CUT TO:
INT. PROJECT ARCHIVE — STORYBOARD ROOM
The USER opens UNSW AUStronauts Website.
DIVAKAR DESSAI
Let's run through the shots.
CASE FILE / Frontend / Product / Web
UNSW AUStronauts WebsiteDigital Platform for a Student Space Mission
A modern web platform for UNSW AUStronauts, designed to present the CubeSat mission, team and organisation through an interactive public-facing website.
01–02 / OPENING SEQUENCE
Establishing the world
01 / Establishing Shot
The Problem
A growing student space organisation needed a public-facing platform capable of explaining its mission, presenting its team and communicating its identity without requiring developers to manually update every piece of content.
02 / Wide Shot
The Context
The website supports UNSW AUStronauts, a multidisciplinary student CubeSat organisation. It acts as both a public representation of the mission and a maintainable platform for organisational content.
03 / CHARACTER NOTE
DIVAKAR'S ROLE
Subject
Divakar Dessai
Production
UNSW AUStronauts Website
Take
03 / Role
Role notes
DIVAKAR DESSAI
I worked on the website and its frontend architecture as part of the broader AUStronauts project, contributing to the digital presence of the organisation.
04 / CLOSE-UP
THE ENGINEERING CHALLENGE
The site needed to balance a visually distinctive space-oriented identity with maintainability, responsive behaviour and content that could evolve as the team and mission changed.
05 / TRACKING SHOT
THE APPROACH
A plan emerges.
The application uses Next.js and React with Tailwind CSS for the frontend and Sanity for structured content management. Reusable components and animation tooling support richer presentation while keeping the site architecture modular.
06 / INSERT SHOTS
KEY FEATURES
The system takes shape.
07 / DIRECTOR'S NOTES
DESIGN DECISIONS
Things we decided along the way
01
Used Next.js to structure the public-facing application.
02
Separated editable organisational content from presentation through Sanity.
03
Built reusable frontend components rather than hardcoding individual pages.
04
Used animation selectively to reinforce the space-oriented visual identity.
05
Structured the website so that it could evolve alongside the organisation.
design decisions
somewhere mid-build
08 / RETAKES
WHAT WENT WRONG
Naturally, not everything cooperates.
09 / FINAL SHOT
THE OUTCOME
ProblemBuildOutcome
01
Created a modern public-facing platform for UNSW AUStronauts.
02
Established a maintainable frontend and CMS architecture.
03
Supported the organisation's branding and public communication.
04
Built a technical foundation that can continue evolving with the CubeSat mission.
10 / PRODUCTION NOTES
TECH STACK
The tools behind the scenes.
Next.jsReactTypeScriptTailwind CSSSanityFramer MotionGSAP
11 / BEHIND THE SCENES
LINKS
FADE OUT.
USER closes the file.
One project down. A few more stories left.
DIVAKAR DESSAI
Pick another?