What design actually does to your conversion rate
Design does not sell on its own. It removes the reasons a buyer had to stop. Why make it pretty is the wrong brief, and what to ask for instead.
Visual quality is how buyers judge competence
Buyers decide whether to trust you before they read a word. Why visual quality works as a proxy for competence, and how to make yours honest.
Speed and clarity are design decisions, not just technical ones
Most slow websites are slow because of what was designed into them. Speed and clarity get decided in the layout stage, long before any code is written.