Matinik Sunugal

Showcase website for a Franco-Senegalese cultural association

The breakdown.

Background

Matinik Sunugal — a Franco-Senegalese association founded in 2022. "Sunugal" means "it's my pirogue" in Wolof. The organization builds bridges between Martinique and Senegal: culture, education, tourism, economy.

They needed a site to present their mission, their projects, and the Mémorial Chimen Viré — a permanent exhibition inaugurated in August 2025.

Matinik Sunugal homepage — Two lands, one history. The site carries the mission without trivializing it.

How it went down

4 days for web design, then building the custom WordPress theme with CPTs.

Design — Defined structure, pages, palette. Earth and ocean tones: terracotta, forest green, sand. Playfair Display for headings, Inter for body.

Dev — WordPress theme from scratch with Tailwind CSS. CPTs hand-coded to handle dynamic content. Zero page builders, zero ACF — all code.

Structure

The site organizes around 6 main sections:

Mémorial Chimen Viré

The centerpiece. A permanent exhibition tracing shared maritime history between the two peoples. Inaugurated August 2025.

Senegal & Us

3 major association projects:

Year of the Ocean 2025 Conference — Navigation stories and maritime memories
Memorial Expo in Senegal — Installing a 3m yawl in Gorée with portraits of Césaire and Senghor
Gorée-Martinique Twinning — Cultural, educational, linguistic exchanges (Wolof/Creole)

Portraits

Gallery of 4 historical figures embodying the link between both lands:

Édouard Glissant
Ti Émile
Suzanne Roussi Césaire
Pierre Aliker

Each portrait has its profile page with bio and contribution.

Presentations page — The association, its goals, its team. The site anchors the mission.

News

Blog for events, announcements, cultural exchange stories. Articles with images, dates, excerpts.

Partners

15+ public and private organizations supporting the association. Logos displayed in a grid.

The CPTs

All dynamic content goes through hand-coded Custom Post Types:

Portraits — Historical figures with photo, bio, contribution
News — Blog articles with featured image
Partners — Logos with external link
Projects — Association initiatives

No ACF, no page builder. The client manages content through native WordPress admin with custom meta boxes.

Design

Palette — Terracotta (#b62307), forest green, sand tones. Inspired by both lands without falling into clichés.

Type — Playfair Display for headings (elegant serif), Inter for body (readability).

Animations — Native CSS only. Fade-in on load (0.6s), hover effects on images (scale 1.02), transitions on buttons.

What I delivered

A lightweight custom WordPress theme that the team can populate without touching code. CPTs let them add portraits, articles, partners in a few clicks.

The Mémorial Chimen Viré was inaugurated in August 2025. The site was ready for the event.