Shared Ideas, Professional Services
What is free to read, what professional work involves, and how to discuss or use the ideas with clear attribution.
On this page — choose a section
The ideas on this site are free to read. Professional assessment, design and implementation are paid work. You do not have to hire us or subscribe to understand the approach.
Why We Share the Paradigm
A paradigm is a way of thinking about a subject. Our emphasis is on what a person is trying to do and how a website can help. We share the principles, examples and longer papers so people can discuss, challenge and apply the ideas.
Good work can come from a small internal team, an independent designer or an agency. The important result is a more useful experience, not whether it uses our terminology.
Why We Keep the Craft Commercial
Turning an idea into a working service takes research, content work, design, development, testing and maintenance. Craft here means that practical work.
Aware Design Studios is the commercial service side. An engagement should define the problem, deliverables, evidence, responsibilities and budget. Confirm current availability and scope with the team; a discussion in the Library is not a promise that a tool, course or service is available.
This Model Is Not New
People can share an approach while charging for the work of applying it. The public material should be useful on its own, not an incomplete teaser that forces a sales conversation.
You can use the guides to plan a small change with your own team. Professional help is an option when the work needs it.
What This Means in Practice
Available to read here: principles, worked examples, design patterns, failure modes, definitions and eight position papers. A position paper explains our argument; it is not independent proof of customer results.
Paid work to discuss separately: assessing a real website, designing improvements, implementing them and supporting agreed ongoing work. Any scoring or evaluation method needs an explained scope and evidence of what its results mean.
The Library helps you choose what to read. The contact page is for a conversation about your own situation.
Community Guidelines
We welcome discussion and practical examples, including evidence that a proposed technique did not help.
You Are Encouraged To
- Use the terms Aware Design, Visitor-Aware Design and User-Aware Design in your work and discussion.
- Teach the ideas, test them and share what you learn.
- Adapt the approaches to the task instead of treating the pattern list as a checklist.
- Link to the source when drawing on material from this site.
We Ask That You
- Credit the source where appropriate—for example, “Based on the Aware Design approach described at awaredesign.com.”
- Do not imply endorsement by Aware Design Studios without permission.
- Do not register trademarks that would restrict community use of the core terms.
Commercial Use
If you build a commercial service, product or course around these ideas, distinguish your offering from ours and link to the original resources. We encourage application of the ideas; using the name does not create an official affiliation.
A Growing Community
If you have a useful example, a problem with a pattern or a result that challenges a claim, tell us about it. Include the task, what changed and what you actually observed.