Capabilities
Brand, web, and product work, from the first question to launch.
I work across strategy, design, and build, so a website or app is planned as part of the whole experience instead of delivered on its own.
David Keyes is a Los Angeles Creative Director with more than 15 years of experience across five disciplines: discovery and research, strategy and planning, website design and development, mobile and responsive design, and digital marketing. He leads complex creative work where brand, product, and technology collide, for startups, global brands, nonprofits, and enterprise teams.
Bring me the problem that’s stuck.
A website is not a strategy. A campaign is not a brand. The pieces only perform when someone owns how they fit together, and that is the work I lead. Research tells me where to aim, strategy tells me why, and design and engineering make it real on every screen your audience reaches for.
01 / Five disciplines
Five disciplines. One point of view.
Discovery & Research
I start every project by studying your business, your audience, and your competition, so the work stands on evidence instead of assumption.
- 01AUDIENCE ANALYSIS
- 02COMPETITIVE BENCHMARKING
- 03MARKET RESEARCH
- 04USABILITY TESTING
- 05USER RESEARCH & PERSONAS
Strategy & Planning
Creative thinking and hard data, built into a roadmap tied to what the business actually needs.
- 01BRAND STRATEGY & POSITIONING
- 02CUSTOMER JOURNEY MAPPING
- 03DATA ANALYTICS & INSIGHTS
- 04MEDIA & CAMPAIGN PLANNING
- 05SITE ARCHITECTURE & WIREFRAMING
Website Design & Development
Responsive, user-centered websites that load fast, work on any device, and run on a platform your team can manage.
- 01CUSTOM WEB DESIGN
- 02CMS DEVELOPMENT
- 03E-COMMERCE SOLUTIONS
- 04CAMPAIGN MICROSITES
- 05WEBSITE REDESIGNS
Mobile & Responsive Design
Adaptive products and experiences that hold up across smartphones, tablets, and desktops, designed for the screen people actually reach for first.
- 01MOBILE APP DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT
- 02RESPONSIVE WEB DESIGN
- 03MOBILE-FIRST DEVELOPMENT
- 04CUSTOM SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS
Digital Marketing & Optimization
Targeted campaigns that pair creative with analytics, judged by the numbers they move.
- 01SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)
- 02PAID MEDIA CAMPAIGNS (PPC)
- 03EMAIL MARKETING CAMPAIGNS
- 04SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
- 05VIDEO CONTENT PRODUCTION
02 / The tools
The tools I work in every day.
Design, build, and AI tools I use in client work, including Adobe Firefly, Midjourney, Gemini, Claude, Figma, Sketch, WordPress, and React. The project decides which ones get used.
Claude
Perplexity
GitHub Copilot
ElevenLabs
Suno
Hugging Face
03 / The method
Clarity first. Then craft.
- 01Audience analysisWho you are really talking to, and what they need.
- 02Competitive benchmarkingWhere the category is crowded, and where it is open.
- 03Market researchThe forces shaping demand before you spend on it.
- 04Usability testingReal people, real tasks, honest friction.
- 05User research & personasBehavior and intent, not demographics alone.
- 06Brand strategy & positioningOne clear claim the whole business can defend.
- 07Customer journey mappingEvery moment that wins or loses the customer.
- 08Data analytics & insightsNumbers turned into decisions, not dashboards.
- 09Media & campaign planningThe right message, channel, and moment.
- 10Site architecture & wireframingStructure that makes the content findable.
- 11Custom web designBuilt around your brand, never a template.
- 12CMS developmentA platform your team can run without me.
- 13E-commerce solutionsProduct pages and checkout that convert.
- 14Campaign micrositesFocused launches with one job to do.
- 15Website redesignsThe business problem first, then the look.
- 16Mobile app design & developmentProducts people keep on the home screen.
- 17Responsive web designOne experience, every screen size.
- 18Mobile-first developmentDesigned for the thumb, then scaled up.
- 19Custom software solutionsPlatforms shaped around how people work.
- 20Search engine optimization (SEO)Visibility built into every page.
- 21Paid media campaigns (PPC)Spend that earns its place in the budget.
- 22Email marketing campaignsPrograms people are glad to open.
- 23Social media marketingContent that earns attention and keeps it.
- 24Video content productionStories that move people, and metrics.
Twenty-four capabilities, one way of working. Every engagement starts with the decision that is actually stuck, and every capability below is a tool for getting it unstuck.
Read the method04 / How the work moves
Five phases. No surprises.
You should always know where the work stands and what lands next. Every phase ends with something real in your hands, and the reasoning behind it in writing.
01 / 05
01
Discover
I study your business, your audience, and your competition through interviews, analytics, and the category itself, until the real problem is on the table.
What you get: Research findings and a written problem statement.
02
Plan
Insight becomes a roadmap. Positioning, journeys, and architecture, aligned to the business objectives and agreed before anything gets designed.
What you get: A strategy, a journey map, and the site or product architecture.
03
Design and build
Concepts get pressure tested against the strategy, then built into real, responsive pages and products with your team in the room, not waiting for a reveal.
What you get: Working designs, staging access, and a clear build plan.
04
Adapt
Every screen, every device, every reader. I test on real phones, tablets, and desktops, and against accessibility standards, before anything ships.
What you get: Device, accessibility, and performance checks, documented.
05
Optimize
Launch is where measurement starts. Search, campaigns, and analytics take over, and the work keeps improving against the numbers that matter to you.
What you get: Campaign plans, reporting, and a list of what to improve next.
05 / The record
- Years leading creative and UX
- 15+
- Independent practice since
- 2015
- Brands I’ve worked with
- 90+
- Ink Us downloads on iOS
- 2M+
- Entries in one Spirit campaign
- 54K+
Platforms used by millions, system redesigns, and brand transformations where failure wasn’t an option, across healthcare, technology, consumer, and regulated industries.
06 / Who I work with
Big and small brands, conquering digital.
Startups, global brands, nonprofits, and enterprise organizations. I work best with teams ready to move beyond surface-level design and into real alignment.
Startups & new platforms
First to market, built to be trusted.
New products live or die on the first experience. I help founders slow down where judgment matters and move fast everywhere else, so the product earns trust before it asks for it.
Proof: Ink Us reached 2M+ iOS downloads and a 4.8★ App Store rating.
Global & enterprise brands
Scale without losing the brand.
Big organizations rarely lose to bad ideas. They lose to good ideas that fragment across markets and teams. I bring the structure that lets a brand grow without coming apart.
Proof: Bona’s global platform, and Spirit Airlines’ move to radical transparency.
Healthcare & nonprofit
Where clarity is a responsibility.
In regulated and mission-driven work, design decisions carry real consequences. I design for accessibility, accountability, and the people on the other side of the screen.
Proof: The American Society of Hematology, and Scriptera’s healthcare analytics platform.
07 / Where I stand on AI
AI widens the options. Judgment still makes the call.
I use design platforms and AI tools every day, including Adobe Firefly, Midjourney, Gemini, Figma, Sketch, WordPress, and React. They let me explore further and deliver faster. They don’t decide what is right for your brand, and they never replace the thinking you are hiring me for.
Read: AI agents, one year later
No. Most engagements start with one discipline, often research or a redesign, and grow from there once we have worked together. Each discipline stands on its own.
Both. Sometimes the job is hands-on design. Sometimes it is leadership, alignment, and decision-making in the room. I scope which one you need before we start, and I take responsibility for the outcome either way.
Startups, global brands, nonprofits, and enterprise organizations across healthcare, technology, consumer, and regulated industries. The common thread is a team that wants real alignment, not surface-level design.
Los Angeles, California. I work in person in Southern California and remotely with teams across the country and abroad, from Seattle to Malmö.
It depends on scope, and quoting before understanding the problem would be a guess. Tell me what you are building and where it is stuck, and I will come back with a written scope and a clear number.
Ready to build something that holds up?
Tell me what you are building and what is in the way. I will tell you honestly what will work, what won’t, and why.