Jacob Starr

Digital Designer

ServicesWebsite Design

Website Design & Development

Custom-built, not templated. Sites for small businesses and nonprofits, designed and built by the same person in New Orleans.

One Person, Design Through Launch

A lot of small businesses hire a designer, then a developer, and lose something in between. The layout gets simplified to fit a template. The details that made the design worth paying for are the first thing to go.

I do both halves. So the site that launches is the one you approved. When something needs to change later, there is one person to call.

What It Is Built On

Most builds run on a custom WordPress theme. You edit your own words and images, and the layout is locked so an edit cannot break it. The director of the Burt Foundation updates her site that way.

When a site needs more speed or motion than WordPress gives comfortably, I build it in Next.js and host it on Vercel. GLP & Sons runs that way, on an account in the client’s own name. Either way, the site is yours outright once it is paid for.

When the Piece You Need Does Not Exist

A site builder gives you the features it has. Custom code means that when the business needs something that is not on the shelf, I build it into the site.

For Techrobotic, automation cost could not be known before discovery. So I built a six-question estimator that gives visitors a rough number instead of a contact form. The contact forms write straight into the founder’s CRM, field by field. I also built a deck generator that turns a prompt into an on-brand presentation, then taught the founder to run it himself.

What a Build Includes

  • Direction

    An intro call, one onboarding document, then moodboards and a few routes side by side. We pick one together before a page gets laid out.

  • Design

    Every page designed for desktop, tablet and phone, against a component system that keeps the site consistent as it grows.

  • Copy

    Site copy is part of the build. I write it from what you tell me about the business, and we revise it together.

  • Build

    Custom WordPress or Next.js, built for speed. Techromatic and Techrobotic both launched at 98 on Lighthouse performance.

  • Forms and Analytics

    A qualifying inquiry form, with Google Analytics and Search Console in place at launch. The first weeks then show where people drop off.

  • Hosting and DNS

    Set up on whichever host fits, from WP Engine to a custom server. I handle the domain, DNS and SSL, including moving them off an old provider.

  • Search Basics

    Page titles, descriptions, redirects from your old URLs and a sitemap, set up before launch so nothing you had ranking gets lost.

  • Handoff

    A walkthrough of how to edit the site. Layout changes route back through me, or through a care retainer with hours banked each month.

Sites I Designed and Built

“He didn’t just execute what we asked for. He was proactive, and brought design ideas to the table that we hadn’t thought of ourselves, details that made the final site stronger than what we’d envisioned.”

Eric Paul, President, GLP & Sons

How a Build Runs

  1. 1

    Intro Call

    Free, thirty minutes, no agenda needed. I learn how the business actually runs before anything gets priced.

  2. 2

    Direction Before Design

    Moodboards and references first, then a few routes side by side. We decide on one together.

  3. 3

    Design and Build

    A lot of the design happens directly in code. So you are often reviewing the real site in a browser instead of a picture of it.

  4. 4

    Launch and Refinement

    Launch with analytics in place and a walkthrough of the editor. Then refinement, once real visitors show where the site falls short.

Questions People Ask

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