A concept brief for an independent bouldering gym driving paid memberships from a single page. Built end-to-end to show the work — live client work shown on request.
Northstar is a concept brief for a 9,000 sq ft bouldering gym in central Bristol — replacing a launch Linktree with a single page that converts visitors into a £45/month membership, sells beginner classes, and tells regulars when the routes have been reset.
Build me a page that handles every front-desk objection in a single scroll.
The four specific calls that defined this build.
Most fitness sites hide pricing behind a tab labelled 'Memberships.' We put pricing inline, front-and-centre, no hidden costs. The single biggest objection at the desk — 'is there a sign-up fee?' — is handled by the second viewport on every device.
A Sanity backend that front-desk staff edit from their phones when spots fill or a class moves. The site is the schedule — there's no second source of truth living on a whiteboard somewhere.
The most engaged user (existing member) wants one piece of info on Wednesday morning: what's new on the wall. Made that the top bar. Members reload the page daily; the alert becomes the most-viewed piece of content on the site.
Industry default: must register before climbing. Reversed it — first session is free, no card, no signup, just turn up. Conversion-on-the-floor lifts because the friction is removed and the climbing does the selling.
Every tool chosen on purpose, with a reason that beat the obvious alternative.
Static for the marketing parts, ISR for the class schedule that updates a few times a day.
Front-desk staff need to update class schedule and route-reset alerts from a phone. Sanity's mobile editor handles both.
UK direct debit is the cheapest membership payment rail. Saves Northstar ~£800/mo in card fees at 600 members vs. Stripe.
Pages render in 850ms on 4G. ISR revalidation runs when the front desk updates the schedule.
Cookie-free, dashboard fits on a phone, gym owner actually looks at it after every reset.
850ms LCP on 4G. Nothing renders below the fold until the user scrolls, including the heavy class-schedule table.
The numbers a real engagement would be scored on.
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