Modern Stockholm
This is my pet project. I handle everything: content, design, coding, and marketing.
I kicked it off in February 2025 and have been improving it step by step ever since.
Guide cover photos by Karl Hedin and Marten Bjork
PITCH
A guide helps plan a stay in Stockholm and not waste time — avoid overhyped places, skip boring-to-death descriptions, quickly go from choosing a place to mapping out a route.
OVERVIEW
What we know about city visitors
Stockholm regularly posts statistics and survey results, which help decide whether to make a guide and, if so, who for.
So even though most of Stockholm visitors speak Swedish, the next main language is English. Plus, Swedes have extremely high knowledge of English — Sweden is 4th in EF ranking of countries by English skills.
That's why I am making a guide in English first — with a potential translation to other languages.
VISUALS
Guide name
This guide is all about Stockholm today, not its history — that’s why I named it Modern Stockholm Guide. It also matches the clean, techy design — way different from an old-school travel sites.
Guide logo
I went with a looped square for the logo — it’s been a classic Nordic symbol for attractions since the ‘50s. And since it’s also the Command key today, it’s a perfect match for the guide’s name.
Approach to content
The goal is to stand out from other sites. That's why the guide is playful in terms of design and tone-of-voice.
At the same time, I keep it simple for travelers — a place name, big photos, a few words to see if it’s worth a visit, and links to Google and Apple Maps.
Layout of website
The guide features a modular grid system, wide high-quality photos and ultra-short texts for better readability.
The core structure stays the same across all pages, but the site always plays with the theme — like if a page is all about Stockholm at night, the whole design goes dark.
APPROACH
Step-by-step release
I followed the Fix Time and Budget, Flex Scope principle from Basecamp’s blog. Rather than developing a complex website all at once, I launched it step by step.
For the first iteration, I created two pages — main spots and night city — covering the basics for trip planning. I used Unsplash photos instead of hiring a photographer, with plans to reshoot later for a cohesive style.
This approach delivered a quality product on time and budget, with room for ongoing improvements.
Immediate production
To make it simple I skip Figma and design right inside CMS — making it real to publish all changes just pressing one button.
I use Semplice — it’s basically a CMS built on WordPress.
Made special for designers and lets you work with grids and set up different layouts for different screen sizes.
RESULTS
Collecting key metrics
I’m tracking site visitors with Yandex Metrika tool. It’ll take some time, I’ll be back with numbers later. Here’s what I’m looking at:
Monthly active users
Conversion rate on maps buttons
Pages per session
Georgaphy of users
Device analysis