Forget The Noise.

Just Tell Your Story.

At Story First Design, we believe that when you have a story to come home to, you are never lost.

We help creative entrepreneurs of all sizes uncover their stories so that they can build their brand with clarity and conviction.

So stop waiting. Start telling the story that truly matters to you and your brand.

Story First Web Design Review ($250 value)
Sign up now and get it for free. No strings attached.

Personalized Web Design Audit
We audit your website and examine everything from colors and layout, to copy.

20 Minute Review
We review your audit together, answer questions, and discuss potential solutions and resources.

We respect your privacy and will never sell or share your information.
Thank you! Can't wait to chat with you. Expect a response within 2 business days.
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Process

Story First Method

1

Discover Your Story

We begin by uncovering the story that matters most to you.

2

Understand Your Audience

Next, your story becomes the compass that helps us reach your audience.

3

Build Your Toolkit

We'll build a communications toolkit that will help you tell your story to your audience, in any kind of situation.

4

Establish Your Brand

Finally, we'll help you craft a website, logo, and business automations, so that you can focus on the work that matters most to you.

If you have the opportunity to work with Michael, you can count on him to do everything possible to deliver the best results.

Brian
Award-winning Screenwriter, Filmmaker, Story Consultant
New Website
Portfolio

Story First Results

See how Story First has helped other creative entrepreneurs just like you.

The Local Designer

This designer's purpose clicked into place when her story revealed her true passion: championing the businesses in her own backyard.
Brand Development
Storytelling Coaching

Testimonials

Stories First Testimonials

Thoughtful, detail oriented, flexible, and adaptable to client visions and needs.

His holistic approach to overall design, from color scheme options, to typeface choices, translated to fully integrated layouts. Both the visible and hidden interfaces I requested required subtle but incisive coding that resulted in optimum performance for my website.

His guidance felt gradual but steady. The development of my website came in phases, each with one-on-one client meetings for progress check-ins and timely deliberation.

Philippe
Artist and Curator
New Website

I first met Michael when I was teaching story construction and theory at the University of Washington. Later, I served as his mentor. From the beginning, Michael stood out as an eager learner—someone deeply committed to understanding the essence of story and what makes it work. He not only absorbed the principles, but brought that knowledge into his drawing and design work, elevating both. Not every student is willing to put in the work it takes to truly improve, but Michael always was. That dedication shows today in his design work with his new company, where he’s applying his strong sense of story to visual problem-solving.

If you have the opportunity to work with Michael, you can count on him to do everything possible to deliver the best results.

Brian
Award-winning Screenwriter, Filmmaker, Story Consultant
New Website

I am truly grateful for the opportunity to work with Michael. He designed a website, built a template that was specific to my needs, and also refreshed my logo. Michael began by asking what I valued, how I wanted the branding to feel, and what I needed to be communicated through the design. He truly listened and asked insightful questions that clarified the design direction. His work was ideal for what I was looking for, and customers often comment on how the website and logo are an accurate reflection of my work. Uniquely, Michael is highly skilled with design artistry, technical knowledge, and deeply understands the power of storytelling to communicate clearly with your audience. Hiring Michael was one of the best business decisions I made.

Heather
Mental Health Counselor, Calming Waves Counseling
Website Redesign

From the very beginning, Michael’s approach to assisting with my website development was thoughtful and strategic. He took the time to really understand my business and to help me develop branding that fit the unique story of my business. He asked thoughtful questions that made me further develop my developing ideas and future aspirations. We then worked together to translate this into the "look and feel" of my website. We discussed everything from fonts to colors to messaging in a way that took abstract concepts and put them together into a cohesive website that was easy to navigate and aesthetically pleasing.... Thank you, Michael, for making the process of building a website (and my business) easier!

Christy
Owner & Designer, CJDesigns
Storytelling Coaching

Michael and I worked together for several years managing a large, quickly growing, and dynamic team in Seattle. He was always creative in his solutions, is extremely organized, and is a clear and direct communicator. He cares deeply for people and was a strong and true advocate for his team to grow, have equity, and be involved in important and interesting tasks. Michael was great to work with and I know he’ll continue to thrive at his next endeavors.

Kelsey
Program Director
Professional Reference

Not only was Mike a fantastic manager but a great role model!

He is great with people and communicates very effectively. He makes sure he knows who the stakeholders are at work, and is very careful with his prioritizations. Mike is very professional but you can still be comfortable enough to have a good laugh with him.

I've learned many life lessons under Mike and still continue to learn to this day as I grow in my own life. He is very insightful, caring, and truly thinks of his peers and who he manages. I could not thank him enough for being my mentor for so many years!

Toshio
Program Manager
Professional Reference

Early on, we were tasked with inventing a new approach to GIS Operations which leveraged an open source dataset and community while operating within a corporate environment. Michael was pivotal to our successful creation of this new program. He is creative, contemplative, articulated and driven.

Michael is an accomplished operations manager but more importantly he is a compassionate and professional leader. Michael's expectations for contractors were high but the example he set and mentorship he provided resulted in his team consistently ranking as top performing across my org. Fostering positive relationships, clearly communicating to his team and stakeholders, advocating for growth and fairly giving credit to celebrate someone success - these were constant themes which helped Michael build a positive and effective team culture.

Jon
Senior Program Manager
Professional Reference
Connect

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