Thoughtful software, carefully made.
From the first click to the smallest detail, I build websites and apps that feel clear, welcoming and human.
The aim? Customers who leave with a warm glow about doing business with you. And a team with the tools and insight to keep making things better.
A lovely experience takes care on both sides of the screen. Here’s where I can help.
Websites and apps shaped around the people using them. Clear choices, helpful words, satisfying interactions and an easy way back when something goes wrong.
I work through the whole journey: the first visit, the booking, the confirmation, the return. Then refine the details until it feels right.
See Dogface’s booking platformThere’s useful knowledge in your bookings, sales, enquiries and day-to-day systems. I bring that data together, check what it can tell us and make it understandable.
Clear goals, comprehensive measurement and analysis, honest reporting on progress, and a practical strategy for what to do next.
How we turn data into a planFrom a new idea to a working product, or from an ageing system to something you can build on. I deliver greenfield projects and rapid legacy rewrites, with the design and engineering handled together.
For a rewrite, that includes understanding the behaviour and data your business depends on, and planning the move with care.
How we’ll work togetherPractical automation and AI for the repetitive work around your business: organising information, connecting systems and helping your team find what they need.
Especially for arts organisations, where bookings, communications and administration can take time away from making things happen. With review points where human judgement matters.
Explore community and arts toolsUseful reporting starts with a decision you want to make.
Whether you’re trying to fill more classes, make a booking journey easier or understand which work pays its way, we’ll agree what success means and how to measure it.
Talk about your dataWhat are you trying to improve, for whom, and over what period?
Bring together the data you already have. Check its quality and make gaps or uncertainty visible.
Readable reports that compare results with your goals and explain what has changed.
A practical strategy, with actions you can test, measure and adjust as you learn.
Community spaces, ticketing, arts workflows and practical AI. Software that makes the organising easier and gives people a home away from big tech.
I run Dogface Improv, so I know the work around the work: getting people into the room, keeping them informed and helping them feel they belong.
I build around that reality, with care for privacy, accessibility and the people keeping everything running.
Different kinds of software, with people at the centre. Explore the sites and see the details for yourself.
Publishing & local culture
An arts and culture magazine for Norwich. Writing, reviews, competitions and what’s on, brought together in a home for the city’s creative life.
Read OutlineMobile app for the 2026 festival
Built for the British Comedy Guide: a festival companion with searchable shows, saved favourites, venue directions and reviews. Made to work offline, too, because a busy festival rarely comes with reliable Wi-Fi.
Bookings & arts administration
My own improv school, and a decade of learning what people need from a booking system. A welcoming front door for participants, with the practical tools to run classes and shows behind it.
Play & everyday connection
Five questions a day, timed or relaxed. A small daily ritual, with private leagues and knockout cups to bring friends together.
Play Fast Five
Discovery & community
A home for the improv community across the UK and Ireland. Find shows, courses and workshops, and explore the people and organisations behind them.
Silent walkthrough: choose Norfolk in the location filter, close the filters and browse the matching events.
We’ll get something useful in front of you early, then work through it together.
Understand your customers, your team and the things that get in their way. Agree the outcome before choosing the technology.
Build a working version you can use and respond to. AI helps me move quickly; experience guides the decisions and the checks.
Test the journeys, sharpen the details and review what the evidence says. Hosting, maintenance and improvements can continue after launch.
I’m Chris Read, a Norwich developer with 26 years of professional experience, and the person you’ll talk to, build with and call when something needs attention.
I’m also an improviser and the founder of Dogface Improv. Listening, noticing and making something work for the people in the room are as much a part of how I build software as how I teach improv comedy.
I work across websites, web and mobile apps, business systems and AI. I can start from a blank page, untangle an old codebase or give an existing product the attention it deserves.
The thread through all of it is care: for the interface, the engineering, the information and the person on the other side of the screen.
A new idea, an awkward customer journey, a system you’ve outgrown or data you can’t quite make sense of. Tell me where you are and where you’d like to get to.