Inklab

Give us the elevator pitch on what you do.

Inklab is a creative agency bringing brands and people together. We are a team of creatives, designers, and developers who produce work for clients of all sizes across a range of industries. Our key areas of focus are brand strategy and digital creation. We work with like-minded clients who value the importance of creative, the impact it has on their business and who are a pleasure to work with.

The key to our success is passion. We all enjoy the process of design and creative pursuits. We thrive when we’re working together and combining our talents towards a common goal; be that a brand, a website or bespoke illustration project.

Being a team of sports fanatics by nature, we’re a competitive bunch. We’re always challenging ourselves to produce better work, making each project bigger, more adventurous and more successful than the last. The creative industry is super competitive, so we’re not just up against other businesses, we’re challenging each other to bring out the best in ourselves and the work we create for clients.

Yep, we’re those cliché designers with a table tennis table in the office. We do, however take this very seriously— with an in-house league, detailed scoring, statistics and fragile friendships when we step into the room we’ve nicknamed ‘The Terror-dome’.

What qualities and skills do you look for in a graduate?

Honestly, we’re pretty open to talent in whatever shape that takes—and we love working with great people. First and foremost; you’ve gotta have passion and a design eye. Skills can be taught, but you have to bring the fire to the table; Secondly, attitude. We look for someone who’s pushing themselves personally;  Whether that’s as part of another creative team, or as a side hustle after hours working on self-initiated projects. We respect the self motivated, and love to help nurture good talent for those who are willing to learn. Early on, design’s tough, you’ve gotta put yourself out there, get experience, work with other talented people and refine your own talents.

What role does digital design play in your studio in 2016, and how to you apply traditional graphic design skills in a digital age?

Our agency is built on digital, almost every project we deliver has a digital component. We’re all grounded in traditional graphic design principles which has helped to shape our direction as our focus has shifted over the years to becoming a predominantly digital studio.

The lines are blurring more and more each day between ‘traditional graphic design’ and digital. The concept of brand strategy has changed drastically as the immediacy of digital has created new demands and expectations for brands to communicate more efficiently and effectively. It’s been fun to be part of the design industry as it’s progressively shifted focus away from a fairly limited print environment to a world of possibilities with digital outputs such as interface design and user experience.

Digital practices have allowed us to automate our workflow and service delivery, reducing our administrative burdens and allowing more time for creative and problem solving. We consider ourselves lucky to be running our agency at a time when there’s a digital tool for almost everything you can think of, from internal and external communication, sharing, markup, changes and alterations, and if there’s not, we can make one!

What have been some of your highlights since you started out?

There’s plenty of different highlights and for different reasons. I’d have to say a highlight is creating your own business that you can wake up and head to excited every morning.

No business is the same (and every day throws its challenges) but it’s rewarding creating a culture where you and your team can enjoy each day, push each other in work, play and everything in between.

We’ve always had a huge passion for sports, some of our creative highlights would be creating work we’re proud of with well respected sports brands like the Canberra Raiders, Trek Bicycles & Gold’s Gym.

In 2014 we were shortlisted for best identity for Parlour Bar and Restaurant at the ‘Eat Drink Design Awards’. At the Page Awards, we were shortlisted for six projects including two winning entries. Winner ‘Best Brand’ — Parlour Wine Room and Winner ‘Innovation Excellence’ — Roundhouse Hotels.