Russ Stoll

Ihelpteamssharpenwhattheyhave—andhelpmakersbuildwhattheydon't.

Twenty years of design and frontend work — LEGO, the Smithsonian and Forum One. I also build furniture and write novels. That combination is why agencies trust me to ship and makers trust me to understand their craft.

Ways to work with me

Fractional Design & Front-End Support.Part-time senior front-end help for agencies and lean teams that need reliable support with components, landing pages, UX polish, accessibility, and performance — without the overhead of a full-time hire.

Homepage Refresh Sprint.A focused UX and design refresh for the page that matters most. I improve structure, messaging hierarchy, mobile experience, and overall polish so your site feels clearer, faster, and more trustworthy.

Mini Marketing Site.Small, modern sites built in Next.js or WordPress for launches, campaigns, and growing brands — with clean structure, strong performance, and motion used only where it supports the content.

For Makers & Artisans.I also build websites for people who build things with their hands. Custom storefronts, ongoing digital partnerships, and voiceover — from someone who understands craft because he does it himself.

Featured work.

AI
Site Reviewer

Site Reviewer

Site Reviewer is an AI-powered analysis app that reviews live websites and returns actionable recommendations for messaging clarity, UX friction, structure, and conversion opportunities. Powered by…

Claude APINext.jsUX Audit
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Web
National Museum of Natural History

National Museum of Natural History

I was one of two front-end developers for the full redesign of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History website. We built out an extensive collection of mobile-ready components serving…

DrupalSASS
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Web
National Museum of the American Indian

National Museum of the American Indian

Worked with one other front-end developer in building out a complete redesign of the museum’s website. Built new website components from scratch including the front page hero section.

LESS
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AI
History Speaks

History Speaks

History Speaks is an AI-powered chatbot that lets users converse with legendary figures from history — from Cleopatra to Einstein — through a character-based interface. Built with React, Tailwind CSS…

React.jsOpenAI APIPython
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