Web design and development

Web design and development in Melbourne for business critical websites

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We are an independent digital agency in Melbourne, working with established organisations on the websites their reputation and revenue depend on. Strategy, UX, design, content, and development, delivered by one senior team from first workshop to launch.

Who this is for

Built for teams carrying a website that has to do real work

Most clients come to us with a site that has outgrown its structure. Content takes too long to publish, the design no longer reflects the organisation, and the analytics say the same thing the team already suspects.

Established organisations

Schools, universities, government bodies, member associations, and national brands, where the website carries reputation as well as traffic.

In-house marketing and digital teams

Marketing leads who want one accountable partner across strategy, UX, build, and stakeholder management, rather than coordinating four suppliers.

Complex rebuilds and migrations

Replatforming, CMS migration, and staged redevelopment on sites with years of content, rankings, and integrations to protect.

Teams building a shortlist

If you are gathering three agencies for a board, procurement, or executive review, ask us for the capability document, references, and indicative pricing. We can send them the same day.

Organisations we build for

VCASS, ANZSOG, Coopers, Westbourne Grammar, Monash, AGL, and Driscoll's, among others. Different sectors, one shared requirement: the website has to hold up under scrutiny.
Common starting points

The problems that usually bring people to us

Very few briefs arrive as “we want a new website”. They arrive as a specific frustration that has been building for a year or two. These are the five we hear most often, and each one changes how we scope the work. If yours sits somewhere between them, a short discovery call is usually the fastest way to find out.

  1. 01

    The site no longer represents the organisation

    The brand has matured, the offering has expanded, and the website is still describing the organisation you were five years ago. New audiences judge you on it before anyone speaks to you.

  2. 02

    Publishing anything takes too long

    Every content change goes through a developer. The CMS was built for the launch site, not for the team who has to run it every week, so simple updates sit in a queue.

  3. 03

    Traffic arrives and nothing happens

    Sessions look healthy, enquiries do not. Usually the journeys are unclear, the calls to action compete with each other, and the pages that carry commercial weight are the least considered on the site.

  4. 04

    Accessibility and compliance exposure

    WCAG 2.2 obligations, procurement requirements, and internal risk reviews are catching sites that were built before accessibility was part of the brief. We design and build to meet AA as standard.

  5. 05

    The platform has reached its ceiling

    Performance is slow, integrations are brittle, and the roadmap keeps hitting the limits of the current build. This is the point where replatforming costs less than patching.

Design and conversion

Designed to earn trust quickly, then keep working

People decide whether to take an organisation seriously in the first few seconds on the page. Design carries that judgement, so we treat craft as a commercial requirement rather than a finishing layer.

The same thinking runs through every journey on the site. We map how each audience arrives, what they need to confirm, and what stands between them and the action you want them to take. Then we design the pages that carry that decision, test them, and refine after launch based on what real users do. Our UX and UI team works alongside the developers from the first sprint, so nothing gets lost between design and build.

What we deliver

What a web design and development project includes

Every engagement is scoped to the organisation, though most projects draw on the same six disciplines. You work with the senior people who scoped the job, not a handover team.

  1. 01

    Discovery, research, and digital strategy

    Stakeholder workshops, user research, analytics and search audits, competitor review, and a site structure everyone has signed off before design begins.

  2. 02

    UX architecture and interface design

    Sitemaps, user flows, wireframes, and full interface design in Figma, with an accessible component library your team can extend later.

  3. 03

    Content strategy and copywriting

    Content models, page templates, migration planning, and copy written for both readers and search. We can write it, or shape and edit what your team produces.

  4. 04

    Full stack development

    Custom front end builds, API and CRM integrations, headless architecture where it earns its place, and performance budgets set before a line of code is written.

  5. 05

    CMS build, training, and documentation

    A content model your team can actually use, built in WordPress, Webflow, or Storyblok, with training sessions and written documentation handed over at launch.

  6. 06

    SEO migration, analytics, and reporting

    Redirect mapping, technical SEO, structured data, and analytics configured before go live, so you can prove what the investment returned.

How we work

A process built to remove surprises

Business critical rebuilds fail on governance more often than on craft. Our process is designed so you always know what is happening this week, who decides what, and what lands next.

  1. 01

    Discovery and stakeholder alignment

    Workshops with the people who own the outcome, plus interviews with the people who use the site. We finish with agreed objectives, audiences, measures of success, and a decision-making structure.

  2. 02

    Strategy, content, and search planning

    Site structure, content model, and SEO plan developed together, so the new architecture protects existing rankings instead of gambling with them.

  3. 03

    Accessible experience and interface design

    Wireframes first, then design of the key templates, reviewed in structured rounds with clear feedback windows. Accessibility is tested as we design, not audited at the end.

  4. 04

    Build, CMS, and quality assurance

    Development in sprints with fortnightly demonstrations, followed by cross browser, device, performance, and accessibility testing, and a user acceptance period for your team.

  5. 05

    Launch and post-launch optimisation

    A rehearsed launch with redirects mapped and monitored, then a support period where we watch the data and refine the pages that matter commercially.

Storyblok development Melbourne
Education and the arts

VCASS

The results
42 % Metric to confirm
68 % Metric to confirm
3 x Metric to confirm
The challenge

The Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School is Australia's leading specialist government school for young artists, musicians, dancers, and performers. Its website did not reflect that standing, and it made the school hard to navigate for prospective students, families, and staff.

What we did

We reimagined the school's digital presence end to end: a refined visual identity, a new user experience strategy, and a headless architecture built for performance and long-term flexibility. The project won the 2026 McFarlane Prize for Site of the Year, Best in Show for User Experience, and Best Headless Website at the Australian Web Awards.

Storyblok development Melbourne
Government and public sector View the full case study

ANZSOG

The results
42 % Metric to confirm
68 % Metric to confirm
3 x Metric to confirm
The challenge

The Australia and New Zealand School of Government serves academics, public servants, and government partners across two countries, with a large publishing operation and strict accessibility obligations.

What we did

We built an enterprise grade platform with a content model the internal team runs without developer support, accessible to WCAG AA, and structured so research, programs, and news each have room to grow.

Coopers | eCommerce Web Development
Consumer brand and manufacturing

Coopers

The results
42 % Metric to confirm
68 % Metric to confirm
3 x Metric to confirm
The challenge

Australia's largest independent brewery needed a digital experience with the same character as the brand, while serving trade, retail, and consumer audiences from one platform.

What we did

We created a distinctive brand experience online, backed by a flexible build that lets the marketing team run campaigns, product launches, and seasonal content without returning to us for every change.

Education

Westbourne Grammar

The results
42 % Metric to confirm
68 % Metric to confirm
3 x Metric to confirm
The challenge

Independent school enrolment is a considered decision made across months, by families comparing a shortlist. The site had to carry the school's character and answer practical questions at the same time.

What we did

We rebuilt the enrolment journey around how families actually decide, with clearer pathways by year level, stronger storytelling, and a CMS the communications team can update in minutes during open day season.

Web_Design_Driscolls
Global consumer brand View the full case study

Driscoll's

The results
42 % Metric to confirm
68 % Metric to confirm
3 x Metric to confirm
The challenge

The world's largest berry brand wanted a digital experience as considered as the product, working across markets and audiences without losing warmth.

What we did

We brought the "Sharing Berry Joy" platform to life online. The work was named Best in Show at the 2025 w3 Awards.

How our clients feel

"This has been a genuinely wonderful experience from beginning to launch. Throughout the project, we always felt that we were working with a talented team that cared deeply about telling the TQS story. That combination of expertise, professionalism, and partnership made all the difference."

Alex Brosowsky, Principal, The Quaker School at Horsham

Award winning websites, judged on more than how they look

The Australian Web Awards judge across strategy, accessibility, content, user experience, development, and search. Our work has also been recognised by the w3 Awards, CSS Design Awards, and the Better Future Australian Design Awards.
Australian Web Awards 2026 · McFarlane Prize for Site of the Year VCASS
Australian Web Awards 2026 · Best in Show, User Experience VCASS
Australian Web Awards 2026 · Best Headless Website VCASS
w3 Awards 2025 · Best in Show Driscoll's
Built to last

A platform that still fits in three years

A rebuild should solve more than today’s design problem. The build we hand over decides how easily your team publishes, how quickly you can launch a campaign, and how much a future integration costs.

So we design the content model before the pages, keep components flexible enough for work nobody has briefed yet, and choose the platform on your roadmap rather than our preference. You own the code, the licences, and the documentation. If you want to take maintenance in-house or move it elsewhere later, nothing about the build stops you. See how we approach website redevelopment and CMS development.

Platforms and technology we build on

WordPress, Webflow, Storyblok, Shopify, and headless architecture. We recommend the platform that suits your team and your roadmap, then hand it over with training and documentation so you are never locked in.
FAQ's

Web design and development FAQs

Most of our website projects sit between $60,000 and $250,000, and the range is wide because the work is. A focused redesign on an existing platform costs a fraction of a full replatform with content migration, integrations, and a multi-audience information architecture. We scope from your requirements rather than a package, and every proposal breaks cost down by phase so you can see what each part buys. If you need an indicative figure for a budget submission before we have scoped anything, ask and we will give you a range with the assumptions attached.

A straightforward site runs eight to twelve weeks. A larger organisational website, with research, content migration, integrations, and multiple approval layers, typically runs four to seven months. The single biggest variable is content and internal sign-off, not development, which is why we set decision owners and review windows during discovery.

Yes, and it is planned from the start rather than checked at the end. Before design begins we audit current rankings, traffic, and backlinks, then build the new site structure to preserve the equity you already have. Redirects are mapped page by page, technical SEO and structured data are built in, and we monitor rankings and crawl errors daily through the first weeks after launch. Read more about our approach to website redevelopment.

It depends on who maintains the site and what you need it to do. WordPress suits large content operations with many editors and complex permissions. Webflow works well for marketing teams who want speed and design control without a developer. Storyblok and other headless options make sense when content feeds several channels or the front end needs to be fast and independent. We recommend based on your team and roadmap, then build a content model they can actually use. More on CMS development.

Yes. Strategists, UX and UI designers, copywriters, full stack developers, and digital marketers all sit in the one Melbourne studio, and we have worked this way since 2003. You get one team and one point of accountability instead of managing a design agency, a development agency, and a content supplier who each blame the other when a deadline moves.

We build transactional sites on Shopify, WooCommerce, and custom stacks, including catalogue structure, payment and shipping integration, and the analytics needed to see where carts fail. See ecommerce development for how we approach it.

Regularly. Much of our work is with schools, universities, government bodies, and member organisations where a website touches marketing, communications, IT, and executive teams at once. We are comfortable with tender documents, security and accessibility requirements, staged approvals, and presenting to a board. During discovery we agree who decides what, which prevents the late-stage reopening of settled decisions that derails most rebuilds.

Ask to see three projects in your sector and the results they produced, not just the visuals. Ask who will actually do the work and whether you will meet them again after the pitch. Ask how they handle SEO migration, accessibility, and content, since those are where budgets quietly blow out. Ask what happens after launch, and what it costs. An agency that answers those clearly is telling you how the project will run.

Related services

Services that pair with web design and development

Website work rarely arrives on its own. These are the services clients most often combine with a design and development project. If you would rather talk it through, book a discovery call and we will tell you what the project actually needs.
Explore all services

Website redevelopment

Rebuilding an established site without losing the rankings, content, or integrations it already carries.

CMS development

WordPress, Webflow, Storyblok, and headless builds, with content models designed around the team who maintains them.

UX and UI design

Research, journey mapping, and interface design that makes complex organisations easy to navigate and act on.

Ecommerce development

Shopify, WooCommerce, and custom transactional builds, measured on revenue rather than visuals.

Digital strategy

Audits, research, and roadmaps that decide what to build and in what order, before anyone opens Figma.

SEO and content

Technical SEO, content strategy, and copywriting that keep the site earning attention long after launch.

Let’s talk

Planning a new website? Let’s talk.

Tell us about your project, and we’ll come back with clear next steps and scope.

Talk to us about your website goalsOr call 1300 66 99 58