§ masterplan.md
Handmade Jewelry Boutique
A classy minimal e-commerce site for handmade jewelry with large product photos, stories and gift wrapping options.
01
App overview and objectives
A boutique storefront where each piece is treated as a single object with its own photography, materials and maker note. The objective is to sell fewer items at a higher perceived value, not to run a catalogue.
02
The problem worth solving
Handmade work loses its story inside generic marketplace grids and competes on price. An owned storefront restores the maker's voice, which is exactly what justifies the price.
03
Target audience
- Primary — Independent jewellers selling limited or one-of-a-kind pieces.
- Secondary — Buyers looking for gifts with provenance and a story.
04
Roles and permissions
- Visitor — read-only public pages, can sign up.
- Member — owns their own records, cannot see other users' data.
05
Core features
- Product pages with large photography, materials, dimensions and care notes
- One-of-a-kind inventory handling — a sold piece stays visible but marked sold
- Collections grouped by material or season
- Cart and checkout with shipping zones and gift wrapping
- Maker story page with workshop photos and process video
- Made-to-order enquiry flow for custom commissions
Deliberately later
- Ring sizer tool
- Repeat-customer loyalty
- Wholesale portal for stockists
06
Technical stack
React storefront, hosted commerce or payment provider for checkout, Postgres for catalogue and orders.
Why: Never build card handling yourself; let a provider own compliance while you own the presentation layer.
Alternatives: A hosted shop platform (fastest, hard to make it feel bespoke) versus a fully custom stack (total control, months of work on boring commerce plumbing).
07
Conceptual data model
Piece — name, story, materials, dimensions, price, stock, photos, collection
Collection — name, season, narrative, hero image
Order — customer, items, shipping address, status, tracking
Commission — enquiry details, budget, references, conversation thread
08
Integrations
- Payments
- Shipping rates and label printing
- Email for order updates
- Image CDN
09
UI design principles
- Generous whitespace, a two-font system, and a palette of three colours at most.
- Photography and typography do the work; borders, shadows and gradients stay almost invisible.
- Every screen has one clear primary action, placed in the same spot each time.
10
Security considerations
- No card data ever touches the application server.
- Customer addresses encrypted and purged on request.
- Admin actions on inventory and orders logged.
11
Development phases
Phase 1 — Prove the core
- — Product pages with large photography, materials, dimensions and care notes
- — One-of-a-kind inventory handling — a sold piece stays visible but marked sold
- — Collections grouped by material or season
- — Static content and design system in place
- — Basic analytics
Phase 2 — Make it real
- — Cart and checkout with shipping zones and gift wrapping
- — Maker story page with workshop photos and process video
- — Made-to-order enquiry flow for custom commissions
- — Accounts, sign-in and password reset
- — Empty, loading and error states everywhere
Phase 3 — Polish and launch
- — Performance, accessibility and SEO pass
- — Legal pages, contact route and 404 handling
- — Wire up: Payments
- — Wire up: Shipping rates and label printing
Phase 4 — Grow
- — Ring sizer tool
- — Repeat-customer loyalty
- — Wholesale portal for stockists
12
Challenges and solutions
Risk — Photography quality determines everything
Solution — A fixed shooting template — same background, angles and lighting for every piece.
Risk — Single-item inventory race conditions
Solution — Reserve stock at cart level with a short hold and enforce uniqueness at the database level.
Risk — International shipping complexity
Solution — Launch with two or three shipping zones and flat rates.
13
Future expansion
- Physical pop-up integration
- Repair and re-polish service booking
- Collector membership with early access
14
Page list (12 pages)
- 01 PUBLIC Shop — All available pieces, filterable by material and price.
- 02 PUBLIC Collections — Curated groupings with narrative.
- 03 PUBLIC Maker Story — Workshop, process and philosophy.
- 04 PUBLIC Cart — Review, shipping options and checkout.
- 05 PUBLIC Contact — Commissions, repairs and stockist enquiries.
- 06 AUTH Sign up — Create an account with email or a social provider.
- 07 AUTH Log in — Return to the account, with error and lockout states.
- 08 AUTH Reset password — Request a reset link and set a new password.
- 09 APP (signed in) Account settings — Profile, email, password, language and delete account.
- 10 LEGAL & SYSTEM Privacy policy — What data is collected, why, and how to remove it.
- 11 LEGAL & SYSTEM Terms of service — Rules of use, liability and account termination.
- 12 LEGAL & SYSTEM 404 not found — Friendly dead end with search and links back.
15
Page map
PUBLIC AUTH APP (signed in) LEGAL & SYSTEM ────────────── ───────────────── ─────────────────── ─────────────────── ├─ Shop ├─ Sign up └─ Account settings ├─ Privacy policy ├─ Collections ├─ Log in ├─ Terms of service ├─ Maker Story └─ Reset password └─ 404 not found ├─ Cart └─ Contact key flows: Shop ──▶ Cart Collections ──▶ Shop Maker Story ──▶ Contact