About us.
Design.Garden is a web design agency located in Madison, WI. That’s the basic info, but more than that we are a crew of friendly experts that live to bring websites to life.
A little history.
We didn’t just appear out of thin air. We got our start as the web development department of 5NINES. 5NINES is a locally owned technology company that has been around for over 20 years. As 5NINES Web Services grew and became more independent it was time for our team to branch out. In January of 2021 we became Design.Garden.
Meet the team.

Matt Kirk
Technical Lead | Garden Owner | He/Him/His
Matt Kirk is just about the easiest software engineer you may ever work with. Don’t let his kindness fool you though. He is likely one of the sharpest developers out there. He can solve any problem you throw at him and explain it in a way anyone can understand. Design.Garden is pretty lucky to be owned by such an approachable wiz kid.

Caleb Rortvedt
Web Developer | Code Cultivator | He/Him
Caleb Rortvedt brings all the enthusiasm to Design.Garden. His eagerness to investigate problems, respond to clients, build sites, dig into code and data is unmatched. If you have ever messaged us for technical support on a Sunday it was likely Caleb who messaged you back with a resolution. Not because he has to, because he wanted to. That’s Caleb!

Samantha Freimuth
Admin Assistant | Sprout Supporter | She/Her
Samantha Freimuth is Design.Garden’s administrative assistant extraordinaire! She is the organizational wizard behind the scenes, making sure everything runs smoothly so our web designers and coding experts can do their magic. Samantha has a knack for juggling tasks with a smile on her face and a can-do attitude.

Tony Jacobs
Web Developer | Code Cultivator | He/Him
Tony is an innovative software engineer whose love for technology knows no bounds. Tackling challenges head-on, he consistently delivers top-notch solutions with precision and efficiency. Just like his colleagues at Design.Garden, Tony goes above and beyond to exceed expectations, embracing every project with unmatched curiosity and dedication.

Paul Rudolph
UI/UX Design | Digital Landscaper | He/Him
Paul is ready to make your design ideas spring to life. He’s a web designer with a ton of experience with making fantastic looking and easy to use websites. Paul has a passion for design and he’s pretty much constantly designing, during and after work! He loves to learn new things and has a passion for helping people and making them happy.
Design.Garden is 100% remote and 100% dependable.
We felt this was important for you to know otherwise you would never be able to tell. We are a tight knit team that collaborates continuously. We meet via Zoom every morning to review tasks and projects. We communicate throughout the day to troubleshoot, inspire, assist and push each other to exceed expectations. Working from home has only made our team more efficient. Don’t worry, we still love to meet in person! We are fully vaxxed and boosted, have access to great meeting spaces and are willing to meet you where you are.
Clients say nice things about us.
“I’ve had the pleasure of working with Matt Kirk on a DOE project and his expertise and participation have been invaluable. He has been a great partner on this project, providing input, feedback, and guidance on the work. I look forward to further opportunities to work with Matt.”
Lester Shen, Ph.D.
Senior Research Engineer
Center for Energy and Environment