MICHAËL TATI · UI UX art direction & web development

A site is felt before it is read.

That is where everything is decided.

Freelance, I design and I build: one person to talk to, from the first sketch to going live. AI only steps in on what repeats: the form, the tone and the trade-offs stay choices, and they are mine. Based in the Landes, working remotely everywhere.

100+
Projects delivered
15+
Years of development
20+
Years of design
1
Person, from sketch to launch
  • Cairn Plantes
  • Salomon Golden trail series
  • Chez Bob
  • Starck
  • Happy Kits
  • Hôtel du Parc
  • Salomon
  • Ambroise
  • lisa
  • Ned
  • Pépé
  • Cobiscol
  • Artee
  • Pen Haiti
  • Maître vignerons de la presqu'île de saint tropez
  • La Coorniche
  • MVBD
  • tog
  • LOTV
  • Fabrice Bonnot
Manifesto

Nothing moves without a reason.

Three moves, always in that order. The background responds to each one: here, even the scenery has a reason to exist.

Understand

Before the first mockup, your trade: what you sell, to whom, and what sets you apart from the shop next door. A site that ignores this stays pretty and mute. That part is discussed with you, it cannot be delegated.

Draw

An art direction, not a bought theme. The shape, the rhythm, the way it answers your finger: people form an opinion of you before reading a single line. No machine knows what you should look like. That choice is taste, and the taste you are hiring is mine.

Hold

A delivered site is not a finished one. It has to stay fast, update without depending on me, and last several years without being rebuilt. Longevity is not a bonus, it is what makes the spending pay off.

Selection

Recent work

Sites live today, for real clients. Each case says what we set out to find, what we settled along the way, and what it looks like once opened.

Method · the cycle

No tunnel, a short loop.

Not three months of silence with a grand reveal at the end. I propose, you react, we adjust. With every turn the loop closes a little tighter around the same point, your project, and bad surprises stay small.

You and me · frame · settle · approve
AI · roll out · integrate · correct
The lab · EVA CSS

The method ended up producing a tool.

After redoing the same scale calculations on every project, I turned them into a system. EVA CSS varies sizes, typography and spacing continuously, with no steps: 99% fewer breakpoints, and a mockup that holds from the smallest screen to the largest. It is open source, and it sizes the very page you are reading.

See EVA CSS
Notes · off the clock

What I write, one idea per text.

The notes record what projects teach me: one finding per note, nothing recycled. What holds ends up serving the next build. Here are the latest.

Notes · 03 SEPT 2026
Four tracks that are not equal

A track written 0.236fr is not 0.236 wide. That is the kind of detail golden-grid rests on, the layout component I have just published in…

Notes · 02 SEPT 2026
Writing the docs debugged the framework

My reference file for EVA CSS stated that font sizes are written var--24. It is var--fs-24. Both exist, they do not clamp the same way, and I…

Notes · 03 AUG 2026
A door has only one handle

A door with four handles is not four times more welcoming. You stop in front of it, you look for the one that actually works, and you end up pushing…

Notes · 02 AUG 2026
What responsive still costs

Open the stylesheet of any site delivered this year. You will almost always find the same thing: three or four breakpoint widths, and under each of…

Notes · 01 AUG 2026
A theme fits in two numbers

I spent years writing my palettes as lists. A light theme, a dark theme, eight roles on each side, and the slightest change of background forcing me…

Notes · 01 AUG 2026
Lightness finally means something

Take a yellow and a blue that both declare the same lightness, 50%. Put them side by side. The yellow burns, the blue is almost black. This is not an…

Notes · 29 JUL 2026
Two years in a drawer

This site existed in my head for two years. The concept was clear: a surface that looks flat, almost austere, and that reveals a depth in three…

Notes · 28 JUL 2026
In 2026, how far can you take your website without a professional?

In 2026, anyone can open a tool, describe their business and watch a site appear. So the question is no longer « can I do it on my own? » but « how…

Questions

What people ask before we start.

How much does a site cost?

It depends on what the site has to do, not on how many pages it has. What really weighs: does the art direction exist already or does it need creating, are the texts written, is there existing content and existing addresses to carry over, is there a shop or a tool to connect. I quote after a first conversation, once those points are settled, and the quote states what is not included as clearly as what is.

How long does it take?

Four to eight weeks for a bespoke site, once the texts and images are gathered. That gathering is almost always what decides the calendar, not the build. I say so from the start, so that a delay, if it comes, surprises no one.

Who writes the texts?

You do, most of the time, because nobody knows your trade better than you. I structure the messages page by page and say what each block has to carry, which makes the exercise far easier than a blank page. If you would rather hand the writing over entirely, that is a separate line on the quote.

Will I be able to update it myself?

Yes, without calling me. You edit your texts and images from an admin interface, directly on the page as it appears. No subscription to an editor, no three-day training: if you can write an email, you can update your site.

Who owns the site once it is delivered?

You do, entirely. The domain name, the hosting, the credentials and the source code are all in your name. You can take it with you, hand it to someone else, or grow it without me. A site you cannot take away is not bought, it is rented.

Why not a theme, or a site generated by AI?

Because the result looks like every other one, and that is precisely what you came here to avoid. Take the logo off an interchangeable site: nothing left says who it belongs to. AI does have its place in how I work, on the repetitive execution. Judgement does not get delegated.

Contact
Your project