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    Proof
    Aussie Plumbing — ad spend scaled 1.8× with enquiries up 2.1×, so each enquiry cost lessI-ELEC — a 231-page electrician website for Inner SydneyA plumbing lead on Google Ads: A$141 median, 15 accountsSLS Solicitors — cost per recorded Google Ads conversion down 58.48%Wilco Plumbing — a drains-first website, Sydney and NewcastleHow much should a trade business spend on marketing?State Choice Plumbing — a drains, hot water and gas websiteAussie Drains — a 600-page drain website for SydneyAn electrician lead on Google Ads: A$118 median, 7 accountsAussie Electrical — a 650-page electrical website for SydneyThe most efficient ways for a trade business to get leadsEOL Melbourne — click-to-enquiry rate up from 28% to 33.4%A cleaning lead on Google Ads: A$58 median, 14 accountsAlliance Plumbing — ad spend scaled 1.8× with enquiries up 2.1×, so each enquiry cost lessImpress Blinds — cost per recorded Google Ads conversion down 62.63%FixCare Property — cost per enquiry down 56.36%Rubbish Removal WA — cost per enquiry down 53.18%Floral Cakery — cost per enquiry down 49.82%ILLUMINATE Laser Emporium — cost per enquiry down 48.54%Sydney Fence Painting — cost per enquiry down 33.68%Alliance Plumbing — cost per enquiry down 29.6%Gridless Build Solutions — cost per enquiry down 29.16%FacilityWorx — cost per enquiry down 23.62%Cornerstone Roofing — cost per enquiry down 20.47%Council finance — budgeting and workforce designCouncil planning — clearer approvals and reportingCultural audiences — media strategy and creative conceptsCommunity participation — surveys, maps and project pagesPublic-sector research — survey design and analysisPublic art — site studies and visual conceptsRegional identity — visitor guides and wayfinding conceptsCouncil systems — integration and migration planningA pressure washing business — service-led search campaignsA pressure washing business — a clear enquiry journeyA carpet cleaner — Google Ads built around cleaning servicesA roofing company — campaigns for repairs and restorationA CCTV installer — campaigns for security enquiriesA fence painter — search campaigns for specific surfacesA maintenance business — live in 8 weeks, 3 stacks gone5.0 across every Google review$120M+ in media under management250+ active engagements across five countries
    SoudCoh

    Place branding and public art Design that makes a place recognisable.

    Place branding, public-art concepts and civic publishing shaped by the setting and the people who use it. Explore ideas through real applications, with cultural consultation and production planning built into the brief.

    Brief us on your commissionSee the work

    Division 05 of five · Visitor identity · Public-art concepts · Publishing design

    Inside the commission

    Seven ways civic
    creative goes wrong.

    A useful creative brief looks beyond the presentation. These are the practical questions to resolve while the design can still change.

    • Mood boards presented as directions

      Three collages of somebody else's photography is not a choice between three brands. Until a direction has been drawn on the actual cover, the actual sign and the actual vehicle, nobody is really deciding anything.

    • Designed on a screen, installed in weather

      North-facing walls take a decade of Australian ultraviolet. Colours that sing on a calibrated monitor go chalky in eighteen months if the paint system was chosen after the artwork instead of alongside it.

    • One reading distance considered

      Civic work is read at two hundred metres from a moving car, at twenty metres from the footpath and at two metres by somebody waiting. A composition that only resolves at one of those fails at the other two.

    • Cultural protocols added at sign-off

      Bringing Traditional Owner protocols in once the concepts are finished turns a relationship into an approval queue. The right time is the first sketch, when what is heard can still change the work.

    • Four brochures telling one story four times

      Separate publications for separate towns, with different voice, different photography and different maps. The region ends up with four half-stories and a visitor with none of them.

    • No source files at handover

      A flattened PDF is not a design system. Without the working files and the fonts, the next poster gets made by whoever has a copy of Canva, and the whole thing unravels in a season.

    • No plan for year three

      Nobody budgets for the touch-up kit, the annual walk-through or the graffiti response. Then the wall is tired at year four and the answer is another commission rather than a maintenance day.

    How we design it

    The site is the brief, and the weather is the deadline.

    Civic work is judged from a moving car, from the footpath and from arm's length, in every light, for a decade. Those constraints are the design problem — they are not limits placed on it afterwards.

    • Site

      the setting comes first

      Use the building, landscape, light and surrounding information to shape the design brief.

    • Scale

      ideas in their real context

      Explore compositions on scaled elevations, guide spreads and signage layouts.

    • Light

      colour across the day

      Review how a palette may read in different lighting conditions before preparing a production brief.

    • Care

      maintenance considered early

      Plan material and maintenance requirements with qualified production specialists.

    • Guide

      a connected visitor experience

      Bring maps, local stories and practical information into a coherent publication design.

    • Files

      an editable design system

      Include usable artwork, templates and production documentation in the agreed handover.

    So the directions are drawn, not collaged.

    Develop each direction through the applications the brief requires: guide covers, signs, vehicles or campaign material. Showing the ideas at a useful scale and in context gives the review panel a clearer basis for choosing a direction.

    It is also cheaper. Almost every expensive change on a civic project comes from something nobody could see at approval stage — a colour that goes flat at dusk, a sign that cannot be fabricated, a word that should never have been on that wall.

    Creative capabilities

    Visitor identity

    Place

    A connected design system

    Guides, maps, signage and campaign applications

    Public-art concepts

    Art

    Ideas in their setting

    Scaled visualisations, light studies and production briefs

    Regional publishing

    News

    Clearer audience journeys

    Subscription pages, templates and brand applications

    Explore the design approaches and concept applications below.

    Eleven things happen on a commission. Here they are, in order.

    This is the part most studio pages keep vague, and it is the part that decides whether the work is still working in year seven. So it is written down.

    1. Read the site before the brief

      Review orientation, light, approach routes, tree shade, signage and the building’s physical features. These conditions help turn a general idea into a design for a particular place.

    2. Start cultural protocols at the first sketch

      Traditional Owner, RAP and Cultural Heritage Plan protocols apply on any project that draws on Country, from concept stage. What is heard has to be able to change the work, which means asking while the work can still change.

    3. Option-space widely before narrowing

      Explore several visual themes before narrowing the direction. Show how each idea would work in context so the choice is based on more than a mood board.

    4. Test at all three reading distances

      Use scaled context illustrations to review how a concept reads from approach routes, nearby paths and close viewing positions.

    5. Model the light before choosing the palette

      Explore the palette in different lighting conditions. Light studies help identify questions for site review and material samples.

    6. Specify the paint system with the artwork

      Develop the production brief with qualified applicators and material specialists. Substrate, exposure, installation and maintenance requirements should inform the material choice.

    7. Visualise every direction on real applications

      Show the direction on the applications in the brief: guide covers, signs, social layouts, vehicles or merchandise. Review whether the system works across them before preparing final artwork.

    8. Run creative through five reviews

      Plan concept, cultural, accessibility, production and permissions reviews. Identify the people responsible for each decision, including relevant external specialists.

    9. Design for the fabricator, not the presentation

      Signage drawn to the substrate, fixings and tolerances the local fabricator actually works in. A beautiful sign that cannot be made within budget is a mood board with a quote attached.

    10. Produce to print standard

      Prepare artwork to the printer’s agreed specifications, with bleed, trim, colour and proofing requirements checked before production.

    11. Hand over the sources and the maintenance plan

      Agree the editable files, licensed assets, templates and maintenance documentation needed for the next stage of the project.

    How an engagement runs

    From the site walk to the conservation document.

    1. Discover

      Site and story

      We walk the site, read the existing style guide, and talk to the people who will live with the result. Cultural protocols open here, not later, on any project that draws on Country.

    2. Explore

      Option space

      Explore visual themes, then develop the strongest directions into context illustrations for review.

    3. Develop

      Three full directions

      Develop the selected directions through the relevant applications, with attention to scale, legibility, light and the existing identity.

    4. Selection

      One direction, five reviews

      The chosen direction goes through concept, cultural, accessibility, production and legal review, each with a named owner, before any production artwork begins.

    5. Production

      Print, paint and fabrication

      Coordinate artwork and production briefs with the printer, applicator or fabricator. Review samples and proofs before authorising production.

    6. Handover

      Sources and conservation

      Provide the agreed editable files, templates and production documentation, with maintenance information developed alongside the relevant specialists.

    The fee is fixed against the scope before work starts, and the source files are handed over whether or not there is a next stage.

    SoudCoh Compound™

    The two levers a commission moves most.

    A commission sets what every later piece looks like and what it promises. What we hand over at the end is where the next piece starts.

    • Rung 3

      Message Match

      The number it moves: Click-to-enquiry rate

      Directions are shown on real applications, so the sign, the page and the post say the same thing.

      How Message Match works
    • Engine

      The Carry

      The number it moves: Waste blocked before the first click

      Templates, licensed assets and a maintenance plan are handed over, so the next piece starts from the system.

      How The Carry works
    See the full ladder

    Three design approaches.

    Explore visitor identity, site-responsive public-art concepts and regional publishing design. Each approach shows the applications and deliverables we can develop.

    Regional Victorian shire · Local government · Wimmera region, Victoria

    Design approach

    Concept illustration — Direction A — Wide Sky

    Concept — Direction A — Wide Sky · wheatbelt palette + Fraunces / Geist type

    1 / 10

    Visitor identity, guides and wayfinding.

    A design approach for presenting a region’s towns, attractions and visitor routes as a connected experience. We can develop a visitor identity alongside an existing corporate brand, with guide layouts, maps, signage and campaign applications.

    The design challenge

    A region presented through separate materials.

    Visitors need a clear way to understand the places, activities and routes on offer. A shared design system can connect publications, signs and digital information without removing each town’s character.

    Our approach

    Show the identity in the places people use it.

    Develop visual directions through guide covers and sample spreads, maps, signs and campaign layouts. Review the applications together before preparing production files.

    What we can deliver

    • Visitor-brand directions and design guidelines
    • Guide covers and sample publication spreads
    • Tourism maps and route information
    • Signage and wayfinding concepts
    • Fleet, social and merchandise applications
    • Editable design files and production planning

    Capital city public art commission · Cultural · Public art

    Design approach

    Concept illustration — Tidemark hero

    Concept — Tidemark — full 71m × 9m elevation with 200m / 20m / 2m reads

    1 / 7

    Public-art concepts shaped by the site.

    Our public-art design approach explores how a composition works at street scale, on the building and within its community. We can develop visual concepts and context studies, working with qualified production and cultural partners where the brief requires them.

    The design challenge

    A public setting changes how artwork is read.

    Wall shape, viewing distance, light, surrounding signage and community context all affect the design. Those conditions need to be considered while the ideas are still taking shape.

    Our approach

    Develop the idea in its real context.

    Explore themes through scaled visualisations, viewing-distance and light studies. Bring cultural consultation, material selection and maintenance requirements into the planning process with the relevant specialists.

    What we can deliver

    • Site-response and visual concept development
    • Scaled elevations and streetscape illustrations
    • Viewing-distance and light studies
    • Cultural consultation and approval planning
    • Material and production briefs for qualified specialists
    • Maintenance considerations and design documentation

    Federal innovation grant cohort · Federal · Commercial sustainability

    Design approach

    Concept illustration — Regional masthead billboards

    Concept — Regional masthead billboards across the publisher cohort

    1 / 4

    Audience and publishing tools for regional news.

    A capability approach for regional publishers that need clearer subscription journeys and more consistent audience communication. We can design reusable website patterns, brand applications and research activities around each masthead’s needs.

    The design challenge

    Limited teams managing many audience touchpoints.

    Subscription pages, email, member information and advertising material all compete for a newsroom’s time. Reusable patterns can make the experience easier to maintain and understand.

    Our approach

    Shared patterns with a distinct local identity.

    Design subscription and membership journeys alongside audience research, campaign concepts and editorial templates. Adapt the shared approach to each publisher’s voice and priorities.

    What we can deliver

    • Subscription and membership journey design
    • Website, email and social templates
    • Brand and campaign concept development
    • Audience-research planning
    • Advertising and membership communication materials
    • Workshop, evaluation and handover planning

    Before you brief a studio

    Here is what everybody asks first.

    FAQ

    Commissions, answered.

    Scope, timing, artwork ownership, design review, cultural consultation and production planning.

    The first conversation is free and there is no deck.

    Talk to this division

    The estimate depends on the applications, research, consultation and production work required. We define the design stages and deliverables, then identify specialist and production costs that need to be included.

    Timing depends on the brief, review stages, consultation and production requirements. We plan the milestones with you and identify decisions or specialist input needed before each stage can proceed.

    No. Creative work is scoped as a defined commission with defined deliverables and a fixed fee. Where a programme runs in stages — directions, then production, then rollout — each stage can be reviewed and authorised on its own. And the source files for what has been delivered are yours whether or not the next stage goes ahead.

    We agree artwork ownership, editable-file handover and any third-party licensing in the scope. Publishing work can include editable layouts and templates; public-art design can include production briefs and maintenance documentation prepared with specialists.

    That is what the option-space stage is for — breadth first, so the shortlist is a genuine choice rather than a preferred option with two decoys. If a direction is close but not right, it gets developed further rather than replaced. If all three are wrong we would rather understand why before drawing again, because that usually means the brief moved.

    A fixed rhythm at each stage, with the work shown rather than described. You see full-context visualisations at real scale rather than swatches, and the five reviews — concept, cultural, accessibility, production and legal — each have a named owner. Nothing goes to production until every review has a written outcome.

    Plan engagement with the relevant Traditional Owners and cultural advisers early in the brief. Agree who should be consulted, what permissions are needed and how their input will shape the design before it proceeds.

    Review exposure, substrate, access and likely maintenance needs with qualified production specialists. Those decisions inform the materials brief, documentation and the care arrangements needed after installation.

    A visitor identity can sit alongside the existing corporate brand. We review the current guidelines and design the new applications to work with them, unless the brief calls for a wider identity change.

    We can coordinate design files, specifications, samples and proofs with suitable printers, fabricators and installation specialists. Production responsibilities and approvals are agreed in the project scope.

    Our designers develop ideas from the brief, audience and setting, then show how they would work through context illustrations and sample applications. Research and visual tools support that exploration; people review and develop the direction.

    Yes. We can develop visual identity, packaging, outdoor advertising, environmental graphics, event and retail materials. Each brief considers the audience, setting, production requirements and how the design will be maintained.

    A commission usually starts in one division and finishes in three.

    Most engagements start in one division and pull in a second. All five divisions sit side by side on one page, if you would rather start there.

    Brief us on the commission

    Send the site, the audience and the constraints. We come back with what we would explore, what the site will and will not take, and a fixed fee against a defined scope.

    Brief us on your commissionHow Compound works

    No pitch deck. A real conversation and an honest read of the site.