Small business websites
Distinctive sites designed around the personality of independent businesses.
WORKSHOP / DIGITAL
Websites I Build
I never really set out to become a web designer.
I started building things because I enjoy solving problems, experimenting with ideas and making things work properly.
Eventually some of those things happened to be websites.
Most of the projects here started with a simple question:
What would this look like if the website actually felt like the person or business behind it?
Same Job, Different Machine
Field engineering, club systems, tools, networking, photography and websites look like unrelated interests.
They are all the same habit: understand the problem, work out how it actually works, then make it better.
A treadmill that will not start and a website nobody can book through are the same puzzle wearing different clothes.
Not Another Template
Small business websites increasingly seem to fall into the same patterns.
Same layouts. Same stock photographs. Same enormous hero text. Same booking button. Same corporate language.
I enjoy doing the opposite.
Before designing anything, I want to understand:
- the person
- the business
- the customers
- the personality
- what already works
- what doesn't need replacing
Sometimes that means building something completely new.
Sometimes it simply means creating a much better front end for systems the business already uses.
The goal isn't to make every project look like something I designed. The goal is to make every project look like them.
WHAT LANDS ON THE BENCH
What I Actually Build
Not a menu. Just the sort of thing that tends to land on the bench.
Website redesigns
Taking something functional but generic and giving it proper identity.
Booking website front ends
A much stronger customer experience, while keeping an existing booking platform behind the scenes.
Clubs and communities
Websites and systems for sports clubs, teams and communities.
Digital tools
Dashboards, internal tools, prototypes and little ideas that solve real problems.
Personal and creative projects
Because sometimes the only reason something needs to exist is because it sounded interesting.
THE WORK
The Work
Real projects, with the story behind each one. The live sites open in a new tab.
PROJECT_006Small Business / Web & Apps / UX
PROTOTYPE
The Wellness Room
Giving an independent wellness business a digital home with as much personality as the real thing.
PROJECT_005Small Business / Web & Apps / UX
PROTOTYPE
Inner Beauty
A beauty salon asked for a more modern website. It is becoming a small business system for bookings, customers, cancellations and repeat business.
PROJECT_001Grassroots Sport / Web / UX / Operations
ACTIVE
G&W Netball
What began as a better club website became a digital platform for running an entire netball club.
PROJECT_002Ice Hockey / Web / Branding / Content
ACTIVE
Riverside Raiders
A beer-league hockey site built as though you have found an old computer and the Raiders operating system is still running.
PROJECT_003Field Service / Security / Web & Apps
COMPLETED
QR Verification
Turning an ID card into something a customer can actually verify, instead of something they are asked to trust.
HOW IT GOES
How These Usually Start
A conversation
Usually someone tells me what they do, shows me their current website, or says: "I hate my website."
I disappear down a rabbit hole
I look at the business, customers, competitors, visual ideas and what actually needs improving.
I build something
Usually starting with an idea and gradually turning it into something that feels right.
We keep changing it
Because the best bits normally appear once someone sees their business beginning to come alive on screen.
It goes live
Domain connected, everything tested, and suddenly it's a real website.
Got an interesting idea?
If you've ended up here because someone showed you one of my websites, hello.
I'm not trying to build a giant web agency, but I really enjoy working on interesting projects for small businesses, clubs and independent people.
If you've got something in mind, feel free to tell me about it.