A membership studio the teacher runs herself

We built Poetry in Motion for the studio of Trilby Goouch, a Vancouver movement teacher. Members join, stream short home practices and manage their own billing, while Trilby uploads new classes from her browser.

Visit the live site

A 26-second scroll through the public home page, from hero to footer.

what today?

how long have I got?

Built for: Poetry in Motion, Trilby Goouch's movement studio in Vancouver
Role: Product build, applying and refining an existing brand guide
Platform: Web, installable to a phone home screen. No native app, by design
Stack: Next.js, Supabase, Stripe, Mux, Resend, Vercel
Timeline: First commit 23 August 2026, live 28 September 2026
Status: Live

The problem

Teachers who sell video classes online usually choose between two compromises. Packaged platforms are quick to start but charge per subscriber, so the bill grows with every member. At 150 members, the packaged options were modelled at about $315 to $447 a month. Stitching separate tools together splits payment, access, publishing and playback across services.

Two more constraints shaped this build. The person publishing is not technical, and if uploading meant a video dashboard plus a database editor, she would likely stop publishing. And hiding a play button is not a paywall, because an unsigned video link can be copied and shared.

Desktop home page: a deep blue panel reading home practices with a yellow script tagline, beside a photo of Trilby on a beach by the water with a green swirl. — The desktop hero: home practices, a script tagline, and Trilby by the water.

The same hero on a phone, with the menu folded away.

Three ways to elevate your state: blue, red and green cards for aliven, contemplative, and tend and replenish, each with a cream swirl. — Three collections as colour cards: aliven, contemplative, and tend & replenish.

The membership section: a well tended home, what is included, three practice thumbnails with durations, and a red call to action. — The membership section, with a look inside three sample practices and durations.

The intro video poster: Trilby on a sofa with a play button, framed in deep blue. — The intro video, played through Mux and framed in the brand's Deep Blue.

The solution

Poetry in Motion is a web membership platform built around the two questions members ask: what do I do today, and what fits the time I have? The library sorts 5 to 30 minute practices into three collections, with a 10, 20 or 30 minute filter. Members join through embedded Stripe Checkout or a 7-day trial, sign in with an emailed six-digit code, and change cadence, cancel or resume without writing to anyone.

Every video plays through a signed link that expires, and the database checks access a second time. Behind sign-in, a staff area called Studio lets Trilby upload video straight to Mux from her browser and set each practice's title, collection and visibility. The site went live on 28 September 2026, with a real paid join, a trial and playback checked that day.

Sign in with a code.
Members get a six-digit code by email, with no password to forget or reset.
Studio, her staff area.
Trilby uploads video and thumbnails directly to Mux, then finds and edits any practice by name or collection.
Two-layer paywall.
Each viewer gets an expiring Mux token, and row-level security in Supabase gates access as well.
Billing members fix themselves.
Members replace a card, find receipts, pay a missed renewal or switch cadence without emailing anyone.
Missed-payment notes in her voice.
Stripe retries a failed payment 8 times over 14 days while access continues, and the reminders are signed by Trilby.

Inside the membership

After the emailed code, members land in the library. Featured practices sit on top, then the three collections, with every practice marked by its length so the time question is answered at a glance.

On a phone each row swipes sideways, and the next card peeks in to show there is more. One tap opens the practice page, where it plays and can be saved to favourites.

The member library on desktop: a featured practices carousel, then aliven, tend and replenish, and contemplative columns of practice thumbnails, each with its length in minutes. — The member library: featured practices, then three collections side by side.

The library on a phone: welcome, member, then a featured practice card with the edge of the next card showing at the right. — The library on a phone: rows swipe sideways, with the next card peeking.

Scrolling the member library to favourites, then opening a practice to play.

A practice page: dynamic and playful, with a back to library link, the video player, a favourites button and a short description. — A practice page: the video, a favourites button and a short description.

Trilby's Studio

Studio is the staff side of the same site, behind the same sign-in. It opens on one list of every practice, with its collection, its length and whether members can see it, plus search and a collection filter.

Add practice uploads straight to Mux from her browser. Studio arrived on 10 October 2026, after launch, and moved her staff tools into one place.

Studio on desktop: a side menu with Library, Email and Analytics, and a library table of 16 practices with collection, length, visibility and featured columns and an Add practice button. — Studio, Trilby's staff area, listing every practice with search and a collection filter.

Scrolling Studio's library list: each practice with its collection, length and visibility.

The thinking

Custom over packaged.
Per-subscriber pricing turns growth into a cost. At 300 members, packaged platforms were modelled at roughly $465 to $746 a month, against about $36 for the custom build.
Web only, no app store.
Apple takes 15 to 30% of in-app subscriptions. At 150 members paying $30 a month, that is more than ten times the hosting bill, and an app download adds a step between deciding and paying.
Collections and a time filter, no tags.
Those two controls answer the questions members actually ask. Tags would have been a standing chore for the person publishing.
Codes instead of passwords.
Trilby is the support desk, and passwords cause the most support requests for a consumer subscription. Removing them removes that whole category of email.
Brand colours tested for contrast.
The brand guide, by another designer, allowed every accent as text on cream. Warm Orange measured 2.20:1 and Golden Yellow 1.58:1, so both became fill-only, and Bold Red was darkened 2% to pass as text.

The client's palette, set as text on cream

The palette comes from the brand guide by another designer. We applied it and tested it.

home practicesDeep Blue#0E32A5Inverse surfaces and accent text
home practices90s White#F6F2EBThe page itself
home practicesBold Red#D72638Fills and calls to action4.46:1, darkened 2% to #D32537 for 4.60:1 as text
home practicesWarm Orange#F28C28Fill only2.20:1 as text on cream
home practicesGolden Yellow#E6BF50Fill only on cream, fine as text on blue1.58:1 as text on cream
home practicesLucky Green#297B3AA practice card colour
home practicesInk#171715Text

Kind words, not ours

Paging through student quotes about Trilby's classes, then opening two FAQ answers. The quotes are about Trilby's in-person classes, not about this build.