The studio
A web design studio in north Norfolk
Who runs it
About BrainWeb
BrainWeb is run by Richard Wood. He grew up in Norfolk and started writing code at home in the 1980s, on a second-hand Commodore VIC-20. Before university he worked in a range of jobs, among them paste-up artist and platemaker for a newspaper, laying out pages by hand for print.
He went on to study Psychology and Cognitive Science, a degree with a strong focus on neural networks and AI, which led to a PhD and a post-doc in computational neuroscience. Alongside the psychology and the AI came the technical side: programming in several languages, writing software for experimental hardware, and running the research group’s computer systems and computing clusters. How people perceive things and make decisions was his subject long before websites were his job.
He came to web design as a business owner rather than from research. After a few earlier sites, his first commercial website build was for his own boat hire business in 2010. That led to an e-commerce business, and while he was running it a couple of people asked him to build websites for them. The web work started as a way to top up the e-commerce income and gradually took over, becoming BrainWeb. He knows what a small business needs its website to do because he has needed one to do it. He has been involved in a couple of other ventures since, but the studio remains his main focus.
In a way, it has come full circle. The neural networks he studied at university are the ideas behind today’s AI, and that is where he sees the studio heading next.
See the work
Projects and writing
Where we are
A studio in north Norfolk
We are based in north Norfolk, in the village of Smallburgh, within easy reach of North Walsham, Wroxham, and Stalham.
I work with businesses and organisations across Norfolk, the UK, and even as far as the US.
We don’t have an office you can visit, but I’m happy to drive out to meet you if you’re nearby, and if not I’m always happy to work via email, phone, or video conferencing.
How we work
Six things you can hold us to
- No middlemen
- The person you talk to is always the person doing the work, with no middlemen, whether that’s designing and building a website, looking after the hosting, or taking care of maintenance.
- Transparent pricing
- For most projects I will quote a fixed price with a detailed scope, so you know exactly what’s included. Smaller updates are usually billed by the hour, in 15-minute increments, and with no minimum commitment.
- Still here after launch
- We don’t disappear after launch day. Every new website comes with its first year of managed hosting, and two hours of my time for content updates or design tweaks, to use any time in the 12 months after launch.
- Designed for your business
- Divi where it’s the right call, Next.js where that’s the right call, and AI where it saves time or improves the result. We don’t adopt a tool because it’s new, and we don’t avoid one for the same reason.
- Built for your customers
- A website only works if the people visiting it can find what they need and feel able to act. My background is in psychology and cognitive science, so I start with how your customers look, read, and decide, and design around that before anything is built.
- Straightforward solutions
- A simple solution is usually the best solution. There is less to go wrong, less to manage, and it’s usually more cost effective. We will always resist the urge to over-engineer or over-design a solution.
Testimonials
What clients say
Andrew Bolton
Owner, C & A Quality Services
“Ric was suggested to me by a complete stranger and I have been very pleased with his work. He has always completed his work very much on time and the web site he produced for me I thought was exceptional. The pages exuded vigor and enthusiasm and is bound to keep any potential client 'trapped' in the web pages. He is very cost effective and was always willing to make changes to the web pages without hesitation. I would certainly recommend Ric to anyone out there.”
via Google
Rachel Kessler
Owner, Two Ways Cottage
“We are delighted with Ric’s service. He is managing our holiday cottage website and we couldn’t be more happy with it. He’s smart, polite, efficient and talks in simple language to technophobes like us. Highly recommend him!”
via Google
Kate Watts
Owner, Millview Meadow Glamping
“We have been working with Ric since we first launched our glamping business in 2019. Ric assisted us with setting up our website and incorporating our booking platform onto the website. He did a great job and we have been working with him ever since. He is reliable and very responsive. I can ask him for assistance with something and usually he gets to it within the same day! I would definitely recommend Ric, his work is professional and he has helped us greatly.”
via Google
Sound like a good fit?
Or call 01603 244130, or email hello@brainweb.co.uk.