Music composer NAOKI SAKATA
This is the official website for contemporary composer Naoki Sakata. Designed to reflect the depth and serenity of his musical vision, the site adopts a clean, typography-focused, minimalist approach. Users can intuitively navigate through his biography, works, performance history, news, and discography thanks to a well-organized and structured layout.
The site is fully responsive, supports dark mode, and is localized in three languages—English, Japanese, and French—ensuring accessibility and usability for an international audience. Great care was taken in balancing color, hierarchy, and whitespace to preserve the subtlety of his artistic presence.
I was responsible for every aspect of the project—from design, photography, and writing to development, WordPress implementation, and deployment.
Technologies
HTML, CSS / SCSS, JavaScript PHP, WordPress, XD, Photoshop, Illustrator, GitHub, Lightroom Classic, Sony a7ii
Role
Planning, Design, UI/UX Design, Front-end Development, CMS Setup, SEO, Project Management, Photographer
Duration
2018, 2022
Challenges
The primary challenge was to visually express the world of contemporary classical music—often sparse in imagery—without overwhelming it with design. The goal was to create a quiet and focused atmosphere that lets the music speak for itself through thoughtful use of whitespace and precise typography. Balancing performance optimization, content scalability, and ease of content management via WordPress was also critical, especially given the inclusion of rich media such as videos, scores, and photographs. From the start, I incorporated dark mode support and accessibility considerations into the design system. The aim was to achieve a balance between refined aesthetics and practical usability, while capturing the timeless, understated strength of the artist’s work.