Design Lab: how I work out what you actually like

Try one

Which page would you rather land on?

Go with your gut. A first reaction is exactly what this is for.

Stripped back

Plenty to look at

That is one of seven. Nothing to type, nothing to get wrong, and both were drawn the same size so you picked taste, not the bigger card.

Which page would you rather land on?Which feels more like your business?Which would you rather your customers felt?How loud should it be?Which reads more like you?Corners: which do you prefer?Light or dark?Which finish do you like?Which layout appeals more?How much breathing room?How much should the photographs do?

The loop this gets rid of

I guess, I build, you say it is not quite right, and neither of us can say why. That loop eats the budget and the goodwill with it.

“Something modern but not too modern. Can you make it pop?”

becomes

Three words: solid, honest, precise
Corners: Sharp
Light or dark? Light
Breathing room: Lots of space
Photography: Natural
Movement: Subtle

Does not want: nothing orange, no stock photos of people giving a thumbs up, not cheap looking

Five minutes, start to finish

One private link. No account, no password, nothing to sign up for.

1
Open your link
One screen of explanation, then the questions. Nothing to install.
2
Tap seven pairs
Two pictures, pick one. Or say you like neither.
3
Answer a few questions
Four typed in your words, two with a tap. I read them, not a machine.
4
Get three designs
Real pages, already leaning the way you pointed, laid out the way you answered.
5
Shape the one you like
Layout, colour, lettering, shape, photos, movement.
6
Send it over
Nothing is final. Send another whenever you change your mind.

Stop halfway and nothing is lost. It saves at every step and picks you up on the question you stopped at.

Start my five-minute brief

The same words, twelve different pages

Four businesses, the same words. Everything else is the client’s six controls, layout included, down to their own colours.

Side by side layout for Ashwell Joinery: Sage, Studio lettering, sharp corners, natural photo. — Side by side, Ashwell JoinerySage, Studio lettering, sharp corners, natural photo

Overlapping layout for Ashwell Joinery: Noir, Luxe lettering, larger type, deep shadows, moody photo. — Overlapping, Ashwell JoineryNoir, Luxe lettering, larger type, deep shadows, moody photo

Like a magazine layout for Ashwell Joinery: Clay, Warm lettering, larger type, round corners, airy. — Like a magazine, Ashwell JoineryClay, Warm lettering, larger type, round corners, airy

Plain and clear layout for Marlow Dental: Porcelain, Calm lettering, airy. — Plain and clear, Marlow DentalPorcelain, Calm lettering, airy

Photo first layout for Marlow Dental: Cobalt, Sharp lettering, smaller type, compact. — Photo first, Marlow DentalCobalt, Sharp lettering, smaller type, compact

Side by side layout for Marlow Dental: their own two colours, Character lettering, larger type, round corners, warm photo. — Side by side, Marlow Dentaltheir own two colours, Character lettering, larger type, round corners, warm photo

Photo first layout for The Wren Bakery: Orchid, Soft lettering, larger type, round corners, natural photo. — Photo first, The Wren BakeryOrchid, Soft lettering, larger type, round corners, natural photo

Plain and clear layout for The Wren Bakery: Forest, Paper lettering, sharp corners, black and white photo. — Plain and clear, The Wren BakeryForest, Paper lettering, sharp corners, black and white photo

Overlapping layout for The Wren Bakery: their own two colours, Grand lettering, larger type, sharp corners, deep shadows, faded photo. — Overlapping, The Wren Bakerytheir own two colours, Grand lettering, larger type, sharp corners, deep shadows, faded photo

Like a magazine layout for Fern and Stone: their own two colours, Loud lettering, larger type. — Like a magazine, Fern and Stonetheir own two colours, Loud lettering, larger type

Side by side layout for Fern and Stone: Ink, Classic lettering, moody photo. — Side by side, Fern and StoneInk, Classic lettering, moody photo

Photo first layout for Fern and Stone: Moss, Simple lettering, smaller type, compact, warm photo. — Photo first, Fern and StoneMoss, Simple lettering, smaller type, compact, warm photo

17 ready-made colour sets, 5 of them dark, or any two colours of your own. You can also point at your logo, or at a website you like, and have the colours read straight out of it.

One brief, five arrangements

The same joinery, the same colours and lettering, laid out five ways. Layout is one group in the drawer: named arrangements of the same sections, so every design still compares like with like.

Side by side: Photo beside the words, tidy tiles below. The familiar shape., on the joinery's page. — Side by sidePhoto beside the words, tidy tiles below. The familiar shape.

Photo first: Big photographs with the words on top of them., on the joinery's page. — Photo firstBig photographs with the words on top of them.

Like a magazine: Big headline first, then the photo, then columns., on the joinery's page. — Like a magazineBig headline first, then the photo, then columns.

Plain and clear: Words first. Short lists, no fuss., on the joinery's page. — Plain and clearWords first. Short lists, no fuss.

Overlapping: The headline in a panel over the corner of the photo. Bold, a bit different., on the joinery's page. — OverlappingThe headline in a panel over the corner of the photo. Bold, a bit different.

The brief seeds it: the layout card you pressed and how much you want the photographs to do decide the arrangement you start on. Change it in one tap. Adding, removing or reordering sections is not yours to do; that stays with me.

Three to choose from, not one

One computed answer is a guess dressed up as a fact, and most people accept it out of politeness rather than say it is wrong.

The end of the brief: three complete designs of the same page side by side, labelled Closest to your answers, A quieter version and A bolder version, each with a line explaining why it was offered.

Built from your answers

Not a mood board. Real pages, already leaning your way, and laid out three ways when your answers left that open.

Your outright answers stick

Say light and all three are light. Only the guesswork changes.

None of it is AI

Fixed maths over seven answers. Same answers, same three designs.

Six things to play with

Colour, Layout, Lettering, Shape and feel, Photography, Movement. Nothing you touch can break it.

SagePorcelainClayCobaltOrchidNoirMonoOchreTealOxbloodSlateMossSandInkForestEmberTwilight

It says Lettering, not typography. You should not need the trade words to say what you like.

Not yours to change

The words
The photographs
Which sections exist
Their order

Those are mine, set in advance. You are signing off a look, not building a site.

The customiser: a live preview of the client's page on the left, and a control drawer on the right showing the colour sets, the five layout cards and the lettering pairs as live letterforms.

The same tool on a phone, with the design filling the screen and the controls reachable underneath.

All of it works on a phone.

All of it works on a phone. Two parts want a tablet or bigger: seeing it at desktop width, and putting two designs side by side.

Anything you definitely do not want?

The most useful box on the page. Say it plainly and it will not appear.

“No stock photos of men in hard hats giving a thumbs up. Nothing orange. Not cheap looking.”

It is one of three answers the tool checks afterwards, along with light or dark and the layout card you pressed. If the design drifts into something you ruled out, it asks you about it in your own words.

Try it on my business

Then I build exactly that

One approved design, your exact colours and lettering, every answer next to the question you were asked, and your own words about what you never want to see.

Your words at the top. Above a single colour code.
Changes in plain English. It says “Corners: Sharp -> Soft”, not a code.
Left alone is not chosen. It says which values you actually picked.
Layout, named. It says which arrangement you chose, and what each part of the page became.

The spec sheet from an approved demonstration brief: a block headed The brief, the client's words, not ours, listing their three words, who it is for, what they definitely do not want, and every picture pair next to the answer they pressed, then the colour codes below. — From a demonstration brief, not a real client. It carries on past the fold.

Partway through and stuck?

You cannot break it. No wrong answers, nothing permanent, and sending a design commits you to nothing.

Try refusing a question.

Somewhere betweenI dislike bothNo preference

Recorded, and you have still given me an answer.

Nothing moved. Those two feed nothing into the design, so you are never nudged into a preference you do not hold.

What is this, exactly?

It is how you tell me what you like when you cannot find the words for it. You tap through seven pairs of pictures, answer a few short questions in your own words, and land on designs built from your answers. It is not a website builder and it does not build your site. It is the step before that.

Do I need to know anything about design?

No, and that is the point. The pictures come first precisely so you never have to reach for a word you do not have. Their labels then hand you the vocabulary for the few typed questions that follow.

How long does it take, and what if I stop halfway?

The brief is about five minutes. Stop whenever you want. It saves at every step and picks you up on the question you stopped at rather than back at the beginning. Shaping the design afterwards takes as long as you fancy.

I cannot choose between two pictures, or I do not like either.

Then do not choose. Under every pair there is “Somewhere between”, “I dislike both” and “No preference”, and the last two deliberately feed nothing into your design. Use them on all seven and you get one neutral starting point instead of three.

What if I pick the wrong one of the three designs?

There is not a wrong one. They are starting points, not verdicts, and everything in them moves once you are inside. If you reach past “Closest to your answers” for the bolder one, that tells me the picture test read you a bit quiet, which is useful.

What if I do not like any of the three?

Then change one until you do. Layout, colour, lettering, shape, photography and movement all move. If it still is not right, send one over with a note saying so. That is far more useful to me than a polite yes.

Can I change the layout?

Yes, within limits. Layout is one of the six groups: five named arrangements of the same sections, recorded like everything else, so I still know which half you liked. What you cannot do is add, remove or reorder sections. That stays with me, so every design is still comparable.

Does the website I pasted actually do anything?

Its colours and lettering can. If you said you want yours to feel like it, the tool reads those off the site itself and starts your design there. The photographs and the overall feel are read by me, not the tool, for now. A site you marked as just something you liked is a note for me and changes nothing.

Is my logo uploaded anywhere?

No. Tap “Take colours from my logo” and the file is read on your own device and then thrown away. It is never sent anywhere and never stored. Only the colour codes it found are kept. If you have exact brand colours, send them to me and I will set them by hand.

How do I tell you what I want changed?

Tap “Add notes”, tap any part of the design, write on it, then press “Save note”. That last press is the bit people miss. The note sticks to that exact part of the page and reaches me without you sending a version first.

Why is it asking me about something I said I did not want?

Either the design has drifted into something you wrote in the “definitely do not want” box, or it has gone dark when you picked the light card earlier, or it is laid out the other way from the layout card you pressed. It only asks. “Keep it” is a perfectly good answer, and it gets recorded as your choice rather than as a mistake.

Can I change my mind?

As often as you like. Undo and redo are always there, and you can send as many different designs as you want, up to a hundred per project. Each one is listed under “Your designs” so you can reopen any of them later.

Is this my actual website?

No. It is a stand-in page built to show a look. Your business name is on it, but the headline, the wording and the photographs are placeholders, so ignore them. I build the real site from the look you approve.

Can I do the whole thing on my phone?

Yes, start to finish. Two parts want a tablet or bigger: seeing your design at desktop width, and putting two of your designs side by side to compare them.

Do I have to do the websites-you-like part?

No, it is optional and plenty of people skip it. If any do come to mind it takes seconds: paste the address and say what caught your eye.

What happens when I approve one?

Two taps, with a plain explanation in between. If you have changed anything since your last send, that gets kept first. Then it says “Locked in”. You can still send more ideas afterwards, and approving a later one moves the approval across.

Who sees my answers?

Me. They are stored on the hosting that runs this tool and they are not sold or shared. There is no account and no password, so the private link you were sent is the whole way in.

I have lost my link.

Ask me and I will send you a fresh one. There is nothing to log into and no password to reset, so the link really is the only way back in. If it got cut off in a message, use the whole thing exactly as it was sent.

The first build is the right one.

If that sounds better than a blank page and a phone call, try it on your own business. Five minutes, and I read what you send.

Try it on my business Talk to me about your site

Nobody can describe a website. Everybody can point at one.