light and dark themes
04The studio
Paste a link. The rest fills itself in.
The key feature is press coverage. Paste a news link and the headline, publication, date, excerpt and picture fill in automatically. Here it is on an item from the live site.
- Headline
- HAL Appoints Dr. Nikhil Agarwal as Independent Director Effective 9 September 2026
- Publication
- PSU Connect
- Date
- 9 September 2026
- Excerpt
- HAL has appointed Dr. Nikhil Agarwal as an Independent Director, adding his experience in innovation, entrepreneurship and technology to the company's leadership.
- Picture
- Filled in from the article
Published in under a minute
From his phone
An iPhone share-sheet shortcut sends a link straight into the studio.
Writing, too
He can write articles in the editor, schedule them, or link to op-eds published elsewhere.
Backed up
Each press piece is saved to the Internet Archive in case the original link disappears.
Live in seconds
Changes made in the studio reach the live site within seconds.
05The site
Six pages, one clear voice.
An editorial look: a serif for reading, one navy accent, generous whitespace and the name as the hero. Scroll down and the whole site scrolls with you.
- 1HomeThe name as the hero, the press ticker, featured coverage and the latest writing.
- 2PressEvery mention in one browser: filter by type or year, or search.
- 3WritingHis own articles, plus op-eds published elsewhere, linked in the same place.
- 4AboutHis biography and the roles he holds.
- 5SpeakingAn approved media kit and what he speaks about.
- 6ContactA direct way to get in touch, protected from spam.
06 · Outcome
A brand he fully controls.
Dr. Agarwal now has a personal brand platform that he fully controls. A new appointment, interview or op-ed becomes a published, well-presented entry in under a minute, either from a laptop or by sharing a link from his phone. No developer, plugin updates or hosting bills are involved. For visitors such as journalists, event organisers and board colleagues, everything is in one clean place: his biography, press coverage, writing, an approved media kit and a direct way to get in touch. The design stays sharp across devices and themes.
Everything in one clean place, for
- Journalists
- Event organisers
- Board colleagues
- This siteThe WordPress route
- Faster pagesSlow, plugin-heavy pages
- Better securityPlugins that need constant patching
- A simpler editing experienceA dashboard built for developers
- No maintenance workUpdates, forever
- Website
- Next.js
- Content
- Sanity CMSEmbedded Sanity StudioScheduled publishing
- Hosting
- VercelFree tiers
- Focus areas
- Personal brandingHeadless CMSExecutive brandThought leadershipPress automationZero maintenance
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