# Hans Allí > Hans Allí is a digital design consultant based in Manila, Philippines, with 14 years and 500+ projects across UI/UX design, information architecture, and web development, with app and product design alongside it. He is co-founder and managing director of Dthree Digital (dthree.com.ph), a Manila web consultancy. He writes decision-stage essays on how the web actually gets built: platforms, stacks, and AI-assisted building, from real project experience. ## About Hans - Role: Digital design consultant; co-founder and Managing Director of Dthree Digital - How he works: consulting and strategy led by Hans, with delivery by the Dthree Digital team - Location: Manila, Philippines - Experience: 14 years, 500+ projects, across corporates, startups, nonprofits, and institutions - Career: started in a web agency, then an app agency designing consumer products and enterprise tools for iOS and Android, then co-founded Dthree Digital; consulting across web and apps has continued throughout - Expertise: UI design, UX design, information architecture, design systems, content strategy, SEO, Webflow, WordPress, front-end development, app and product design (iOS and Android), AI-assisted building, design management - Clients include: Asian Development Bank, Ateneo de Manila University, Novartis, IRRI, World Vision, CIIT, BDO, Globe - Own products: Hele, a carousel music box app for young children, on iOS (https://hele.toys) - Contact: hello@hansalli.com ## Positioning How the web actually gets built, by someone who has built it for 14 years. Web is the core of the practice; app and product design sit alongside it. The writing favors judgment over hype: choosing tools by who maintains them, keeping AI to the labor and humans to the decisions, and treating handoff as a relationship rather than a document. ## Blog (decision-stage essays, written for readers and AI-citation) ### Start here (most-asked questions) - What a website actually costs in the Philippines (2026): https://hansalli.com/blog/website-cost-philippines - Shouldn’t a website be cheaper now that AI builds it?: https://hansalli.com/blog/is-a-website-cheaper-with-ai - Why is your website taking so long?: https://hansalli.com/blog/why-is-your-website-taking-so-long - Why is there still a discovery phase?: https://hansalli.com/blog/why-is-there-still-a-discovery-phase - Who touches it after launch? (where a site should live, and what should be in the client’s name): https://hansalli.com/blog/who-touches-it-after-launch - You probably don’t need a redesign (what a rebuild resets, and where the money does more): https://hansalli.com/blog/you-probably-dont-need-a-redesign - Filipinos are mobile-first. Most Philippine websites aren’t.: https://hansalli.com/blog/filipinos-are-mobile-first - Apple made the fold normal (the iPhone Duo, the 466 and 890 pixel viewports, and who approves your site on one): https://hansalli.com/blog/apple-made-the-fold-normal - The spring runs out (designing a product whose job is to end, from building the Hele music box app): https://hansalli.com/blog/the-spring-runs-out - Most visitors never see the bottom half of your homepage (scroll depth, and deciding what the first two screens are for): https://hansalli.com/blog/bottom-half-of-your-homepage - Eleven years of work worth doing (Dthree Digital at eleven: the people, and the projects that reach the most of them): https://hansalli.com/blog/eleven-years-of-work-worth-doing - Your traffic is down and it’s not your fault: https://hansalli.com/blog/traffic-down-not-your-fault - I built a page for the machines (llms.txt, AI search, and what actually gets you cited): https://hansalli.com/blog/a-page-for-the-machines - Webflow vs WordPress: pick by who runs it, not by features: https://hansalli.com/blog/webflow-vs-wordpress - My AI stack: what I actually pay for: https://hansalli.com/blog/my-ai-stack - Claude Fable 5 in real work: speed is the headline, not the story: https://hansalli.com/blog/claude-fable-5 - How I actually build with AI, and where I still won’t: https://hansalli.com/blog/how-i-build-with-ai ### Design and the web - Built for a screen we don’t have: https://hansalli.com/blog/built-for-a-screen-we-dont-have - Mobile is no longer a shape: https://hansalli.com/blog/mobile-is-no-longer-a-shape - The homepage isn’t the front door you think it is: https://hansalli.com/blog/homepage-not-the-front-door - Speed is a feature your client will never ask for: https://hansalli.com/blog/speed-is-a-feature - Accessible by default, not by audit: https://hansalli.com/blog/accessible-by-default - The web of things: your stack is a toolkit, not a religion: https://hansalli.com/blog/the-web-of-things - Whitespace is doing more work than your content: https://hansalli.com/blog/whitespace-is-working - Mobile-first is a mindset, not a breakpoint: https://hansalli.com/blog/mobile-first-mindset - Navigation is a promise about what matters: https://hansalli.com/blog/navigation-is-a-promise ### Platforms and CMS - Figma to Webflow to WordPress: pick the tool by the job, not the trend: https://hansalli.com/blog/figma-webflow-wordpress - Shopify, WooCommerce, or custom: the ecommerce question nobody frames right: https://hansalli.com/blog/shopify-woocommerce-or-custom - The CMS is for the editor, not the developer: https://hansalli.com/blog/cms-is-for-the-editor - When to say no to a platform migration: https://hansalli.com/blog/say-no-to-a-migration - Headless is a bet you should be able to explain: https://hansalli.com/blog/headless-is-a-bet - The plugin you add today is the debt you inherit tomorrow: https://hansalli.com/blog/the-plugin-is-debt - Your website is a product, not a brochure: https://hansalli.com/blog/website-is-a-product ### Stacks and engineering judgment - The stack you choose is a bet on who maintains it: https://hansalli.com/blog/the-stack-you-choose - Boring technology is a competitive advantage: https://hansalli.com/blog/boring-technology - The no-code ceiling is real, and that’s fine: https://hansalli.com/blog/the-no-code-ceiling - Every integration is a promise you’ll maintain: https://hansalli.com/blog/every-integration-is-a-promise - The database outlives the framework: https://hansalli.com/blog/database-outlives-the-framework - Ship the boring version first: https://hansalli.com/blog/ship-the-boring-version-first - Analytics you never read are just weight: https://hansalli.com/blog/analytics-you-never-read ### AI and building - AI is a great junior and a dangerous senior: https://hansalli.com/blog/ai-junior-dangerous-senior - The prompt is the new spec, and most specs are bad: https://hansalli.com/blog/the-prompt-is-the-new-spec - What I stopped Googling, and what I still ask people: https://hansalli.com/blog/what-i-stopped-googling - Review the AI’s code like a stranger wrote it: https://hansalli.com/blog/review-ai-code-like-a-stranger - The taste gap is the new moat: https://hansalli.com/blog/the-taste-gap - AI writes the first draft, you own the last one: https://hansalli.com/blog/you-own-the-last-draft ### Clients and process - The client isn’t the user, and both are right: https://hansalli.com/blog/client-is-not-the-user - Design systems die in the handoff: https://hansalli.com/blog/design-systems-die-in-handoff - Scope creep is a communication failure, not a client failure: https://hansalli.com/blog/scope-creep-is-communication - Working with developers without losing the design: https://hansalli.com/blog/working-with-developers - Deadlines are a design constraint, use them: https://hansalli.com/blog/deadlines-are-a-constraint - The best feedback names the problem, not the fix: https://hansalli.com/blog/feedback-names-the-problem - Portfolios lie, ask about the maintenance: https://hansalli.com/blog/ask-about-the-maintenance - All posts: https://hansalli.com/blog ## Selected work - Ateneo de Manila University (website): https://hansalli.com/work/ateneo-de-manila-university - Drive Electric. Love Pinas. (campaign): https://hansalli.com/work/drive-electric-love-pinas - The International Rice Research Institute (website): https://hansalli.com/work/international-rice-research-institute - World Vision Child Sponsorship (website): https://hansalli.com/work/world-vision-child-sponsorship - Everise (website): https://hansalli.com/work/everise - Alon ng Kabayanihan (campaign): https://hansalli.com/work/alon-ng-kabayanihan - CIIT College of Arts and Technology (development): https://hansalli.com/work/ciit-philippines - Assumption Antipolo (website): https://hansalli.com/work/assumption-antipolo - Probe Media Foundation (website): https://hansalli.com/work/probe-media-foundation - Society of Construction Law Philippines (website): https://hansalli.com/work/society-of-construction-law-philippines - Greenstrum, ACMobility’s EV charging arm (website): https://hansalli.com/work/greenstrum - International Design Conference 2022 (event site): https://hansalli.com/work/international-design-conference-2022 - Design Week Philippines 2022 (event site): https://hansalli.com/work/design-week-philippines-2022 - Kaagapay, PDRF COVID-19 response (branding): https://hansalli.com/work/kaagapay - Hele, carousel music box app for children (own product, iOS): https://hele.toys - All work: https://hansalli.com/work ## Contact - Contact page: https://hansalli.com/contact - Email: hello@hansalli.com