Design studio · George, Western Cape

Brands, websites and WhatsApp booking, thoughtfully designed and built fast.

We look at the whole business first: how it looks, how people find it and how they book. Then we design and build what it needs, to the standard big brands expect.

See the work
Selected screensHillo Receptionist and a training web app, 2026
Work

Recent projects

A training companion for a dog trainer

Web app · In progress

A website for a WhatsApp receptionist

Landing page · Hillo Receptionist
Services

A clear brand, a good website and tools that do the work.

Designed and built by the same person, so what you approve is what goes live.

Start a project

  • Brand

    A name, logo, colours and voice that look as good as your work. Ready to use everywhere, from the shopfront to WhatsApp.

    For: new businesses and tired brands

  • Websites

    A fast, good-looking site that says what you do and how to reach you. Built for phones first, because that's where your customers are.

    For: anyone who needs to be found

  • Hillo Receptionist

    Answers your WhatsApp, offers real times and confirms bookings in the chat your customers already use. You get a clean list of who's coming.

    For: salons, studios, trainers, guesthouses

  • Simple web apps

    Private tools for your clients, like training guides, member areas or price calculators. No app store needed.

    For: services with returning clients

  • Looking after it

    Hosting, updates and small changes, handled. One person to message when something needs to change.

    For: everything we build
How it works

From a conversation to launch, in three steps.

  1. 01

    A conversation

    We talk about your business and what it needs. On WhatsApp, a call or over coffee.

  2. 02

    Design and build

    You see real screens early and give feedback while it takes shape.

  3. 03

    Launch and look after

    It goes live, and you have someone to call when something needs to change.

Who it's for

Built for salons, trainers, guesthouses, trades, studios & cafés along the Garden Route. Businesses that are good at what they do.

About

Hillo is run by Kev, a product designer who has spent years designing websites and apps for international brands.

That work taught the same thing every time. People don't want more features. They want something clear that does its one job well.

Hillo brings that standard to small businesses, starting on the Garden Route, at a price that makes sense for them.

Contact

Let's take a look at your business. Message on WhatsApp or email, and you'll hear back from Kev.

Message on WhatsApp hello@hillo.co.za

← All work
Web app · In progress

A training companion for a dog trainer

ClientIndependent dog trainer, George
ScopeBrand, web app, video
StatusIn progress, 2026
The problem

Clients forget the moves between sessions, and they can't practise what they can't remember.

The trainer visits clients at home and had no website or brand. We're building a private web app with her ten core beginner moves, each as a short clip with a few plain steps. Only clients who book sessions get access.

The approach

Calm, neutral and grown-up, with a forest green accent. It should feel like a professional service, because it is one. A web app rather than an app store listing, so clients open a link and start.

← All work
Landing page · Preview, 2026

A website for a WhatsApp receptionist

ProductHillo Receptionist (built under the working name Front Desk)
ForSmall businesses in George, Mossel Bay and surrounds
ScopePositioning, copy, design, front-end, motion
BuiltOne static page, no framework · hillo.co.za/receptionist
Front Desk landing page hero: 'Meet your new receptionist', with a WhatsApp chat where a plumbing business books a geyser repair.
The brief

Explain a product nobody has seen before, to a busy owner skimming on their phone, in a few seconds.

The product answers a business's WhatsApp, books jobs into their calendar and speaks as the business, in English or Afrikaans. It was built as Front Desk and is now Hillo Receptionist. The big players in this space are global and self-serve. This one is local and done for you, so the page had to feel personal and trustworthy without faking it.

That ruled out the usual shortcuts: no stock photos, no logo walls, no star ratings and no invented numbers. The product had to explain itself.

Show it working

The conversation is the hero.

Instead of a headline about AI, the first thing you see is a real-feeling chat. A customer with a leaking geyser at 21:47 gets a safety tip, two time slots and a confirmed booking. Small captions under the messages show the work you can't see, like "Booked into your calendar".

Front Desk hero on a phone, showing the headline and the start of the plumbing chat.
Colour with rules

Every colour has one job.

WhatsApp green only ever means "this is WhatsApp", so it lives on customer bubbles and nowhere else. Tangerine is the one thing to do, so it's only on the main button. Everything else is a calm, deep blue. Every text colour passes accessibility contrast, including the small grey captions.

  • InkHeadings and body
  • True blueLinks, ticks, focus
  • TangerineMain button only
  • WhatsAppCustomer bubbles only
  • CanvasPage background
Section 'Customers type how they talk': a message full of typos with two questions and a change of day, each highlighted and explained.
Real customers don't write neatly. Two questions, a change of plan and the odd typo, highlighted in two colours and explained in place.
Local by default

Speaks English. Praat Afrikaans.

The same Saturday haircut enquiry, side by side in both languages. It's the page's one deep-blue band, so it lands as a moment rather than another feature.

Language band on a phone: English and Afrikaans chats.
Customers type how they talk section on a phone.
Live in four steps: see it in action, we learn your business, we switch it on, you get back to work.
Done for you, in four steps. The last step is the outcome they're paying for, so it's the only one filled in.
Details

  • Motion reveals, never gates

    Chats type themselves out and headings come into focus as you scroll. Turn motion off and the whole page is still there, complete.

  • Honest by design

    Every chat is labelled as an example, and the assistant says it's automated in its first reply.

  • Light enough for rural data

    One small file with no framework, so it loads fast on a weak signal.

  • Three ways in, no more

    WhatsApp first, a short form as backup. Not a call to action in every section.