Services / Next.js and Payload CMS
Next.js and Payload CMS websites built by one team.
Headless websites built by the designers who drew them, on the same stack this site runs on
Start a projectThis site runs on Next.js and Payload, designed and built by our designers
Numbers you can check
- <0.5s
- for pages on griddesign.co.uk to load, on Next.js and Payload.
- 1
- team designs and builds it, with no handover between the two.
- 8 to 12
- weeks from kickoff to live for a website, when the copy exists.
Why this stack
The site you are reading is the example
griddesign.co.uk is a Next.js site with Payload as its CMS. Our designers built it, with no Webflow, no page builder and no developer in the middle. Pages load in under half a second. Every page is assembled from blocks: a header, a statement, case study cards, stats and FAQs. Those blocks are the design system, so a new page made in the CMS still looks designed. We are not dogmatic about it. Servebolt's site shipped as a WordPress build its marketing team owns. If your team runs WordPress well, we will usually keep it. Next.js and Payload suit teams that want a fast site and a CMS shaped like their design system.
What we have built
Built on this stack
griddesign.co.uk
Next.js on the front, Payload behind it, designed and built in-house. Case studies, sector pages and FAQs are composed from one set of blocks in the CMS. Pages load in under half a second.
Margin, our project system
Proposals, contracts, projects and invoices in one place. Designed in Figma and built in React and Next.js by the same people who design for clients. See how we run projects.
Client builds
We build in WordPress, React or headless, picked for what your team has to run afterwards. Wise, The3Key and Air Landline were each designed and built by one senior team. See the Wise case study.
Design, build and CMS
Headless Next.js websites with Payload CMS
Grid designs and builds headless websites on Next.js with Payload CMS. Next.js renders the pages. Payload is an open-source TypeScript CMS that runs inside the same Next.js app, with your content in your own database.
We model the CMS on the design system. Each block in Payload matches a designed component, with the fields an editor needs and no more. Marketing can build new pages without breaking the layout.
Performance, schema and accessibility go in as it is built. We design to WCAG 2.2 AA from the first wireframe, and treat Core Web Vitals as a design constraint.
What we build
What you get
The designer who drew the page is in the build review, so nothing gets lost in a handover. More on our website design page.
Trusted by teams who sell technical products
“My business has grown significantly whilst partnering with Grid, and I genuinely believe this would not have been possible without the brand vision Grid helped mould.”
Selected work
Sites we designed and built
Honorable MentionThe3KeyBrand and website for accountants to creatives. Conversions up 77%.Air LandlineA phone company that sounds human. Website designed and built, organic traffic up 62%.Managed.comA parent brand and the website that launched it, designed and built end to end.Explore
Related services
FAQs
Questions about Next.js and Payload builds
Speed, and a CMS shaped like your design system. Our own site runs on them and loads pages in under half a second. If WordPress already works for your team, we will usually tell you to keep it.
Yes. Our own site goes from Figma to production with no developer in the middle. The same people design and build for clients.
Yes. Pages are assembled from blocks in Payload, each one matching a designed component. Your team gets a session on the CMS before launch, so the next twenty pages do not come back to us.
Wherever your team chooses to host it. Payload is open source and runs inside the Next.js app, with content in your own database. No third-party CMS account holds your content.
Yes. We audit what ranks now and map every URL before anything moves. Then the content moves into Payload, and the redirects are checked line by line.
Yes. The repository, the content and the source files are yours on final payment. We do not hold anything back.
The brief writer. Four questions, about a minute, and you leave with a written brief whether or not you ever talk to us. Or email hello@griddesign.co.uk and a founder replies personally.