Frontline Design - clear, creative communication design
The little studio that can
Frontline are a small multi-disciplined team that creates memorable communication design for all sorts of applications.
We specialise in identity, print, interactive and information design, with more than 15 years of experience helping our clients connect with their audience. A passion for design, care for our clients, and respect for audiences and where we live inspire us, making for results that engage, inform and achieve.
Our studio in southern Melbourne is located close to our first clients, and produces work that communicates all around the globe.
Multi-disciplinary design that works
We offer solutions in the following project areas:
Identity:
An identity is the visual core of any organisation, communicating the essence of what makes you different. In order to express it, we first discover what makes you special, then translate it into distinctive visual form.
Information Design:
Clear, concise communication is essential in a busy world. We make information easier to understand by improving usability and visual recognition through the deliberate application of text, graphics and illustrations.
Digital Media:
Digital media can give a content rich experience to the user.
To do so effectively requires planning and sensitivity to audience preferences.
We carefully design and order content to engage and inform your audience.
Print:
Consistent, professional print design communicates clearly, quickly and memorably. By understanding your needs, we craft material that connects with the audience, ensuring your message is received, understood and remembered.
Packaging:
Packaging performs many roles, including: transport, protection, identification, assisting purchase decisions, and finally as waste. Informed consideration of these roles has an immediate impact on product success.
Design pays off
There's more information in our lives than ever before. Competition for hearts, minds and hard earned cash is fierce - we are constantly being sold to. The response is to subconsciously filter out the noise, and tune in to more relevant and engaging products and services.
In order to be heard, organisations must relate to their audience, communicating with them on a rational and emotional level that's distinctive and relevant.
That's how design works. It supports the strategic objectives of an organisation by meeting the functional needs and aspirations of customers. By applying expertise in ideas, form, colour, type and imagery, designers control the relationship between function and emotion. This adds value and increases performance through improved usability, aesthetics and customer experience.
Good design creates a healthier living environment, improves people's lives and enhances business performance.
Businesses get most payback from adding value when they use a designer to do so. Those that do are twice as likely to see an impact on turnover and market share.
A proven strategic design process is at the heart of every successful outcome.
It allows for exploration to find the best solutions, at a time when they can be turned into something truly remarkable. The solutions will always be different, but the process remains the same, and involves 3 key stages:
Discovery:
The critical first step, where we carefully listen and learn about your project, your audience and your aims. We collaborate on a written brief, establishing project guidelines and estimates, with further research revealing opportunities that form the basis for design solutions.
Articulation:
The creative second stage. Ideas and solutions are first outlined in a design proposal, including production schedule and responsibilities. The proposal is the basis for visual design concepts, which are refined after feedback and testing to form a complete solution.
Implementation:
This is where the creative solution is transformed into its final state. All content such as copy, photography and illustration is finallised and combined into reproducible format. Final proofs are provided for approval, and reproduction is managed to ensure the highest quality result.
The frontline multi-disciplinary team of graphic designers, multimedia designers, strategic writers, photographers, and web development experts
Designers are people too
David L'Huillier:
The studio elf with a knack for resourcefullness, David manages studio projects, oversees creative input, and is well versed in graphic design, art direction, finished art, and database design. He eats muesli for breakfast at his desk, and his helpful demeanour shouldn't be taken advantage of.
Maria Bates:
The fastest at answering the phone, and a giggle that resonates around the studio, Maria holds a Masters of Design, and has diverse experience in graphic design, environmental design and interactive media. She currently teaches pre-press skills, and can talk for hours about 20th century furniture.
Peter Kneebone:
Studio DJ with a taste for strong coffee and gourmet dim sims, Peter has a Bachelor of Design and specialises in designing for identity, digital media, packaging, advertising and exhibitions. His passion for producing music and strategic thinking might make for an interesting song one day.
Steven Prior:
A southpaw with a unique life perspective, Steve has finely honed 2D and 3D illustration skills, and can perform design production tasks with surgical precision. A keen interest in nature and exorcising demons by talking to himself would cause any bushwalker to run away screaming.
Partners:
Our extended team of experts provide strategic writing, photography, programming, marketing and strategy, advertising, printing, signage and fitout.
Environmentally sustainable design
"Sustainability means living on nature's income rather than its capital."
Murray Gell-Mann, Nobel Prize Winner
Sustainable practice in design is really what matters to us. Design turns ideas into reality, so design choices have a lasting impact on business, the environment and the broader community. Solutions are enhanced through respect for resources, people and our environment, creating long-term benefits for all.
There are simple steps to reduce environmental impact. We ensure the medium is right for the message, assess multi-purpose potential, reduce resource use, choose environmentally friendly materials and processes, and educate others about your initiatives.
Additionally, the electricity we use comes from 100% sustainable sources. We always reduce, re-use and recycle, and work with suppliers with high environmental accreditations.
Respect for clients, audiences and suppliers allows the building of long-term relationships - bonds that give brands loyal customers, ensure quality workmanship, and encourage the best in all of us.
Case studies
Stay tuned, as we're working on a range of results-focussed case studies that will be online soon. In the meantime, feel free to contact us if you have any specific questions.
State of Design - The Victorian Government design initiative.
UK Design Council - Lots of case studies and resources on the benefits of design.
Design Victoria - Victorian Government initiative raising design awareness and utilisation.
Better by Design - A New Zealand site explaining design benefits to business.