Joseph Ellis Design Co. · About
A maker by compulsion,not strategic choice.
From childhood I’ve been drawn to taking raw material u2014 physical, digital, relational u2014 and shaping it into something tangible, meaningful, and alive. Lego, drawing, Photoshop at twelve, self-taught HTML, woodworking, code, gardening, hunting. The materials change. The instinct doesn’t.What I do now is the same thing, just sharper: take an idea, a mission, a business that’s outgrown the story it’s telling u2014 and make it legible to the world.
The journey
The work has always been the same.
Early work u2014 2010s
Finding the instinct
Self-taught in Photoshop, HTML, and CSS. Built websites for local businesses and community organizations before freelance was a career plan. Learned by doing, documented nothing, shipped everything.
Formal practice u2014 2020
Joseph Ellis Design Co.
Established the practice formally in 2020. Shifted from execution work to full-problem ownership u2014 one mind across strategy, brand, identity, design, and code. Clients are founders, experts, and mission-driven organizations whose substance deserves a story that matches it.
Now u2014 MMXXVI
Integrated practice
Strategy, brand, UX, design, and code informing each other in real time u2014 AI woven into every workflow layer, with judgment and taste directing it. Lafayette, Indiana. Working with clients across the country on projects that matter to the people behind them.
Outside the work
Life beyond the screen
Husband, father. Woodworker and CNC carver. Hunter and gardener. Reader of theology, history, and the kind of nonfiction that argues for something. Christian u2014 visibly, not loudly. The same instinct for making shows up in all of it.
Areas of focus
The whole problem, held in one mind.
These are not separate services. They are disciplines that run in parallel u2014 each one sharpening the others.
The clarity work that comes before design. Identifying what you actually do, who it is for, and how to say it in a way that lands u2014 before a single pixel gets placed. Includes positioning workshops, messaging architecture, and brand story. The site is downstream of this.
Wordmarks, logosystems, color, typography, and the visual language that carries the brand. Built on the positioning work u2014 so the form matches the substance underneath it. Delivered as a complete brand guide the team can actually use.
WordPress builds using Elementor u2014 designed, written, and shipped by one person. No handoffs between a designer and a developer. The result is coherent because one mind made it coherent. Performance-optimized, mobile-first, built to be maintainable.
Homepage copy, about pages, service descriptions, and the words that make a brand legible. Written in the client’s voice, not a generic tone. Starts with listening u2014 the substance is already there; the job is to render it visible and true.
Templates, frameworks, and structured learning experiences built for practitioners who want to package what they know. Course architecture, workbook design, landing pages, and the delivery infrastructure to go with them.
Skills & tools
A Joe of All Trades
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Strategy & Brand
Positioning · Messaging · Brand Story · Workshop Facilitation · Voice & Tone
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Visual Identity
Logo & Logosystems · Typography Systems · Color · Brand Guides · Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop
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Web Development
WordPress · Squarespace · Elementor HTML/CSS · JavaScript · UI/UX · Performance Optimization
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Writing & Copy
Homepage & Landing Pages · About Pages · Brand Voice Guides · Long-form Editorial
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AI & Workflow
Claude · Cursor · AI-assisted research & ideation · Prompt engineering · Agentic workflows
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Digital Products
Template Kits · Course Architecture · Workbook Design · Workshop Facilitation Frameworks
Let’s make something together
You know what you do and why it matters. Let's tell your story.
If you are at the inflection point u2014 outgrown DIY, not ready for an agency, tired of describing what you actually do in three different ways u2014 that is the right moment to talk.