A transformative Branding and Web Design agency
Elk Creative is a branding agency based in Geelong, just outside Melbourne, working with clients worldwide.
We craft stunning and engaging brands and website with a focus on Strategy first. We know the power of creativity and treat the art of visual commination with pride and care. The websites and brand identities we create are designed to make an impact for every business we work with.
In a world of content, data and conversion, we believe that human centric design is the key to connecting with your ideal customers. Our passion for results driven design is what fuels us. Our design is to create a small revolution for your business.
We love making new connections and working with new businesses. So reach out and say hello.
Focus
Recommended Providers
Portfolio
Content Snare, City of Victor Harbor, Read The Play - Childrens Charity, Cottage by the Sea - Childrens Charity, Sacred Heart College, Artisan Australia, Maax Global, zzBots, Spanish Doughnuts, Ecopia Retreat
Content Snare - Rebrand and Website
Content Snare is a SaaS tool that streamlines and automates the collection of all forms of content for agencies and businesses. Content Snare is used by thousands of customers across the globe, saving them time and reducing the stress of content collection and management.
As Content Snare had grown and developed over the years, it's brand had started to become disconnected with the service it was offering, as well as its audience. With Content Snare also looking at expanding its offering into other markets, it was clear that a new brand, tone of voice and website was needed to help them achieve their goals.
Our challenge with Content Snare was to create something that captured the authentic personality of the brand, while making something that not only engaged and excited its current users/market but also invited a whole new market to be introduced to Content Snare.
We took a bold and playful approach, with strong and daring colours, clean simple lines combined with a unique, and organic illustration style that really added a layer of fun and put the human side back in a SaaS brand.
The mark for the logo, and the illustrations, were almost a continuation of the early brand assets but complete reinvented and re-imagined.
Once the brand was complete, we got stuck into reinvigorating the website, with a total fresh new design, and super fast loading website build.
Increasing donations by 70% for Cottage by the Sea
Cottage By the Sea is a Childrens Charity that helps around 1,500 children each year, providing them with range of national programs with camps and time spent at the cottage. Cottage by the Sea was established in 1890 and does not rely on government funding. Because it does not receive government funding, donations are crucial.
We helped Cottage by the Sea with a beautiful, fresh and custom website with some cool tech. Of course the website was built so the cottage staff were able to manage and update the site. But one of the issues Cottage by the Sea were facing was collecting donations online. We created a custom donation form that connected with directly with their CRM, which created a seamless and easy experience for both Cottage by the Sea staff and those donating.
This alone has made a huge impact for the charity, with a huge influx of donations as well as other benefits, including:
• Value of donations are up 70%
• Conversion rate is up 19%
• Bounce rate is down 13%
Needless to say, Cottage by the Sea are thrilled with the result.
Brand strategy leads to success for All Day Long
All Day Long is a childcare centre located in Geelong. They approached us with a very specific problem; increase their occupancy rate. After a brand strategy was completed, we quickly discovered that the issue of their brand had nothing to do with their logo, but in their tone of voice, the application of their brand assets, and inconsistencies within their brand.
We took their logo, and re-imngined how their marketing material would be presented. This included their socials, traditional advertising and website.
We then applied this work to a blanket campaign to build awareness. This included a cinema ad, various news ads, radio and social media. Brand recognition went through the roof and inquiries started instantly coming in.
The website was not only built fast and beautiful, but built with search engine placement in mind. We helped All Day Long go from not even ranking to number 1 position over a dozen local keywords, which has lead to a consistent flow of website requests for tours and enrolments.
With the project maturing, we have been able to look back at the results, and All Day Long's occupancy levels have gone from less than 20% to over 85% capacity, with many new staff being hired.
Working with All Day Long was not only a success but a great showcase for trusting the process and findings of a brand strategy audit.
The cool brand and website for Hello Breeze
Hello Breeze is a Ducted Heating and Cooling specialist located in Melbourne. They offer a range of products and installation services for the whole victorian region.
When Hello Breeze approached Elk Creative, it was as a totally differnt business name. With the intention of creating something totally unique, unlike any other competition business. We took everything back to the essence of a brand and got creative. Once we had the perfect name to work with, we set out to craft a brand that was fun, playful and almost human. We created a mascot that works as part of the identity, as well as on its own as a key brand identifier.
We created some bold marketing material, with an emphasis on playful energetic language.
And finally we wrapped things of with a cool custom website unlike any of its competitors. We trained the Hello Breeze team so they were able to create endless amounts of help content. This has seen Hello Breeze totally dominate google search.
The brand and website have been one cool success story.
Arcos Group a brand to build confidence.
Arcos Group is an engineering firm with a diverse range of skills and experiences which covers structural, geotechnical & civil engineering services. When we were engaged by Arcos Group, they were in the very early start up stages, with a small team of partners and a vision. From the very first meeting it was clear that Arcos Group vision was a wholistic and customer focused approached to building an engineering firm.
We worked through a range of approaches to uncover a clean, modern and sophisticated brand. A brand that stood out from the completion and aligned itself with the end products the Arcos Group customers where envisaging.
Presenting a professional and consistent image was paramount to helping Arcos Group secure large projects, and we built a library of internal documents and templates.
Since launching the brand and website, Arcos Group have grown to a large team and continue to grow.
Bulak Water Subscription E-commerce Site
Bulak Water is a world’s crispest, most refreshing Alkaline Water delivered to your door. This PH rich water is sought out by those who care about its health benefits. The water is sourced from the natural Uzungöl springs in Turkey.
We were engaged by Bulak to create the Australian ecommerce website. We encourage them to move to a subscription based service to increase customer retention and organically build brand awareness.
The website has seen a consistent increase in sales with most customers choosing to sign up for a monthly subscription.
Reviews
the project
Branding, Web Dev & Logo Design for Cleaning Company
"They genuinely listen to us, which produces the results we ask for."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m part owner of a carpet cleaning business.
What challenge were you trying to address with Elk Creative?
We hired them to help us with branding, email issues, and website design and hosting.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Elk Creative helped us develop our new website. Although they used some of the information from the old website, they created most of the new one from scratch because the previous website didn’t have mobile support.
Our website is static because our business doesn’t change much, so our design requirements focused on redirecting the user and getting inquiries about our services. We asked the Elk Creative team for a simple design that was also informative and easy to use.
Elk Creative did a rebranding for us. They redesigned our logo when we bought the business. We wanted something not too complicated that would portray us as friendly and approachable. I gave them our brief, and they came back with 4–5 concepts, including ones that used different color schemes and text formattings. They designed the logo from scratch, without any reference images from us.
They’ve also redesigned our business cards. They streamlined the previous design, making our business cards up to date while still having all the information we need on them.
Additionally, they’ve helped us with SEO. Elk Creative currently hosts our website, and they’re in charge of its upkeep.
What is the team composition?
I work with the owner.
How did you come to work with Elk Creative?
We’ve known the owner for a very long time as a personal friend. When we took on our business, we went with him because he already knew us and our personality, making it easier to work with Elk Creative.
How much have you invested with them?
So far, we’ve spent around $10,000 AUD. (approximately $7,00 USD).
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working together around July 2015, and the engagement is ongoing.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
I've been really happy with Elk Creative's quality of work, the work is amazing. We're getting much more traffic to our website, as well as inquiries coming through it. Many of our clients have mentioned that they've found us through the website.
The Elk Creative Team is always happy to make whatever changes we need. However, they listen to what we want, so we normally don't require many changes. I find them easy to work with.
How did Elk Creative perform from a project management standpoint?
Elk Creative completed the work ahead of schedule which was better than anything we've experienced with previous designers. We communicated primarily via email and Facebook Messenger.
What did you find most impressive about them?
The most impressive thing about Elk Creative is that they genuinely listen to us, which produces the results we ask for.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, we couldn't be happier.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Make sure that you have a list of questions and that your brief is written down so that Elk Creative can get to doing the work you want.
the project
Branding & Web Dev for Content & Document Collection Company
"They understood how we wanted to be perceived and created a brand accordingly."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
I am a co-founder of Content Snare, responsible for marketing and product development.
For what projects/services did your company hire Elk Creative?
Over a few years, our brand and website had become a bit of a mess. Without a brand guide, there was little consistency between our creatives and the process to create them was difficult. We also felt the old brand didn't properly communicate our style. We engaged Elk Creative to create a new brand, logo and website.
How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?
I've seen Elk Creative's work in many Facebook groups. It has always stood out. The founder Corey is also active in teaching web designers to create better, faster websites. He well respected by other web designers, which says a lot.
Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.
We had some initial calls to develop an idea of what we wanted the brand to show. We received a presentation with 3 logo and colour options. We had a call to discuss our favourites and why. Elk Creative used this to create a full brand guide including multiple logos for use in different places, colours, fonts and many examples of creatives. These included flyers, business cards and even merchandise.
The next stage was a redesign of our website. This was a large website, so the process took a with several calls to bounce ideas on how we could greatly improve on the old site. Elk Creative proposed some great solutions to problems we had. For example, our product serves many audiences, and we need to get people to the right page quickly. Elk's designs achieve this very well.
The final stage was to have the site built. This was a delicate process to bring over all the content from our old site, rebuilt into the new one while preserving SEO. Corey was very responsive during this period and we worked together to make sure everything was sorted before launce.
How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?
I worked with Corey, the founder of Elk Creative.
Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
The brand guide has made it extremely easy to create new creatives, without having to engage a designer every time. For example, we can put together flyers, social banners etc very easily just by following the guidelines. This was a big problem with our previous brand. The new website has been getting amazing feedback by our community. I've received several direct messages complimenting us on the new brand.
How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?
Corey was very responsive and answered questions quickly. They understood how we wanted to be perceived and created a brand accordingly.
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
The design we've received is bold and colourful, which is very hard to get right. Elk Creative nailed it.
Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?
We'd all love to have a brand and website done in a couple of weeks, but this was a pretty big project so it took a while.
the project
Branding for Web Design & Digital Marketing Agency
"They understand business, they understand marketing, and they just know how to execute things effectively."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
I run a web design agency, and also offer consulting to other agency owners.
For what projects/services did your company hire Elk Creative, and what were your goals?
After having worked with a large number of different branding agencies and freelancers, and even having my own team in house for a while, I've never really encountered anyone who "got it" and would deliver the outcomes I really wanted to see. Corey from Elk Creative had a great portfolio, and we'd encountered each other in online circles a few times, so when I had a request for a branding project, I referred it on.
They absolutely smashed it out of the park, and since then Elk Creative have been the ONLY agency I feel comfortable recommending. I've recommended Elk Creative numerous times, and worked with them directly on 3 projects so far. Those projects include my personal brand, and two client projects where the branding was going to be heavily intertwined with the work I was doing.
How did you select this vendor?
In my every day life I meet a lot of different agency owners. Corey from Elk Creative is one that I've always clicked with well, and says very smart things. His portfolio is super impressive too, which led me to make the initial contact about working together.
Describe the scope of their work in detail, including any steps and the final deliverables.
For my personal brand, Corey interviewed me as a discovery session, presented a core concept which was far and away above what I've seen from others, and then refined the concept and presented me with the final brand guide. For client projects, it's worked similarly - an initial discovery, presentation of a concept, refinement as needed, and then preparation of a final brand guide. Everything has been very professionally done and the brand guides have been flawless in allowing my agency to do our job.
How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?
I worked with Corey directly, who is the owner and lead designer.
Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
My updated personal brand has gotten amazing feedback from clients, and it has led to picking up a few more clients at a higher level than what I'd been working with previously. For client work that had been handled, the branding work directly correlates to the return made with the updated websites and marketing strategies. We've had clients improve their conversion rates by over 350% and scale their businesses significantly.
Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.
We communicated weekly as milestones were being met.
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
Honestly, it sounds ridiculous to need to say this, but many designers just aren't that good - big promises, small delivery. Corey and Elk really seem to understand what they're doing, and know MORE than just design. They understand business, they understand marketing, and they just know how to execute things effectively.
Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?
I don't really have any ideas on how they could improve.
Thanks to Elk Creative’s work, traffic on the client’s website has increased, as have inquiries coming through the site. They’re responsive through email and Facebook Messenger. Their attentiveness and openness to feedback have yielded positive results, encouraging an ongoing partnership.