Design and development

Online experiences and Design Guidelines built to last.

The platforms change. The fundamentals don't. Twenty years of senior design and development applied directly to your work, with the thinking and the making kept in one place.


Services

Most of the time the online experience isn't the problem.

The problem is the gap. Between the strategy and what actually gets built. Between the tools a team has and how they really use them.

I close those gaps. Structure, content, and interaction get shaped together rather than treated as separate layers, so the result is clear, cohesive, and still working long after launch.

Anyone can build an online experience now. Tools and AI have made that part easier than it has ever been. What's still difficult is building it on a foundation that holds up through the next platform change, the next tool change, the next time the team grows or the brand shifts. That's where this work sits.

Online Builds

Custom WordPress sites, e-commerce, and campaign sites built on the platform that fits how your team actually works.

Design Guidelines

Typography, colour, logo usage, visual hierarchy, and real usage examples in one reference that keeps every touchpoint consistent.

Systems thinking

The workflows and structures behind the scenes. How the site gets maintained, how content moves, how the thing actually gets operated.

How engagements work

Day-rates for defined work. Scoped engagements for problems worth solving.

Some work has a clear scope and a predictable path. Some work needs to be understood before it can be priced. Both are available, and the first conversation usually makes it obvious which one fits.

Day-rate work

$1,600 / day

Day-rates work best when the scope is clear and the deliverable is concrete. The unit is the day. The number of days depends on the work.
  • Focused day-rate sessions
  • Online builds
  • Design Guidelines
  • Hosting migrations
Solution engagements

From $10,000

Scoped by the problem being solved, not the days required. The price is fixed. The outcome is defined. The path gets designed together.
  • Digital systems redesign
  • Custom web products
  • Custom internal systems
  • AI adoption
Ongoing partnership

From $1,200 / mo

Embedded senior design support monthly. Priority scheduling, continuity across work, refinements and new features. Managed hosting through Kinsta.
  • Creative Partner retainer
  • Managed hosting and maintenance
  • Priority scheduling
Work

A few things built recently.

View all work
Day of Music
Forge and Spark
Project InsideOut
Dahlia Drive
Hospital Show
Lara Kroeker Interactive
MagsBC
The Movement Arc
Yaahl Gud Tsai
Jaz Records
Jaz Records
Tools

Same fundamentals. New tools on top.

AI is part of how this work gets done. It is not the headline, and it is not a separate service being sold to people who did not ask for it.

Design Guidelines built well — with proper tokens, voice rules, and documented components — are exactly what an AI workflow needs to produce on-brand output. Build the foundation properly and AI tools plug in alongside the online experience without compromising it. Skip the foundation and those same tools produce inconsistent, off-brand work faster than a person could produce it by hand.

So the foundation comes first. What plugs into it later is up to you.

Design Guidelines that tools can read

Tokens, voice rules, and component documentation structured so both your team and your tools apply them the same way.

Brand-voice systems on your foundation

Prompt systems and guardrails so people who aren't designers can produce on-brand work without breaking anything.

Workflow design

Where AI genuinely helps inside your operations, where it doesn't, and what to do with the difference.

Testimonials

What clients say.

SE

Shannon Emmerson

Founder & CEO, Forge & Spark Media

Lara brings seriousness of purpose along with an amazing creative spirit and spark, which fuels and inspires me every day. She is multi-talented, creative, energetic, and able to get a whole lot of things done to very high standards.

KA

Kirsten S. Albo

FCPA, FCA, ICD.D

Her balance between technical aspects and creative design talent is perfection. In one day, she brought my website to the next level. I will repeat that — one day.

BC

Client, Cultural Sector

British Columbia

Working with Lara felt like having a creative director, a strategist, and a developer all in one person. She understood what we were trying to say before we could fully articulate it.

VW

Vanessa Warheit

Climate Policy Strategist

Lara has a fantastic sense of humor, unbounded creativity, and a can-do entrepreneurial spirit. She’s always looking for ways to push the creative envelope and give her clients the very best work.

JE

Jessica Earle-Meadows

Leadership & Organizational Culture

Lara’s the best of both worlds: a true professional who delivers high-quality creative work, and also a down-to-earth person who will work with you until your ideal is realized visually.

NM

Neil Middleton

VP Marketing & Sales, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

On a short timeline, Lara was able to quickly grasp the scope and goals of our project and translate that into a clear design language.

LD

Loc Dao

CEO, DigiBC — Co-Founder, NFB Interactive & CBC Radio 3

Lara elevated every aspect of this ambitious expo. Her strategic vision and creative execution ensured that Signals stood out as a cutting-edge showcase for interactive and immersive technologies.

LD

LaShae Dorsey

Tech Solution Implementer & Strategist

She went from words on a screen to a complete style guide between lunch and dinner. No back-and-forth emails over several weeks. Lara is my go-to for a cohesive, well-considered visual brand.

DW

Dianne Whelan

Award-winning Director & Producer

Lara brought focus and clarity to the creative process of creating my website. Her work blends beautiful design with function.

JP

Joan Prowse

Producer / Director / Writer

Lara expertly and seamlessly remade two of our websites, migrating them off outdated platforms to WordPress. She adds creative and programming expertise to make them attractive and user-friendly.

AR

Adam Greydon Reid

Director, Holiday Films / Nimble Content

Lara approaches her work with methodical planning and detail, then injects her creativity into everything she does. I’ve worked with her on three websites and I’m always really pleased.

BH

Barbara Hager

Metís-Cree Filmmaker & Writer

Lara’s amazing creativity, knowledge of web technology, and understanding of audience needs are all integral to her approach. I highly recommend Lara if you’re looking for a stunning interactive media product.

SR

Samantha Reynolds

CEO & Founder, ECHO Storytelling Agency

You took all my “surprise” requests in stride, found ways to make it beautiful and functional, and you’re SO fast! It felt like we were a team, more than client and service provider.

DB

David Bircham

Creative Director & Graphic Designer

I have had the pleasure of working with Lara for over 20 years on numerous successful projects. It is a rare person who is highly skilled, creative, and fun to work with. I can’t recommend her highly enough.

KF

Kele Fleming

Singer-songwriter & Facilitator

Lara is a highly skilled guide in the world of WordPress, social media, and web presence in general. Her instruction is well-paced and well-placed. I highly recommend you work with Lara on your next project.

Lara Kroeker
About

Twenty years of figuring out how the pieces fit.

Over twenty years designing and building for the web, for public broadcasters, labour organizations, symphony orchestras, filmmakers, and small teams doing meaningful work.

Outside client work I build interactive music installations. Years ago I spent a long stretch on two water projects in Tanzania, in the villages of Cheku and Iyoli. Wells, solar pumps, and a slow education in what it takes to build something that lasts.

I like problems with both a craft layer and a systems layer. I'm direct, I'm curious, and I know when to say yes and when to say no.

Available for guest lectures, workshops, and mentoring on design systems and tool-agnostic workflows.

FAQ

Common questions.

Defined work runs on a transparent day-rate of $1,600/day. A single focused day is $1,600; most builds land in three focused days at $4,400. Larger scoped engagements start at $10,000 and are priced by the problem, not the hours. Ongoing partnership retainers start at $1,200/month.

A focused day-rate session is one day. A typical online experience build is three to five days. A larger scoped engagement is usually four to eight weeks depending on complexity. I give you a clear timeline in the first conversation.

No, but WordPress is where most client work lives. It has the right balance of editorial control, plugin ecosystem, and long-term maintainability for the kinds of sites I typically build. If a different platform is a better fit, I'll say so.

AI is part of the workflow, not a separate offering. A well-built Design Guidelines with proper tokens and voice rules is what makes AI tools produce consistent, on-brand output. I build foundations that work with those tools rather than getting bypassed by them.

Yes. I do a quick audit first to understand what's there, what's working, and what needs addressing. Depending on the state of the site, continuation or a focused rebuild are both on the table.

British Columbia, Canada. I work remotely with clients across Canada, the US, and internationally. Time zones are rarely a barrier.

Let's talk

If you're trying to make something clearer or more cohesive or more useful, let's talk.

Book a discovery call