Throwback: Companion Agency Website Design
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Designing websites for companion agencies has always been a bit of a moral and logistical gray area for me.
On one hand, the technical and creative challenges are hard to resist. On the other, there’s the question of legality and longevity. These businesses often don’t stick around for long, and I prefer to work on projects that have a solid shelf life. Still, every now and then, I take on one of these projects for the backend challenge alone—and that’s exactly what happened when I worked on the now-defunct Black Label Collection, a high-end companion agency based in Washington, DC.


The Excitement of WordPress Custom Post Types
One of my favorite parts of these projects is crafting a comprehensive database with a custom Post Type in WordPress to highlight each model. For the Black Label Collection, my goal was to design a seamless one-page layout that provided users with everything they could want to know about a model:
- A sleek bio
- Personal stats
- A carefully curated photo gallery
- FAQs tailored to the specific clientele
- Rates and packages
- A booking calendar
Pulling this off required a lot of planning and precision. From a development standpoint, it’s always a fun challenge to figure out how to make these dynamic pages load efficiently while maintaining a luxury aesthetic.


Branding: Whiskey Meets Elegance
The client’s vision for the Black Label Collection was clear—it needed to feel high-end, like the website equivalent of a premium whiskey brand. I took that concept and ran with it, leaning into a palette of dark wood textures, a splash of the color gold, bold block fonts, and a script font to add an air of exclusivity. Black and white photography completed the look, giving the site a timeless, classy feel. Every design decision was rooted in the idea of evoking a sense of luxury and sophistication. I incorporated evocative imagery, including a whiskey glass and a high-end cigar, to reinforce the concept of luxury and sophistication.

Handing Over the Reins
One of my non-negotiables with this project was that I didn’t want to manage the content. Companion agencies can be volatile businesses, and I didn’t want to be involved in maintaining or curating their database. Once the site was complete, I handed over the entire WordPress backend and database framework—completely blank. They were in charge of populating the content themselves, which gave me peace of mind and kept my role purely technical and creative.
Reflecting on the Project
In the end, I was incredibly proud of the work. The Black Label Collection site captured everything the client wanted: it was sleek, exclusive, and undeniably high-end. From a backend perspective, the database and dynamic pages were satisfying to build, and the branding work allowed me to flex my creative muscles in new ways.
Unfortunately, as is often the case with these types of projects, the agency didn’t last very long. While I expected it, it’s always a little bittersweet to see a project you’re proud of fade into obscurity. Still, the experience was a reminder of why I love what I do—even when the projects are temporary, the process is endlessly rewarding.
Would I take on another project like this? Probably, but with the same cautious approach. For me, it’s all about the challenge and the craft, and this project definitely delivered on both fronts.