Why great brands are stolen, not created — and how to find your visual direction w/ Zach Stevens

This is Love at First Try — a podcast for SaaS founders and developers who care about design but aren't designers themselves.Zach Stevens is one of the co-founders of Conversion Factory, a marketing agency that works with growth-stage software companies. He runs their design team and has spent years helping SaaS brands go from scrappy to polished — without losing what makes them unique.I wanted to talk to Zach because he's a growth-focused designer. He doesn't just make things look good — he thinks about how design serves the business. And in this episode, we get into how to define your brand's vibe, why stealing from the right references matters, and how to make sure your design supports your marketing instead of fighting against it.🧠 What you'll learn in this episode:0:00 - Intro0:25 - Who Zach is and what Conversion Factory does for SaaS companies1:00 - Zach's origin story: from almost joining the Marines to meeting mentors who shaped Amazon's brand strategy4:45 - The difference between a designer who just makes things pretty and one who solves business problems7:15 - Aphantasia: why some people can't visualize ideas and what it means for design11:50 - How Zach defines taste as a designer13:58 - The Gap by Ira Glass: why your taste develops faster than your skills17:27 - Why great brands are stolen, not created — and how Liquid Death proves it21:20 - How AI changes the role of creative direction (you don't need to draw it yourself anymore)23:40 - When beautiful design hurts conversions: the Adeline website breakdown30:06 - The fine line between design that serves marketing and design that's just art34:35 - How to add humanity to SaaS websites without looking like a stock photo catalog38:43 - Why the emotion you want to convey matters more than how technical your audience is43:12 - The branding spectrum exercise: masculine vs feminine, luxury vs affordable, subtle vs expressive47:09 - Brands on fire vs brands on ice: how to stay creative without losing consistency50:43 - Why typography alone can completely shift your brand's vibe53:53 - The Mentor Cruise rebrand: from utilitarian to premium using vintage Porsche ads as inspiration1:00:04 - How much should founder taste influence brand direction?1:04:04 - Zach's favorite products right now: Cora, Mile IQ, and ChatGPT for thinking out loud💡 Actionable takeaways from ZachSteal these quick wins:Define the feeling before the visuals. Before picking colors or fonts, ask: "How do I want people to feel when they interact with my brand?" Everything else follows from that answer.Use the branding spectrum exercise. Map where your brand sits on spectrums like masculine vs feminine, luxury vs affordable, subtle vs expressive. It helps you spot mismatches before you start designing.Steal from what makes you feel the way you want others to feel. Zach's team pulled from vintage Porsche ads for Mentor Cruise because Dominic wanted that timeless, premium vibe. Find your reference points outside your industry.Design should serve marketing, not lead it. If your website looks amazing but the message gets buried, you've prioritized aesthetics over conversions. Copy first, then design around it.Add humanity carefully. Photos of people can make your SaaS feel more relatable — but only if the vibe matches. A playful brand like PostHog uses pixel art hedgehogs instead of faces. Match the emotion, not the tactic.Typography sets the tone. The same sentence in a geometric sans-serif feels modern and clean. In a serif with thick-to-thin contrast, it feels wise and nostalgic. Pick fonts that match your intended feeling.Stay between fire and ice. "Brands on fire" are chaotic — nothing matches. "Brands on ice" are boring and rigid. The best brands have consistency with room for spontaneity depending on context.