Chicago Roots
A decade at the top of Chicago web design. Now running growth systems nationwide.
Before Design Delulu, founder Eric Barker built and ran a Chicago web design and marketing agency — RedEye (Chicago Tribune), WGN, Navy Pier, and Northwestern University among the clients. That track record now runs through a modern growth-systems company serving businesses nationwide.
The Chicago Story
Before Design Delulu, there was Blueprint.
In 2006, Eric Barker founded Blueprint Design Studio in Chicago — building websites, SEO campaigns, WordPress systems, restaurant marketing, and digital strategy for clients ranging from local businesses to national brands.
Blueprint held the #1 Google ranking for “Chicago web design” for roughly a decade — a competitive commercial term in one of the country’s biggest, most contested local markets — and #1 globally for “restaurant menu design” over the same stretch.
Chicago was the practice round. The Growth System is the real thing.
The Path Here
From Chicago storefronts to nationwide growth systems.
- 1999
Started building on the web.
- 2006
Founded Blueprint Design Studio in Chicago.
- 2010–2012
Built WordPress sites, SEO systems, restaurant marketing, and digital campaigns for Chicago-area and national clients.
- 2013+
Continued building from Bangkok — across creative, web, and AI tools.
- 2026
Launched Design Delulu — the AI-era version of a growth systems agency.
Real Screenshots
Not stock photos of a skyline. The actual agency.
Chicago Work
Real clients. Real Chicago institutions.
Not a logo wall — the organizations Blueprint actually built and designed for.
That work ran through the organizations that still define Chicago’s media, education, and civic landscape — not small, easy search terms. Founder credentials from the same period also include Tribune Media and the City of Chicago, plus Chicago Public Schools in the client roster above.
Why It Matters Now
Competitive-market experience doesn’t expire.
Ranking #1 for “Chicago web design” for roughly a decade wasn’t a lucky long-tail term. It’s a genuinely competitive, high-intent commercial phrase in one of the largest, most contested metro markets in the country — the kind of term that punishes weak SEO fast. Holding it for that long took real technical work, not a fluke.
The client list backs it up: a major media organization, a broadcast station, a research university, a public tourism attraction, a public school system. Those are stakeholder-heavy, brand-guideline-heavy accounts — not simple single-owner sites. That’s the kind of complexity a serious Chicago business still has to navigate today.
Today, that same operating discipline runs through a modern growth-systems model: content, SEO, websites, lead generation, and marketing automation, built and run as one connected system instead of disconnected deliverables — with AI and automation layered on top of two decades of doing the fundamentals right. Delivered remotely, the same way it’s delivered for clients everywhere else.
What Design Delulu Does Today
The Chicago track record, applied to a modern system.
Design Delulu isn’t a Chicago-only shop — it’s the same growth-systems company every client gets, wherever they’re based. Here’s what’s inside it:
Chicago-Tested
Built to work anywhere — because it was proven in a hard market first.
The #1 ranking for “Chicago web design” wasn’t a soft target — it’s one of the most competitive local search categories in the country, in one of the most competitive media markets. Winning it, and keeping it for roughly a decade, took real technical SEO and real client work for organizations with real standards.
A Chicago office is planned and coming soon. Until then, the same growth systems run remotely for businesses nationwide, Chicago included.
- #1 Google ranking, “Chicago web design,” ~10 years
- #1 globally, “restaurant menu design,” same stretch
- Founded Blueprint Design Studio, Chicago, 2006
- Client work for Tribune Media, WGN, Navy Pier, Northwestern, City of Chicago, CPS
- 20+ years building websites, SEO & growth systems
FAQ
Questions, answered honestly.
Does Design Delulu have a Chicago office?
A Chicago office is planned and coming soon. In the meantime, Design Delulu works with clients nationwide, building growth marketing, content, websites, lead generation, and automation systems remotely.
What Chicago clients has Eric Barker worked with?
Through his earlier Chicago agency, Blueprint Design Studio, Eric worked with Tribune Media, WGN, RedEye (a Chicago Tribune publication), Navy Pier, Northwestern University, Chicago Public Schools, and the City of Chicago.
Can Design Delulu still work with Chicago businesses?
Yes — the same way we work with clients everywhere else: remotely, running the full growth system (content, SEO, websites, lead generation, marketing automation, and AI workflow automation) as one connected engine.
Bring that track record to your business.
The call’s free. If there’s a fit, the next step is a $497 Marketing Audit — a full diagnosis and a plan you keep, credited toward your build if you continue.
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