I build websites that convert by applying cognitive psychology to how your visitors think, decide, and act.
Nobody is thinking
about your website.
Your visitors aren't evaluating your design. They're not reading your copy. They're pattern-matching, filtering, deciding, all before conscious thought kicks in.
250 milliseconds. That's how long the brain takes to form a first impression. Your site is being judged by gut reactions your visitors can't explain and you can't see.
Perception-First Design™ is built for that gap.
10 months of perception work. Repositioned “tablets” as “smart home decor.” Revenue followed within the year. Brand system, packaging, web. 4-year partnership, Disney licensing, Costco pallet placement.
“233% year-over-year growth. Stefan’s design work was the foundation for all of it.”Simply Smart Home
Decade-long embedded partnership, Vacuum Sealers Unlimited. Revenue compounded over 2–3 years, no redesign, no relaunch. Just sustained perception optimization. Same infrastructure, same person.
“The website Stefan built me helped put my 3 boys through college.”Lisa Bilotta, Owner
Ticket conversion, iO Theater. Redesigned booking UX for a 40-year Chicago improv institution.
“Stefan made our site in half the time, and even better looking than the agency we hired before him.”Steven Plock, iO Theater
These principles work outside web design too. Four people learned them, applied them in their own fields, and built careers with them.
Co-originator · Improv & Standup · Chicago
Co-developed the analytical practice that became PFD through years of improv and standup in Chicago. Took the same principles and built two businesses: one passive, one production company.
“Stefan and I spent years breaking down why things land. I took those principles and built two businesses on them. He turned them into a science.”
Commercial actress, Six Flags spokesperson. 10+ years applying perception principles to casting, auditions, and brand work.
kristenlundberg.com →Commercial director and filmmaker. Portfolio site opened doors to directing commercials and his first film.
quinnwilsonfilm.com →Street artist and muralist. From chasing commissions to a Palm Springs studio, and being able to choose which projects he wants to work on.
jeremynovystencils.com →Retail placement & licensing
Design, development, and infrastructure: one practitioner, one methodology, one bill.
$600/mo
You stop thinking about your website. It just works.
Managed hosting, performance monitoring, security updates, and ongoing optimization. When something needs attention, it's handled before you notice.
Month-to-month after first year. Included with all site builds.
from $1,500/mo
The approach that turned $1M into $5M, pointed at your business.
Everything in Growth Infrastructure, plus Perception-First Design applied to your brand, your pages, your conversion paths. I’m the answer to “make it pretty”, because I know what pretty is, what makes it pretty, and when to invoke it, break it, or go around it.
Month-to-month. 30-day notice.
Both tiers include a human who picks up the phone. See full service details →
Sure. Try it. I mean that genuinely. Go build something with the tools available. They’re good. They’ll get you 80% of the way to something that looks like a website. That last 20% is the difference between a site people visit and a site that produces outcomes. You’re reading about it.
WordPress, WooCommerce, and custom builds. If your project needs a headless architecture, static site, or something non-standard, I’ll scope it honestly. If it’s outside my wheelhouse, I’ll tell you.
You own your content, your domain, and your data -- always. I’ll export everything and help with the transition. The custom infrastructure (hosting stack, licensed plugins, headless layer) stays with me, but your site will run on any standard WordPress host. No hostage situations, no surprises.
Every site build includes one year of Growth Infrastructure hosting. After that, month-to-month with 30-day notice. I keep clients because the work produces results, not because of a contract.
Who
Founder & Creative Director
Designs things. Overthinks everything.
San Francisco, California
I figured out my design methodology in a nightclub. Three years managing security taught me that people decide whether to trust an environment in milliseconds, before conscious thought kicks in. A psychology degree from UC Santa Barbara gave me the language for it. That pattern-recognition became Perception-First Design™.
15 years. I tripled a consumer electronics company to $5M annual revenue. Designed the products, the packaging, and the apps inside them. That work landed on shelves at Costco, Walmart, Target, and Home Depot. Secured a Disney licensing deal. Took a Chicago theater from 50% to 75% online ticket sales. My longest client relationship is ten years.
Right now I’m building Make Me Think, a 12-part series on the psychology behind this methodology, and Cognograph, a spatial AI workflow canvas with four patents pending. I was on the founding committee of QTBIPOC.design, built their first tech stack, and helped grow it until it ran itself. Over a dozen people staff it now. I advise.
I love hearing from people about their work, and I like talking about mine. If something on this site made you think, or you want to know how this could work for your business, reach out. I have the bandwidth and I mean that.