Apartment Therapy Media
FlexMade geht eine Partnerschaft mit AT Media ein, um die Entwicklung und Optimierung seiner beliebten Lifestyle-Content-Plattformen, darunter Apartment Therapy und The Kitchеn, zu unterstützen.
About client
AT Media is a leading digital product company that operates a network of highly trafficked lifestyle websites, including Apartment Therapy, The Kitchn, Cubby, and Dorm Therapy. The company creates engaging content focused on home, food, family, and wellness, reaching a large audience each month. AT Media’s editorial approach combines inspiration with practicality, making its platforms popular destinations for users seeking both entertainment and utility. AT Media is recognized for its high editorial standards, modern design, and user-centric approach.
About project
The project involved the development and support of AT Media’s content-rich websites. FlexMade engineers contributed to feature development, key improvements, and system optimization. Each platform has unique goals but shares a common architecture and tech stack. Our team worked on redesigns, new user-facing features, and internal tools that improved workflow efficiency.
Objectives & Challenges
AT Media approached FlexMade with the need for experienced developers to support and enhance their suite of high-traffic websites. The primary goal was the development of new platforms and features, and expanding the existing ones. A key challenge was integrating seamlessly into an already established team structure with specific workflows. FlexMade joined the project in 2018, and we’ve remained actively involved ever since. At that time, AT Media was in the middle of a major technology transition - moving from an older platform to a new one. The legacy system was being gradually replaced with a more modern setup, requiring careful planning and coordination. We performed quick onboarding from our side and began contributing right away. Our team also had to support growth in user engagement, including improvements to visual elements and content visibility. One particularly important area was working with content publishing tools, which required both technical skills and sensitivity to editorial needs. We also had to stay agile and adapt to changing priorities while ensuring on-time delivery. As a result, our team became a trusted long-term partner for AT Media.
Approach & Methodology
We embedded our developers directly into the client’s distributed teams, with AT Media retaining project management ownership. Our developers received well-defined tasks and communicated progress efficiently, adapting quickly to the client's internal workflows. Despite working remotely, our team integrated smoothly with AT Media’s large internal team. We practiced proactive communication, helping identify potential issues early and suggesting improvements beyond the assigned scope. They also offered support to other team members. We prioritized clean, maintainable code and used asynchronous tools effectively for cross-timezone collaboration. FlexMade’s flexible staffing allowed the client to scale our team size as needed without process disruption
Apartment Therapy
We enhanced multiple sections of this platform, including redesigning page layouts for improved usability, adding "Tutorial Tips" blocks across content pages, and implementing a "Save Board" feature that lets users store posts, products, and images. We also optimized product blocks to increase CTR, contributing directly to revenue growth.
The Kitchen
Our work included implementing the “Send Me the Recipe” feature, allowing users to save recipes via email, print them in clean formats, and choose various display options. This improved usability and user retention significantly, especially among returning readers.
Feeds and Syndication
We helped develop and maintain the infrastructure to syndicate AT Media’s content to platforms such as Yahoo, Apple News, and Microsoft Start. Our improvements to this feed system significantly increased content reach and traffic.
User Interaction Enhancements
By adding interactive components such as tooltips, clickable CTAs, and smart navigation, we increased user engagement metrics across all platforms.
Job done
The Solution
FlexMade provided a stable and flexible team that embedded seamlessly into AT Media’s development process. Over time, we contributed across multiple areas of the platform - including backend services, user-facing features, publishing tools, and analytics dashboards. Our ability to adapt to different project phases and priorities allowed us to stay involved in nearly every part of the system. Whether it was building new modules, improving existing components, or creating internal tools, we worked as a reliable extension of the client’s team. Our collaboration became not just about delivering features, but also helping shape the evolution of the platform.
The Result
Our collaboration with AT Media led to notable increases in user engagement, content interaction, and revenue. Click-through rates improved significantly due to more effective UI placement and more intuitive content formatting. SEO optimizations increased organic traffic across multiple platforms. The "Save Board" and "Send Me the Recipe" features were particularly well received and contributed to higher retention. Content syndication enhancements resulted in greater reach via third-party platforms. The successful launch of Cubby and Dorm Therapy further proved the effectiveness of our development support. Internal teams at AT Media praised our developers' initiative and professionalism. The results demonstrate how deeply integrated collaboration can transform content platforms. FlexMade continues to play a strategic role in the ongoing development for AT Media.
The technologies
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React
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Node.js
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Google Cloud
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PHP
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Docker
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Client's feedback
Mark Wilkie
You guys have been great. Appreciate everything you’re doing!
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