Relational database design
I model how your data actually connects - products to suppliers, staff to locations, articles to authors - so the system mirrors how your business works, not a flattened version of it.
I build powerful CMS platforms for content-rich organisations
that need to trust their data
Laravel & WordPress sites with clutter-free admin & strong data relationships that let teams stop worrying about updates
Stop fighting your data
When data is scattered across systems and old admin screens, people stop trusting it and start working around it.
Bad data quietly costs most companies 15 to 25% of their revenue, lost to correcting errors, chasing the right figure and cleaning up afterwards (MIT Sloan Management Review)↗.
Enjoy admin again
Older WordPress websites often come with significant admin overhead thanks to 20+ years of legacy code.
But it can be refined and polished to become a real powerhouse. There’s a reason it still powers 40% of the web (W3Techs)↗.
Laravel is a more modern approach that creates completely bespoke solutions. Streamlined interfaces that let your team enjoy logging in.
I combine…
- Technical SEO
- Relational database design
- Navigation pathways
- Page & block builder tools
…for companies with a story to tell, to deliver a platform experience that can pivot quickly and meet demand from both operators and visitors.
Hi, I’m Robin Metcalfe. I work with clients and agencies in the UK and internationally to deliver CMS platforms and websites built on clear, accessible data.
From a local business to a large multinational, most find themselves needing to keep their data consistent and accessible to the right people at the right time.
I work primarily with Laravel and WordPress to integrate beautiful designs with relational databases via efficient and intuitive forms and front-end templates.
By understanding a client’s data requirements on a fundamental level, I can build the tools they truly need, intuitive and reliable.
Case studies
Real data, real stories
Agency Studio Simpatico
Pulling Salesforce data into WordPress listings
Events data sat in Salesforce, the public listings in WordPress, with a gap between them. I worked with NYC agency Studio Simpatico on their performing-arts foundation client, connecting the Salesforce API to their WordPress listings so events data stays fresh and accurate.
WordPress Read moreClient Journalism non-profit
WordPress editorial flows
Their editorial flow was slowing the team, and the block setup needed modernising. I worked with this journalism non-profit on both, so writers could build compelling article designs more easily. Admin friction was down, reader engagement went up.
WordPress Read more
Client E-MusicMaestro
2-year Laravel support partnership
I helped support and develop features for E-MusicMaestro, an aural-test and sight-reading practice site, maintained by a dedicated independent developer. I gained deep understanding of the relational data powering the site.
Laravel Read moreDesigning data interfaces
As the data behind a website grows more complex, the tools for managing it have to keep up. I design admin interfaces that keep data-intensive sites accurate, well-structured and quick to search.
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Catch mistakes as they happen
Data entry shouldn’t just work well, it should feel satisfying. The format is masked as you type and the counter tracks length, so the field guides you instead of correcting you. Anything still off the mark is caught before you submit, not bounced back afterwards, so less comes back for a redo.
In a small but widely-cited 2009 test, validating inline rather than after you submit cut errors 22% and completion time 42%.
- Name
- Hydraulic pump
- Code
- PMP-2024-0153
- Category
- Pumps & actuators
Related
Edit deep relationships, without losing your place
Real records are tangled: a product links to a supplier, the supplier to its terms. Drill straight down the relationship and change a value three levels deep, with a breadcrumb keeping you oriented the whole way.
A breadcrumb lets you recognise where you are instead of having to hold it in memory.
Injecting deep relationships into content
Write naturally, drop in a field or a product image, and pick how it’s laid out. Everything binds to the live record by path and renders into the designed output. Switch the record and every bound value updates at once.
Change the record and every bound field updates at once, so you always see the current state, never a stale copy.
Find anything, across everything
Search is the feature everyone needs and few teams get right. One box that reaches across every model at once (products, suppliers, invoices, contacts, orders, categories), grouped by type, ranked by relevance, so the thing you want is two keystrokes away, not buried five screens deep.
Grouping results by type gives a stronger “information scent”, so the right one stands out instead of hiding in a flat list.
Page & block builder tools
I make the editing tools your team uses every day obvious to use, so updating the site is a five-minute job for them, not a ticket to me.
Technical SEO
Clean, server-rendered structure, so search engines and AI assistants can read and surface your content, not just see a pretty shell.
…for companies with a story to tell, to deliver a platform experience that can pivot quickly and meet demand from both operators and visitors.
Agencies & clients I've worked with
Experiments
Side projects with real purpose
What If Mars Had Oceans?
Driven by curiosity, I built a real-time visualiser to see what Mars would look like with oceans
Agency skills
Interactives
data visualisation
animation
AI-Native CMS
Six Verticals, One Engine
A single CMS that produces six wildly different finished sites (allotment, charity, council, museum, scout group, theatre) by tuning an LLM per vertical.
Agency skills
CMS architecture
AI integration
prototype-to-production
Bettermojis
Every Glyph, No Faff
A no-faff browser for ~7,000 emoji, HTML entities and named Unicode symbols. Search in 15 languages, click to copy. Pure client-side.
Agency skills
UI
app design
vanilla-JS performance
How we'd work together
Embedded.
I sit with your team, on calls, on-site if needed.
15 years of experience brought in to help solve problems.
Managed delivery.
I work with PMs and designers to clarify brief and interface.
We work in tandem to ensure the end product gets a clean hand-off and stays fully transparent to your team.
Three ways to start
The clearest first step is a paid strategy call. Builds usually start there too, so the work is scoped on what your team actually needs, not guesswork.
Strategy call
£200 / 60 min
A working session to map what is slowing your team down, what to fix first, and what it would take. You leave with a clear plan whether or not we go further.
Credited in full against a project if you decide to go ahead.
Book a strategy callSupport retainer
from £450 / month
A senior pair of hands kept on your bench: updates, fixes, small changes, and the awkward jobs nobody else wants to pick up. Three tiers, scaled to how much you need.
- Light: patches, fixes, small tweaks
- Standard: regular changes, priority response
- Partner: ongoing development and planning
Custom build
from £8,000 / scoped
Larger work: new admin systems, data migrations, integrations, the platform that finally fits how your team works. Most start with a strategy call so the scope is right.
Usually delivered in 4 to 8 week blocks.
Discuss a buildJust want to talk it through? A free 30-minute intro call is no charge and no obligation, the place to start if you’re not sure. The strategy call above is the paid, in-depth session for when you want a plan to act on.