Mira Melzer Portfolio
A sleek and fast-loading portfolio site built in cooperation with Mira Melzer, who delivered the design while I implemented it in Astro with content collections for projects.
Why I built this
Mira needed a new portfolio. She’d been bouncing between Adobe and other portfolio providers, and none of them felt right. They were clunky, slow, and didn’t let her express her actual style. So I built her something from scratch that she could actually own.
The design
Mira designed everything. She knew exactly what she wanted, down to all the little details and animations. My role was to take those ideas and make them real. She’d describe something and I’d implement it, then we’d iterate until it felt right.
I threw in a small shader effect in the footer as a little bonus. It’s subtle, easy to miss, but it adds that extra layer of polish that makes the whole thing feel more alive.
What mattered to me
I wanted to build something that was genuinely good. That meant three things: it had to be fast, it had to be accessible, and it had to be maintainable.
The whole codebase is straightforward. Mira doesn’t code, but she can still update her projects and content through markdown files. No wrestling with a CMS, no complicated workflows. Just edit a file and it’s live.
I used Astro because it’s fast and handles content collections beautifully. React for the interactive bits, Tailwind for styling, and Shader.js for that footer effect. Nothing fancy, just the right tools for the job.
The result
The website performs great. We’re talking 99-100 on Lighthouse scores. It loads fast and snappy even on low end devices and bad network connections. The accessibility is solid too, which matters.
Mira’s been using it for hiring and presenting herself to potential work partners. The feedback has been really positive. People notice the quality and attention to detail. She’s happy with it, and that’s what matters most to me.