PRD: Building a Digital Home: Portfolio Website
Full requirements document, now hosted as a web page with the same portfolio navigation system.
Purpose and background
The website will be built as a single, credible portfolio that showcases the user’s work in a way that is easy to browse, easy to share, and easy to keep current. The site exists to present a coherent body of projects rather than a loose set of links, and it should help recruiters, hiring managers, and collaborators quickly understand what the user builds, how the user thinks, and what impact the user drives. The website must communicate competence and taste through a clean visual system, strong information hierarchy, and consistent project storytelling that feels like one unified portfolio rather than a collection of separate pages.
Goals and non goals
The primary goal is to make the user’s work legible in seconds and persuasive in minutes by emphasizing clear project summaries, consistent case study structure, and a polished presentation layer. The site should make ongoing maintenance straightforward through reusable templates and structured project content so that adding a new project is a predictable process. A supporting goal is to establish a professional personal brand that feels modern, intentional, and lightweight while staying focused on evidence of work. The site is not intended to be a complex web application, a social platform, or a backend heavy system. It should remain static first and rely on simple operational dependencies.
Target audiences and core user journeys
The primary audiences are recruiters and hiring managers who need to evaluate fit quickly, peers and collaborators who want to understand the user’s approach and capabilities, and mentors or advisors who want to see trajectory and depth. A common journey begins with a fast scan of the homepage where the visitor confirms who the user is, what the user does, and what to click next, followed by navigation into Projects or Resume. Another journey begins with a project link shared directly, where the visitor expects a structured case study that clarifies the problem, the user’s role, the approach, and outcomes without requiring external context. A final journey ends at Contact, where the visitor can reach the user quickly via a form or direct email.
Information architecture and site sections
The website will include the following sections in primary navigation: Homepage, Projects, Resume, Tools, Services, About, and Contact. Each section exists for a distinct job and should avoid duplicating the others. Navigation must be consistent across pages and remain visible at the top of the viewport on desktop, with a compact mobile menu on small screens.
Homepage
The homepage will serve as the orientation layer and must contain a hero section that includes the user’s name, a single sentence positioning statement, and two to three primary calls to action that route visitors to Projects, Resume, and Contact. The hero must be followed by a Featured Work section that contains three project cards with a title, one sentence summary, and a link to the project detail page for each. The homepage must also include a short “What the user does” section that summarizes focus areas in one short paragraph and optionally includes three compact capability highlights, each stated as an outcome oriented phrase rather than a skill list. The homepage must end with a footer that contains navigation links, social links, and a direct email link.
Projects
The Projects section will be the portfolio core and must contain a projects index page that shows a grid or list of project cards. Each card must include the project title, a one sentence value statement, a short line that clarifies the user’s role, and two to three tags that describe the domain or method. The projects index must support filtering by tag and basic search by keyword so visitors can find relevant work quickly. Each project card must link to a project detail page, and the projects index must present projects in a deliberate order that reflects the user’s priorities rather than purely chronological ordering.
Each project detail page will follow a standard template so every project reads like a professional case study and can be produced repeatedly with consistent quality. The project page must begin with a Project Header that includes the title, subtitle, timeframe, and the user’s role. The header must be followed by an Overview paragraph that explains what was built and why it matters in plain language. The page must then include a Problem section that describes the starting state and the specific friction or gap. The Approach section must explain the solution clearly, including the key decisions and constraints, and it must include at least one concrete representation such as a short numbered flow, a lightweight diagram image, or a structured list embedded in prose. The page must include a Contributions section that describes what the user personally did and how the work was executed, including collaboration context when relevant. The Outcomes section must describe what changed as a result, using measurable results when available and otherwise using concrete evidence such as decisions enabled, risks reduced, quality improved, or capabilities unlocked. The project page must include an Artifacts section that links to any supporting materials such as a demo, repository, document, model evaluation, screenshots, or PDFs, and it must clearly indicate what each artifact is and why it is useful. The page must end with a Lessons and Next Steps section that states what was learned and what would be done next if the work continued.
Resume
The Resume section will be the canonical, always current resume view and must contain a top summary area that includes the user’s positioning statement, a short paragraph professional summary, and a link to view Projects. The resume page must include sections for Focus Areas, Skills, Experience, Education, and Certifications if applicable. Experience entries must be written as outcome oriented bullets or short impact statements that include scope and results, and the page must include a Project Portfolio section that links to the top projects on the site. The resume page must be optimized for scanning with clear headings, consistent spacing, and a layout that remains readable on mobile.
Tools
The Tools section will communicate the user’s working toolkit and how the user builds. It must be organized into categories that reflect workflow rather than vendor names, and it must include a short paragraph at the top explaining the philosophy behind tool choices. Each category must include a list of tools with one sentence on how the tool is used in practice and what advantage it provides. The Tools page must avoid large logos as the primary content and instead prioritize readable text that communicates craft and real usage.
About
The About section will add narrative and personality that complements the resume without repeating it. It must contain a short origin story or professional arc described in one to two paragraphs, a section describing values and how the user works, and a section describing what the user is currently exploring or learning. The About page may include a small number of personal details that humanize the profile, but it must remain professional and relevant to the user’s work.
Contact
The Contact section will minimize friction for outreach and must include a contact form with fields for name, email, and message, plus a clear success confirmation state and a simple failure state. It must also include a direct email link and links to professional profiles such as LinkedIn and GitHub. The Contact page must include basic spam protection, including a honeypot field and rate limiting via the hosting platform where possible.
Services
The Services section will explain the external services required to operate and maintain the site and must be written so a reader understands how the site is deployed, how changes are managed, and what dependencies exist. It must contain a brief overview paragraph and then a short paragraph for each service that explains the function and the reason it is used.
Services and platforms
Squarespace will be used as the domain registrar for marcelopierry.com. It will manage domain ownership, renewal, and DNS settings that route the domain to the hosting provider, and it will serve as the administrative source of truth for domain control so the website remains stable and transferable over time.
Netlify will be used as the hosting provider and delivery platform. It will build and deploy the website from the GitHub repository, provide global delivery via a CDN, automatically provision HTTPS, and support deploy previews that allow changes to be reviewed before they are published. Netlify will also provide a simple mechanism for form handling on the Contact page so the architecture can remain static first without introducing a custom backend.
GitHub will be used for source control and collaboration. It will store the full codebase, preserve version history, enable pull request based review, and act as the integration point for continuous deployment to Netlify. GitHub Issues will be used to manage the backlog and document decisions, and branch protection rules will be used to enforce review and automated checks before merging.
Google will be used for email and office software. It will provide a stable email account for the user and collaboration tools such as Docs, Sheets, and Slides to draft site content, maintain an editorial plan, and store working artifacts before they are published to the site.
OpenAI Codex, Cursor, and Claude Code will be used as development accelerators. They will be used to generate and refactor code, draft content templates, propose UI component implementations, and assist with accessibility and performance checks. These tools will be governed by clear acceptance criteria, code review, linting, and a consistent component system so that speed does not create long term maintenance debt.
Functional requirements
The website must be responsive across mobile, tablet, and desktop and must provide consistent navigation and footer across all pages. The site must include the seven required pages, and all internal links must be valid. The homepage must contain the hero, primary calls to action, featured work section, short focus summary, and footer. The Projects index must support filtering and search and must link to project detail pages that follow the standard template. The Resume page must provide a skimmable resume narrative and a project portfolio section. The Tools page must be categorized and must include usage notes. The About page must include professional arc, values and working style, and current interests. The Services page must describe each dependency and how the operational stack works. The Contact page must support successful form submission and must provide direct email and profile links.
Non functional requirements
The website must load quickly, remain lightweight, and avoid unnecessary client side JavaScript. Images must be optimized and served in appropriate sizes, and the site must maintain strong performance characteristics. The site must meet accessibility minded requirements including semantic HTML, keyboard navigation, readable typography, alt text for images, and appropriate contrast. The site must include SEO fundamentals, including page titles, meta descriptions, OpenGraph metadata, canonical URLs, a sitemap, and robots configuration. The deployment pipeline must be reliable with automated builds, deploy previews for review, and an auditable release history. The site must use HTTPS and safe form handling, and it must minimize third party scripts.
Content model and maintainability
Projects must be stored as structured content so new projects can be added without rewriting layout code. The recommended approach is to store each project as a Markdown or JSON entry with a shared schema that includes title, subtitle, tags, timeframe, role, summary, problem, approach, contributions, outcomes, artifacts, and lessons. This structure ensures consistency and makes it possible to enforce the content rubric. The editorial standard is that each project must clearly answer what problem existed, what the user did, why it mattered, and what changed as a result, using concrete language and avoiding vague claims.
Analytics and success metrics
The site must include analytics that measure whether the portfolio is understandable and persuasive. Core metrics include visits to Projects and Resume, engagement on project detail pages, and conversion events such as contact form submissions and email link clicks. The portfolio is considered successful if a recruiter can understand the user’s positioning and navigate to a relevant project quickly, and if a new project can be added end to end within a short, predictable workflow that does not require design or engineering rework.
Release plan
The initial release will focus on the foundation, including the design system, navigation, homepage, projects index, the project detail template, resume, and contact. The next phase will add the Tools, About, and Services pages and populate the full set of projects. A hardening phase will follow to validate performance, accessibility, SEO metadata, and analytics instrumentation. Later iterations can add enhancements such as more advanced filtering, richer artifact presentation, and optional short updates if they support the portfolio goals.
Design principles and design language
The website must use a consistent layout grid and typography system that makes content easy to read and easy to scan. Headings must follow a clear hierarchy, spacing must be consistent across pages, and the design must use a restrained color palette so content remains the focus. Components must be reused across the site, including navigation, footers, project cards, and project section blocks, so the experience feels cohesive. The visual standard is that the site looks intentional on both desktop and mobile, and that no page feels like a one off layout. Motion and interaction must be subtle and functional, limited to hover states, focus states, and minimal transitions that improve clarity rather than adding decoration.
Inspiration and reference analysis
The site must use an orientation first homepage that clearly states who the user is, what the user does, and what to click next, and it must include immediate proof through featured work cards. The site must use a projects index that is browsable, comparable, and searchable, and it must use a consistent project detail template that reads like a case study rather than a blog post. The resume page must be readable in a single sitting and must provide direct links into projects. The tools page must communicate real workflow choices through categories and short usage notes. The about page must communicate professional arc, values, and current interests without duplicating resume content. These are not presented as references to specific websites, but as concrete requirements that support fast comprehension and credibility.
Content quality bar and publishing rubric
A project can be published only if it has a clear overview that makes sense without external context, a specific problem statement, a concrete explanation of approach, and an explicit description of the user’s contributions. Each project must include at least one artifact link and must describe outcomes using measurable results when available or concrete evidence when not. Each project must avoid vague language, must not over claim impact, and must clearly separate what was built from what was learned. The portfolio must prioritize a smaller set of strong projects over a larger set of weak or repetitive entries, and projects must be kept consistent in tone, structure, and depth.
Operational workflow and update process
Site updates must follow an auditable workflow. Content can be drafted in Google Docs and then transferred into the repository as structured content. Engineering changes and content changes must be made in a GitHub branch and submitted as a pull request, and the change must be reviewed in a deploy preview before merge. The definition of done for any change includes validating mobile and desktop rendering, ensuring links work, verifying that images are optimized, and confirming that shared components were not unintentionally altered. Updates should be batched into small, frequent releases, and the site should have a predictable refresh cadence that includes a monthly content review and a quarterly quality pass for performance and accessibility.
Acceptance criteria
The site will be considered complete for V1 when the homepage, projects index, project detail pages, resume, tools, services, about, and contact pages are live on marcelopierry.com with consistent navigation and footer across all pages. The homepage must include the required hero, calls to action, featured work cards, and focus summary. The Projects index must support filtering and keyword search and must link to project pages that follow the standard template. Every published project page must include the required sections and at least one artifact link. The Resume page must include the required sections and must link to projects. The Tools page must be categorized and include usage notes. The Services page must explain the operational stack and each dependency. The About page must include professional arc, values, and current interests. The Contact page must successfully submit and display a confirmation state and must provide direct email and profile links. The site must have no broken links, must render correctly across common viewport widths, must load quickly, and must meet accessibility basics.
Risk register and mitigations
Inconsistent content quality across projects is a primary risk and can reduce trust, especially if project pages vary widely in depth or clarity. This will be mitigated by enforcing the project template, using the publishing rubric, and running periodic editorial passes to keep tone and structure consistent. Performance degradation from unoptimized images or excessive scripts is another risk and will be mitigated by compressing media, limiting third party scripts, and keeping client side code minimal. Broken links to artifacts or external resources can erode credibility over time and will be mitigated by including link checking in the release checklist and hosting critical artifacts in stable locations. Scope creep is a risk because portfolio sites can expand into over engineered systems, and it will be mitigated by defining V1 boundaries and treating enhancements as a separate roadmap. Toolchain and dependency drift is a risk that can cause build issues over time and will be mitigated by pinning dependencies, running automated checks, and keeping the component system small.
Backlog and future enhancements
After V1, enhancements should focus on improving discoverability and showcasing depth without increasing operational burden. Tag based filtering can be expanded with curated collections that map to different audiences, such as recruiting, technical, or product. Artifact presentation can be improved with consistent embeds for PDFs, images, and short demos. A lightweight updates section can be added if it helps communicate momentum, but it must remain optional and low maintenance. Any enhancement should be evaluated against the core goals of clarity, speed, and maintainability so the website remains a portfolio first product.