Digital Futures Lab
We built the digital home for India's leading independent tech-policy research studio, replacing a Notion-based workflow with a CMS their interdisciplinary team could own.
The Brief
Digital Futures Lab is an independent research studio studying the relationship between technology and society in India and the Majority World.
Naasha Mehta led the visual design while we handled development — a split that worked well, but required close collaboration. We worked closely alongside the design process to ensure the website translated thoughtfully across screen sizes and devices. Alongside that: a CMS to replace the Notion-based workflow their team had relied on for everything.
The Challenge
Designing and developing in tandem requires careful interpretation, close collaboration, and clear communication throughout the process. This was our first time working alongside an external web designer, and establishing a strong collaborative rhythm was as important as the technical execution itself.
At the same time, DFL was moving from Notion — a tool that offers infinite flexibility and asks very little in return — to a structured CMS. The challenge was to make that transition feel like a gain rather than a restriction
Our Approach
- 01
Co-designing the responsive layer
Naasha owned the desktop design; we owned how it behaved everywhere else. That meant internalising her design language well enough to make independent decisions at every breakpoint — decisions that felt like extensions of her thinking, not departures from it. Where our choices touched the desktop or where implementation required a different approach, we brought it to Naasha early rather than silently compromising.
- 02
Structuring the unstructured
DFL had run their full content workflow through Notion — publications, projects, news, and more, each shaped freely as needed. Moving to a structured CMS felt like a constraint until we reframed what structure actually offers: consistency, searchability, and a site that holds its shape as content grows. We designed the schema around their content types, giving editors real choices where the design allows them and sensible defaults where it doesn’t.
- 03
Search that stays shareable
The site needed filtering across publications, projects, and news — and the results needed to be shareable. We built a URL-driven filter system: every active filter is reflected in the URL, so a link to any filtered view always works exactly as expected. No state lost, no search to redo.
- 04
Reports in the page, not behind a link
DFL publishes research as PDFs. Rather than route visitors to a download prompt or a separate viewer, we used EmbedPDF to surface reports directly within publication and project pages. The reading experience stays on-site and the content stays in context.
The Result
The shift from Notion to a purpose-built CMS changed how the DFL team works. Editors no longer have to think about design when publishing — they write, and trust that the output will look right. Google Analytics, set up as part of the project, gives them visibility into site performance they never had with Notion. The site now sees around 2,000 visitors a month — a meaningful audience for a research organisation working at the intersection of technology, governance, and society.
earthwhile is our go-to for websites. From building the organisation's main website to micro-sites, they always manage to turn our fuzzy ideas into thoughtful, polished experiences that align with our vision. They’re always patient, responsive, and easy to work with.