Project Overview

WaterDash was a real-world freelance project delivered collaboratively under the Whimsico brand, a micro-agency founded by myself and my good friend. Our client was a bottled spring water company seeking a Shopify-based e-commerce site to showcase and sell their product while supporting unique, data-driven customer interactions.

Collaboration and Scope

The project was initiated when my good friend, Maciej, was approached by the business owner (a friend of his) to create a custom website. We decided to collaborate and deliver the engagement together, forming Whimsico as our operating identity. We worked on the project equally.

Technical Architecture

The frontend storefront was built on Shopify, using the client’s design language and feedback to iteratively refine the layout and user experience. My primary contribution focused on enabling the backend and deployment automation through AWS and CI/CD pipelines.

• AWS Organizations: I established a dedicated AWS Organization for WaterDash to ensure clean account separation and scalability.
• API Gateway + Lambda: implemented a custom serverless backend that collected user postcodes and email addresses from visitors interested in deliveries in areas not yet served, a unique request from the client.
• Data Handling: the Lambda function validated input and securely stored customer interest data for future market-expansion insights.

Automation and CI/CD

To support seamless iteration and client feedback cycles, I developed continuous integration and deployment pipelines for both the Shopify theme and the AWS Lambda backend:

• Automatic deployment of theme updates to the live Shopify store when changes were merged to main.
• Automated packaging and deployment of Lambda functions via CI/CD to the client’s AWS environment.
• Reduced manual deployment time to near-zero, ensuring consistent, reliable updates across systems.

Infrastructure & Business Setup

Beyond the technical build, I also handled the foundational infrastructure for Whimsico as an operating entity:

• Registered and configured the Whimsico domain.
• Set up Zoho Mail for professional team communication.
• Provisioned the full AWS environment for both our team and the client.

Outcome

The project was successfully delivered and deployed to production, fully meeting the client’s design and technical requirements. It represented a complete freelance production delivery, from design collaboration to automated deployment, and served as an excellent case study in small-team execution, client management, and modern cloud-based Shopify development.

The experience of building WaterDash through Whimsico not only expanded my technical expertise in serverless AWS architectures and CI/CD automation, but also solidified my confidence in end-to-end freelance delivery, client collaboration, and business operations.