Creative Web Performance

An award-level site that stutters on a laptop or overheats a phone is not award-level. Creative performance is mostly about what you choose not to render.

Core principle: measure on the devices your audience actually uses, then degrade the experience deliberately instead of letting the browser degrade it for you.

When to Use

• A creative site is approaching launch and needs a performance pass.
• Scroll feels janky, the cursor lags, or the page drops frames after a WebGL hero is added.
• A 3D scene, shader, video, or particle system needs a mobile quality tier.
• Route changes leave old ScrollTriggers, RAF loops, listeners, or WebGL contexts running.
• The team needs a concrete budget before building the signature effect.
• The user asks why the site is slow despite a good Lighthouse score.

When Not to Use