Web Design
Everything in my web design services starts with your customers and the one thing you want them to do; then the site is built to be fast, found and easy to run.
Every website I design starts with what the business needs it to do.
A website has one job: to turn the right visitor into an enquiry, a booking or a sale. So the design starts there, with your customers, the questions they arrive with and the action you want them to take, and works back to the pages, the structure and finally the look.
That is the difference between web design and decorating a template. Templates start with a layout and squeeze your business into it. Bespoke web design starts with your business and builds the layout it needs, whether that is three pages for a café in Dartmouth or forty for a school.
See how that plays out in real projectsA complete website, not a design file and a list of things to sort out later.
Five stages, each with a clear output, so you always know what is happening and what comes next.
Most web design goes wrong before anyone opens a design tool, because nobody agreed what each page was for. I plan the site as a set of topics first: what each page needs to say, what people search for to find it and what it should ask them to do.
Wireframes come first, then the visual design, built on real copy rather than placeholder text; it is the part of my web design services clients enjoy most. You see every page on a phone and on a desktop before anything is coded, and we refine it together until it is right.
A beautiful website that takes four seconds to load loses a share of the people who were about to call you, and Google notices too. Every site I build is held to the same standard: images sized for the screen they appear on, no third-party scripts you did not ask for, and the Core Web Vitals checked before launch.
Designed for the phone first, because that is where most of your customers will meet you.
Responsive is the starting point, not the finish. Each layout is composed for the screen it is on: the phone version is designed as its own thing, with the type, spacing and tap targets a thumb needs, rather than a desktop page squeezed to fit.
Images are served in the size and format each device wants, so a phone on 4G never downloads a desktop-sized picture. The result feels native wherever it opens, and it is why the sites score the way they do.
Hand-coded or WordPress. I will tell you plainly which one fits.
For speed, security and total control
Plain HTML, CSS, JavaScript and PHP with nothing you don’t need. No plugins to patch, no theme to maintain, nothing to slow it down. This site is built that way, which is why it scores 100 across the board.
Hand-coded websitesFor content-heavy sites and familiar editing
Flexible and widely understood, with a plugin for almost everything. Built properly, with a lean theme and no page-builder bloat, it is fast, secure and easy for a team to maintain.
WordPress websitesEach of these was built around a commercial goal.
The Plymouth College rebuild shows the structure-first approach on a large site, and the Hog Roast Catering build shows it on a small one. If you are weighing up designers, the guide on twelve questions to ask a web designer is a fair place to start.
Web design is the centre of what I do. These make the website work harder.
Online shops built to be found, trusted and bought from.
Learn more about ecommerce websitesGoogle Ads campaigns and landing pages planned around enquiries, not clicks.
Learn more about ads managementLogos, visual identity and graphics that look right on screen and in print.
Learn more about brand & graphic designClear website copy that answers the questions your customers are already asking.
Learn more about copywritingUpdates, backups, monitoring and small changes, so the site keeps performing.
Learn more about website careDiscovery, a page plan and keyword map, wireframes, visual design on real copy, the build, testing across devices, SEO foundations, a launch checklist and a handover. Copywriting, photography direction, brand work and ongoing care can be added when the project needs them.
It depends on the number of pages, the amount of design, whether copy and imagery need creating and whether anything custom is involved. I scope first and then quote in writing, so the price reflects what the website actually needs. What drives the price of a website explains the moving parts.
It depends on the size of the site and how quickly content and feedback come back. Before anything starts we agree the stages and a realistic schedule, and I keep to it.
Yes, if you want to. Sites built on WordPress come with an editor you can use for text, images and new pages, and I show you how at handover; on a hand-coded site I make the changes for you, or add a light editing layer for the parts that change. If you would rather not touch it, a care plan covers changes for you.
I design for mobile first, because that is where most visitors arrive. Every layout is composed for the phone, then for tablets and desktops, and tested on real devices before launch.
Speed is designed in: a performance budget, no third-party bloat, images sized for the screen they appear on. Search is designed in too, with one clear topic per page and the technical foundations search engines reward; both are part of the web design services rather than extras. If you want to keep climbing after launch, SEO continues as an ongoing service.
Tell me about your business and what the site needs to do. A few lines is enough to start.
Monday to Sunday, 9am to 9pm. You talk to me, not an account manager.
