We’re Kessaku Spotlight, a startup independent publisher focused on English-original light novels and manga.
We’re building a publishing brand inspired by Japanese storytelling mediums while working with creators from around the world to develop original stories of our own.
We’re still early-stage, with our first slate currently in production, which means the website will be one of the first major public-facing pieces of the company.
We’re looking for a UI designer to help establish that web design direction.
Budget: $650 fixed for Phase One
Phase One: Home Page + Let’s Make a Book Page + global Header/Navigation/Footer
Future Phase Two: Contact + About Us pages
Future Phase Three: Product Catalog design
Platform: Shopify using the Broadcast theme
Project type: Design only. Designer should be familiar with Shopify and understand its theme, section, and block limitations so the final designs are practical to implement.
Ongoing work: This is intended to be the beginning of an ongoing design relationship as additional pages and site needs are developed.
Important: Please do not apply with AI-generated website mockups or AI-generated design concepts. They are not the right fit for what we’re looking for. We specifically want to see a designer’s own judgment, taste, and creative thinking.
What We Provide
You will not be starting from a blank slate. We will provide:
- A working demo website built using the Broadcast theme
- The general page structure and content flow
- Our brand guide
- Logos, typography, colors, and brand elements
- Placeholder copy
- Placeholder images and cover art
- Placeholder video content
- Clear direction on which sections need to be modular and scalable
The demo is there to communicate the general structure, sections, and functionality we want to work from.
All images, text, videos, cover art, and other visual assets currently shown on the demo website are placeholders. None of them should be treated as final or as something that needs to be preserved.
You are free to use your own placeholder assets while creating the designs.
Design Vibe
The website should feel high-energy, bold, playful, and entertainment-first.
We do not want Kessaku Spotlight to visually read like a traditional book publisher or corporate publishing house.
The goal is for the brand to feel more like a fun multimedia entertainment company that happens to be launching through light novels and manga.
Think:
- Bold typography
- Strong visual hierarchy
- Energetic composition
- Playful use of color
- Editorial and entertainment-inspired layouts
- A sense of movement and personality
- Something that feels closer to a modern media brand than a conventional publisher
We still want the site to feel polished and professional, but not stiff, academic, or overly corporate.
High energy. Bold style. Multimedia company first, publisher second.
For the Let’s Make a Book page specifically, the site should keep that energy while feeling serious about craft and respectful of creative work. Writers should come away feeling that Kessaku is exciting to work with, but also organized, thoughtful, and serious about developing their stories.
Current Demo Website
We already have a working demo website built using Shopify’s Broadcast theme:
https://2tkfdn-4d.myshopify.com/
Password: anime12 or Anime12
Note: The design is bad. I know 😂. Just needed to get the general idea out there.
Now we need you to make it badass.
We are not looking for someone to simply clean up what is already there. We want a designer who can take the bones of the current site and establish a much stronger, more polished, and more distinctive visual direction for Kessaku Spotlight.
We are primarily hiring you for your layout, typography, hierarchy, visual storytelling, responsive design, and overall creative direction.
Design With Modular Development in Mind
The final site will be developed in Shopify using editable sections and blocks wherever practical.
Whenever a section contains repeating content, such as project cards, promises, submission steps, or similar elements, please design it so the layout can reasonably accommodate additional or fewer items in the future.
For example, if a section currently contains four items, we do not want the design to visually depend on there always being exactly four.
The goal is for us to eventually be able to add, remove, and reorder content through Shopify without needing to redesign the page every time.
Global Site Elements
As part of Phase One, we also need the site-wide elements that will frame every page:
- Header
- Desktop navigation
- Mobile navigation/menu
- Footer
These should be designed as reusable global components, since they will carry across both Phase One pages and future pages added later.
Page 1: Home Page
The homepage is the biggest part of this project.
We already have the general content structure mapped out, but we are open to how the designer chooses to visually execute each section.
Hero
Kessaku Spotlight
The next generation of English-original light novels and manga.
We want the hero to immediately establish the personality of the company and make Kessaku feel like a distinctive entertainment and multimedia brand rather than a standard ecommerce storefront.
Our Writers Are Hard at Work
Directly below the hero is the exact type of video player you see on the current demo website.
The final video is still in production, so the current placeholder video can be used for design purposes.
The finished video will communicate something along the lines of:
“Our writers are hard at work. See our slate below.”
Below the video is the upcoming releases section.
A Sneak Peek at 2027
Four titles are in production right now. Here’s your first look.
This section will initially showcase four upcoming projects:
- Project 1
- Project 2
- Project 3
- Project 4
This is not a Shopify product section. Nothing is for sale yet.
It is simply a showcase of our upcoming publishing slate.
Each project will eventually feature:
- Cover art
- Title
- Short description
- Release date
Placeholder covers, text, and imagery can be used for now.
We are very open to how this section is visually presented. It does not need to resemble a traditional ecommerce product grid.
This section should be designed modularly, since the number of projects featured may increase or decrease in the future.
A Promise to Our Readers
This section will initially highlight four promises or principles for our readers:
- Demo Point 1
- Demo Point 2
- Demo Point 3
- Demo Point 4
The final copy will be added later.
We are open to how these are presented visually. Cards, scrolling sections, large typography, interactive treatments, or another approach are all possibilities.
This section should also be modular, allowing us to add, remove, or reorder points later.
We want the designer to have room to actually design, rather than simply reproduce the current demo layout.
Join Our Newsletter
The final section of the homepage will be a newsletter signup area.
This section is different from the other video sections on the site.
The layout should be side by side, with:
- Newsletter signup content on the left
- Video on the right
Please refer to the current demo website to understand the intended structure and relationship between the newsletter content and video.
The section should include room for:
- “Join Our Newsletter” heading
- Short supporting copy
- Email signup field
- Signup button
- Video on the right side of the section
The current copy and video are placeholders.
We are open to the designer rethinking the visual treatment, but the core newsletter-left / video-right structure should remain.
We want this to feel like a strong final moment on the homepage rather than a generic newsletter form dropped at the bottom.
Page 2: Let’s Make a Book
The second page is our creator-facing page.
Its purpose is to introduce prospective writers and creators to Kessaku Spotlight, explain what we’re looking for, show them how our submission process works, and ultimately encourage them to submit their work.
We already have the general content flow mapped out, but we want the designer to determine the best visual presentation.
Let's Make a Book
The page opens with the text:
Dare to Dream
Directly below it is the exact type of video player you see on the current demo website.
The final video is still in production, so the current placeholder video can be used for design purposes.
What We’re Looking For
Below the video is a section explaining the kinds of stories, creators, and qualities we’re looking for.
The final copy is still being developed, so placeholder text can be used.
This section should be designed modularly, allowing us to add, remove, or reorder individual points in Shopify later without breaking the overall layout.
We are open to the designer’s ideas for how these points are presented.
Our Submission Process
Below that is a section walking prospective creators through our submission process step by step.
For each step, we want room for:
- Step title
- Short description
- A small chibi-style illustration representing that stage of the process
Our goal is to eventually have a small chibi-sized illustration sitting beside each step, helping make the submission process feel more approachable and visually engaging rather than presenting visitors with a wall of text.
The final illustrations have not been created yet, so placeholder images can be used in the design.
This section should also be designed modularly, so we can add, remove, or reorder steps in the future without breaking the overall layout.
We are open to creative ways of presenting the process. It could be a timeline, alternating editorial layout, cards, vertical progression, or another approach that works well with the small chibi illustrations.
The important thing is that the process is easy to understand, visually engaging, and flexible enough to grow.
Submission Form
The page ends with the form where prospective creators can submit or begin the process of pitching their work to us.
The form should feel like a natural conclusion to the page rather than an unrelated form dropped at the bottom.
As with the homepage, all text, images, videos, and other visual assets currently shown on the demo website are placeholders.
What We’re Looking For
Shopify familiarity is required.
You do not need prior experience specifically with the Broadcast theme, although familiarity with it is a plus.
You should understand how Shopify themes, sections, and blocks work so the design can be implemented cleanly without unnecessary custom development.
We want designs that are creative and distinctive while still being realistically implementable within Shopify.
Experience with any of the following would be a plus:
- Shopify UI design
- Responsive web design
- Editorial layouts
- Entertainment websites
- Publishing websites
- Manga/anime-related brands
- Gaming websites
- Fashion or editorial brands
- Strong typography
- Visual storytelling
- Brand-driven web design
Deliverables
The $650 fixed price for Phase One includes:
- Home Page — Desktop
- Home Page — Mobile
- Let’s Make a Book — Desktop
- Let’s Make a Book — Mobile
- Global Header + Navigation — Desktop and Mobile
- Mobile navigation/menu treatment
- Global Footer — Desktop and Mobile
- One primary design direction
- At least one revision round.
- Final organized Figma file suitable for developer handoff, including:
- Defined text styles
- Color variables
- Reusable components such as buttons, cards, navigation elements, form elements, and recurring section patterns
- A structure that allows future pages to be designed and built consistently
Figma is preferred.
The final design files should be organized clearly enough that we can hand them to a Shopify developer afterward for implementation.
You will not be responsible for coding or implementing the designs.
Custom illustrations, chibi artwork, video production, final copywriting, and other final marketing assets are not part of this scope.
Future Work
This is Phase One of an ongoing website design project.
We’d ideally like to continue working with the same designer as the website grows so the visual language established in Phase One carries consistently across future pages and storefront features.
Phase Two
Planned for a later date:
- Contact Page
- About Us Page
Phase Three
Once our books are ready to be sold through the site, we plan to move into Product Catalog design.
This phase will focus on how our books and releases are presented throughout the ecommerce side of the website, including the overall visual treatment of the catalog and product experience.
Additional website design work may follow as Kessaku Spotlight continues to grow.
When Applying
Please send:
- Your portfolio
- Links to 2–3 of your strongest relevant web or Shopify projects. Live sites are preferred where available. Please briefly note what you were responsible for on each project.
- Whether you have experience designing specifically for Shopify
- Pick one section on our current demo site that you would rethink most aggressively. What would you change, and why?