PAULO FREITASProduct Designer + Engineer

CONIFER • INFERENCE GATEWAY • 2026

Run AI locally. Route the rest. Pay less.

Conifer landing page hero — inference gateway
Role
Product Designer
Timeline
2025 – 2026
Team
Conifer (YC S26)
Skills
Developer tools and AI product UX, Marketing site and narrative design, Systems thinking for technical products

Proof

Live prototype

Open conifer.build

Problem

Conifer routes inference to the cheapest model that still clears the work — local hardware first, cloud when needed. The product is real and shipping; the site had to explain that routing story without sounding like every other AI API landing page.

The design job was credibility for a technical buyer: make local-first routing legible, show the install path immediately, and keep the YC-stage product feeling crafted — not templated.

HeroLocal-first routing promise with install command above the fold

Process

I mirrored the live product, mapped the narrative gaps, and rebuilt the landing as a static redesign — hero, routing story, model exploration, and footer — before handing off to production.

The ASCII bonsai and marble ground became the visual anchor: a craft signal that reads developer-native without abandoning clarity for non-designer buyers.

Routing storyVisualizing local-first routing before the diagram section
Routing diagramHow requests move from local hardware to cloud fallback

Outcome

The redesign gives Conifer a single coherent story: install locally, route intelligently, pay less. Model exploration and pricing support the hero instead of competing with it.

Shipped as a reference redesign on the path to production — typography, spacing, and section rhythm tuned for conifer.build's technical audience.

Model explorerSurfacing the catalog without burying the routing message
Full pageEnd-to-end landing flow

My role

Owned

  • Landing page redesign for conifer.build
  • Hero narrative, routing story, and install flow UX
  • Visual language — monospace craft, ASCII bonsai, marble surfaces
  • Responsive layout and dark/light theme behavior

Did not own

  • Gateway routing engine and model catalog backend
  • CLI and console implementation
  • Billing, auth, and infrastructure

Collaborators: Michael Jeffords, Conifer engineering

Key decisions

Decision 1

Feature dump vs. one routing story

Chose: Lead with a single promise — local-first routing to the Pareto frontier — then unpack install, models, and pricing in that order.

Rejected: A docs-style homepage listing every endpoint first. Engineers bounced before understanding why Conifer exists.

Decision 2

Generic AI landing vs. Conifer craft

Chose: ASCII bonsai, marble ground, and monospace type as brand signals — technical without reading like every other inference startup.

Rejected: Gradient SaaS template with stock illustrations. Fast to ship, zero differentiation in a crowded category.

Decision 3

Explain routing abstractly vs. visually

Chose: A dedicated routing diagram and model explorer sections so users see the decision path, not just the tagline.

Rejected: Copy-only explanation of cost savings. Hard to trust a routing claim you can't picture.