This week we launched Site Designer. For me, it’s more than a product milestone. It’s the end of one chapter and the start of another in a journey that began back in May when I stepped in to lead the project.

Stepping In

When I took over, Site Designer was already in beta with customers. There was momentum, but also a lot of work ahead. My focus became clear quickly: we needed to sharpen the intelligence of our AI and raise the bar on design quality. Those were the two areas where we could make the biggest difference right away.

Shaping the Product

Improving the AI meant making the experience feel more natural, less like answering a form and more like having a conversation about your website. On the design side, we put in the effort to ensure the sites generated looked polished, not just functional. That meant pushing on layouts, typography, and imagery until they felt closer to what a professional would deliver.

These were not small lifts. It required a lot of prioritization, tough calls, and trust in the team. Some ideas had to wait. Some features we thought were “must-haves” turned out to be distractions from what really mattered.

The Launch Moment

Seeing Site Designer officially launch this week has been rewarding. It’s the culmination of months of work, but I don’t see it as a finish line. It’s the start of proving the vision at scale. Anybody anywhere can create a highly functional WordPress site through a conversation in plain language while letting users still interact with the core WordPress experience.

What’s Next

There’s still a long way to go. AI is only going to get smarter, and design is a moving target we’ll keep chasing. We already have exciting work in the pipeline, and I can’t wait to share more as it comes to life.

For now, I’m proud of what the team has accomplished. Taking Site Designer from beta to launch has been one of the most challenging and rewarding projects of my career so far. And the best part is, we’re just getting started.

Press release:
https://lnkd.in/e7E4zmHA
Blog post announcement:
https://lnkd.in/ej3hCJYj

— Nealey