About Joshua Francis
From finance to enterprise AI to design. That range is what lets me engineer credibility into a website, not just decorate it.
I started my career in finance at BMO, building financial models, automating reporting, and analyzing data. That's where I learned how businesses actually work, and it gave me a foundation most designers and developers don't have.
I moved into product design because I wanted to build things people use, not just analyze them. That took me into enterprise AI, designing conversational agents at PolyAI and joining Synthminds as Chief Design Officer, where I built the brand and platform for an AI consulting firm serving NVIDIA, PwC, and Kraft Heinz.
Working at that level taught me what “premium” actually looks like, and how fast people judge a business by its website. So I now focus on one thing: designing and building credibility-first websites for premium service brands, the kind of site that makes a company look as established as it already is.
When you work with me, you get one person who understands the business case, designs the experience, and builds and ships the site. No handoff, no committee. That's not typical, and it's why the sites I build actually move the business.
My Approach
How I work
One owner, end to end
I design it and I build it. No handoff between a designer and a developer, no finger-pointing. One person accountable for how the site looks and how it works.
Design-led, built to convert
Most sites are either pretty or functional. I come from product design and enterprise AI, so the sites I build look premium and are engineered to turn visitors into clients.
Business-aware
I spent four years in finance before I ever touched design. I understand ROI, pricing power, and why credibility is a business asset, not decoration.
Background
Experience
Website Design & Development
Independent
Design and build credibility-first websites for premium service brands, engineered to make them look as established as they are. Recent work includes Shiki Studios and the Synthminds brand platform.
Agent Designer
PolyAI
Designed conversational AI agents for enterprise voice assistants, shaping how large brands' customers experience automated support at scale.
AI Image Course Instructor
Uplimit
Designed and taught an AI image creation course that earned a perfect 100/100 feedback score, 89 NPS, and 74.5% completion rate.
Chief Design Officer
Synthminds
Built the brand identity and web platform for an AI consulting firm serving NVIDIA, PwC, HP, and Kraft Heinz. Led design strategy across consulting, education, and product.
Senior Analyst, Finance
BMO Financial Group
Led automation of reporting processes saving ~$25K annually. Tested and provided UX feedback on pre-release S/4 HANA updates. Built financial models for FX-denominated asset and P&L verification.
FAQ
About Joshua Francis
Who is Joshua Francis?
Joshua Francis is a Toronto-based designer and developer who builds credibility-first websites for premium service brands. He designs and builds each site himself, as one accountable owner, so the finished website looks as established as the business behind it. His background spans finance at BMO Financial Group, product design, and enterprise AI, including work as an Agent Designer at PolyAI.
Where is Joshua Francis based?
Joshua Francis is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He works with clients across Canada and the United States, both remotely and on-site in the Greater Toronto Area.
What is Joshua Francis's background?
Joshua started his career as a senior analyst in finance at BMO Financial Group from 2017 to 2021, where he led reporting automation that saved roughly $25K annually. He moved into product design, then worked in enterprise AI, as an Agent Designer at PolyAI and as Chief Design Officer at Synthminds, building the brand and platform for an AI consulting firm serving NVIDIA, PwC, HP, and Kraft Heinz. He now designs and builds credibility-first websites for premium service brands.
What makes Joshua Francis different from other web designers?
Most website projects pass through a chain of people, an agency designs it, a developer builds it, and no one owns the result. Joshua designs and builds the whole thing himself, so the premium positioning survives from first concept to live site. His unusual range, finance, enterprise AI, and product design, means he engineers credibility into the site rather than just decorating it.
What work has Joshua Francis done?
Joshua rebuilt the website for Shiki Studios, a Toronto acting school, and built the brand and platform for Synthminds, an AI consulting firm serving NVIDIA, PwC, HP, and Kraft Heinz. In enterprise AI, he designed conversational agents at PolyAI, taught an AI image creation course at Uplimit that earned a perfect 100/100 score, and shipped RoomLab as a solo SaaS product.
Let's work together.
I'm currently taking on new website projects for premium service brands.