A studio that talks straight
Who we are, how we work, what it costs, in black and white. This page is the editors' own spread.
Why HeyJal exists
Before opening a studio, I watched the same waste play out on too many projects: a committed client, a real budget, and a project spinning inside an information gap from day one. The quote was vague, progress lived in verbal updates, and after delivery nobody could say whether the website was actually working for the business.
What HeyJal set out to do is not grand: treat the website as a business asset, and put the whole process on paper. You always know where the work stands, where the money goes, and how the result will be measured after launch. Design and code stay with the same team, and every number written into the proposal can be found in the finished site.
We work for teams that are serious about their business: a real product or service, an interest in where customers come from, and the patience to give quality a reasonable schedule. If you need an overnight template site, we are not the right fit. If you want a site that still holds up, still edits cleanly and still takes new features three years from now, come talk to us.
This journal is our operating manual, and a promise: the telling happens in full light, and only the showing goes dark. Every case study you read here is running live.
Who does the work
HeyJal is led by Justin Chen and staffed per project: design and front-end are his own work, with long-time collaborators brought in for back-end and content as needed. Few projects, done properly; never more than two at a time.
Today: setting the design direction, building the front end and owning launch quality on every project.
What we believe, what we won't do
We believe
- A website is a business asset, not a one-off deliverable
- Performance and accessibility are the floor, not a bonus
- Prices in the open, changes confirmed on paper
- A real, clickable staging site every week
- A deliberately small slate: two projects at most
We won't do
- Ship-and-vanish, one-transaction work
- Reskinned templates sold as custom design
- Motion for applause instead of purpose
- Lowball quotes that balloon later
- Deadlines we know we can't keep
How we work, and with what
We work on a stable, modern stack, neither chasing trends nor guarding habits: design is finished to the pixel in Figma, the front end is built with Next.js and TypeScript, motion appears only when it has a job to do, and deployment and monitoring run on Vercel. Tools are means. The standard is singular: the site we hand over must be fast, stable and easy to change.
Questions people ask before working with us
How long does a project usually take?
Landing pages take 2–3 weeks, brand sites 4–6 weeks, e-commerce and web apps from 6 weeks. The clock starts once your material is largely ready and the deposit has arrived. Once your slot is confirmed nobody jumps the queue, and neither will anyone jump yours.
How is the price put together?
A base price by site type, adjusted for page count, feature modules, motion level and timeline. The pricing page has a self-serve estimator that gives you a range in 30 seconds; the formal quote follows one conversation and doesn't move after signing.
Are you still around after launch?
Fixes are free for 30 days after launch. Beyond that you can subscribe to monthly care and iteration, or commission work as needed; both options are priced in the proposal, in writing.
Does remote collaboration actually work?
Our process is designed for it: a clickable staging site updated every week, video walkthroughs at key milestones, and every decision and change recorded in writing. You don't need a calendar full of meetings, only decisions at the checkpoints.
How do revisions work?
The direction stage includes two rounds of structural revision. Once we move into visual design and build, detail adjustments ride along with the weekly updates at no extra charge. Reversing a direction you've already approved is scoped and quoted as new work, so neither side burns out in back-and-forth.
Our copy and images aren't ready. Can we still start?
Yes. The brief includes a content-readiness question and we plan the schedule around it. We can help shape the copy, and images can start as placeholder specs and be swapped in before launch.
Tell us about your project
The brief takes about two minutes; we reply within 24 hours.