Services

Here’s what
actually happens.

What each kind of engagement includes, how it runs, and what it costs.

Four kinds of work, and they connect. Design Guidelines are the foundation. A build sits on top of them. An ongoing partnership keeps both moving. Solution engagements are for the problems that do not fit any of those shapes.

Most engagements start as one and grow into another. You do not need to know which one you need before the first conversation. Working that out is what the first conversation is for.

Online experience builds

Custom sites, built on plain files.

A custom WordPress site built to do three things well: it works reliably, it keeps up as new tools and AI capability arrive, and it adapts as your organisation changes instead of needing to be rebuilt every couple of years.

That is the difference a system built specifically for you makes, instead of one assembled from a theme. No Elementor, no Divi, no page builder whose developer might stop maintaining it in two years. What it produces is plain files, not settings locked inside a plugin's own database, so nothing outside that plugin can read it: not me in two years, not a developer who comes after me, not any tool you might want to point at it. Plain files are also what let the AI tooling I build in actually reach your site, which is a real part of keeping up.

What you get

  • A custom theme in a private git repository that belongs to you
  • Design tokens in one file, so every colour and type value has a single home
  • Every template documented, file by file, including the parts that will bite
  • A staging environment, so nothing is ever tried on the live site
  • The first year of hosting and care included

How it runs

Three focused days for most builds. Content, assets and access get sorted before day one, so no billable time goes on waiting.

What it costs

$4,800 for a typical three-day build. Larger sites get quoted after a short scoping conversation, never estimated on the spot.

Hosting

Keeping it running
is a separate thing.

Hosting and ongoing maintenance is priced separately from all of the above, from $960 a year. Every build includes the first year of it.

See Managed Hosting & Care
Partnership

You never have to re-explain the project.

Half a day or a full day each month, with the same person who already knows the site. $700 a month for half a day, $1,400 for a full day.

See the Creative Partner retainer
Design Guidelines

A foundation the site actually reads.

One reference covering typography, colour, logo usage, spacing, and real examples of how all of it gets applied.

Most brand guidelines are a PDF someone opens twice. These are built as tokens in a stylesheet the site actually reads, so the guidelines and the live site cannot drift apart. Change the file and the site changes. That is also exactly the format an AI tool needs to produce on-brand output rather than an approximation of it.

What you get

  • A published guidelines page you can send to anyone, hosted and always current
  • The token file itself, the one place every value lives
  • Type scale, colour roles, spacing scale, logo rules with clearances
  • Real usage examples rather than swatches
  • Contrast checked against WCAG and recorded, including anything that fails

How it runs

Two to three focused days, depending on how much brand material already exists.

What it costs

$3,200 to $4,800, being two or three days. The unit is the day. The number depends on what is already there.

Systems thinking

For problems that do not fit a day count.

You know what needs to change but not yet what to build, and the answer involves strategy, design and implementation as one piece rather than three handoffs.

On AI specifically: it is available and it is not the lead offering. It works best once foundational work is in place, because Design Guidelines with proper tokens and documented components are what an AI workflow needs to produce on-brand output. Without that foundation the same tools produce off-brand work faster than a person could by hand. If you have not asked about AI, I am not going to sell it to you.

What you get

  • Rebuilding how an organisation shows up online: architecture, content structure, visual brand and interaction as one connected piece
  • A custom tool or interface built for a specific need rather than adapted from a template
  • The systems behind the site: how it gets maintained, how content moves, how a team actually operates it
  • AI adoption inside content and web operations

How it runs

Each engagement is scoped individually, with a defined outcome and milestone payments rather than a day count.

What it costs

Priced by the problem being solved, not the days required. From $10,000, in bands up to $60,000 and above for custom product development.

Ongoing partnership

A designer on hand rather than a project.

Some organisations want senior design and development support every month, with priority scheduling and continuity, so nobody rebuilds context every time something comes up.

That is the Creative Partner retainer. The same person, who already knows how your site is put together, available on a standing basis rather than re-engaged from scratch each time.

It suits organisations with something always in motion. If your site genuinely sits still, hosting and care is the better fit, and costs a fraction of this. I would rather tell you that now.

What you get

  • Half a day or a full day each month, reserved for you
  • Priority in the schedule
  • The same person, who already knows how your site is put together
  • Refinements, content work and new features as they arise

How it runs

Monthly, ongoing, with no fixed end date. Either of us can end it with notice.

What it costs

$700 a month for half a day. $1,400 a month for a full day.

Choosing

Four questions, four answers.

Most projects land in one of four shapes below. Not sure which one is yours? That’s completely normal — a first call sorts it out.

Book a discovery call See recent work

Day-rate work

You know what you want built

Solution engagement

You know what needs to change but not what to build

Creative Partner

You want someone on hand rather than a project

Hosting and care

Your site is fine and needs looking after

Fit

Worth knowing before the first call.

Both tracks involve working closely, often in real time. The process is responsive and iterative: less about locking scope early, more about arriving somewhere better through the work itself. That suits some people and not others, and naming it now saves us both a bad engagement.

This works well if you

  • Want to be part of the process rather than hand it off
  • Value design quality and understand what it does for credibility
  • Are looking for a long-term partner, not a one-time vendor
  • Care what problem is being solved, not how many hours it took

This isn’t the right fit if you

  • Want to hand everything over and return to a finished product
  • Need a fixed scope locked before the work begins
  • Are choosing primarily on price
  • Need a team of people rather than one person
Testimonials

What that partnership actually looks like.

It felt like we were a team, more than client and service provider.

Samantha Reynolds

CEO & Founder, ECHO Storytelling Agency

Multi-talented, creative, energetic, and able to get a whole lot of things done to very high standards.

Shannon Emmerson

Founder & CEO, Forge & Spark Media

I’ve worked with her on three websites and I’m always really pleased.

Adam Greydon Reid

Director, Holiday Films / Nimble Content

In one day, she brought my website to the next level. I will repeat that — one day.

Kirsten S. Albo

FCPA, FCA, ICD.D

Lara expertly and seamlessly remade two of our websites, migrating them off outdated platforms to WordPress.

Joan Prowse

Producer / Director / Writer

She’s always looking for ways to push the creative envelope and give her clients the very best work.

Vanessa Warheit

Climate Policy Strategist

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.

Jessica Earle-Meadows

Leadership & Organizational Culture

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

Dianne Whelan

Award-winning Director & Producer

Lara elevated every aspect of this ambitious expo, ensuring it stood out as a cutting-edge showcase.

Loc Dao

CEO, DigiBC

Let's talk

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

Book a discovery call