Discover How Version Design Is Helping Local Businesses Take Off

Since graduating from UniSA with a Bachelor of Visual Communications, Michael Roxas has helped to create brands for hundreds of companies and campaigns. And the co-owner of Version Design says that some basic principles apply to every business in the marketplace.

Whether you’re launching satellites, fostering the next generation of creatives or organising pop-up sushi dinners, you need a brand that tells your story effectively. “Even before you start approaching people and promoting your services,” he says, “it's important to have your brand and your digital presence fully figured out.”

That’s because your branding is responsible for the first impression you make on consumers and collaborators alike. “It sends out a message to your client that you are serious about doing business and that you're organised enough to look after your brand. And if your brand is not up to scratch compared to your competitors, who do you think they will approach first?”

More than simply creating something aesthetically pleasing, Version tries to tap into a business’ narrative to tell a story unique to them. Roxas uses his background in illustration and graphic design to look after most of the front end design including branding, marketing and promotions, while his business partner Simon Perrin is in charge of the digital elements.

The pair first collaborated when they founded Duografik in 2011, and the years since then have placed them at the heart of an industry undergoing dramatic changes. “In the beginning we did a lot of websites as well as big print runs of brochures and catalogues,” Roxas recalls. “But the printing budget has really declined. Nowadays it's just website and branding,” with a few notable exceptions like the colouring books they created that sold more than 50,000 copies around the state.

Add in the emergence of social media, smartphones and new platforms, and the ability to adapt to a rapidly changing business environment has been key to Version’s success. “We can service anyone that needs design, from startups and small businesses to government departments and large companies,” says Roxas. It means that Version’s design work is regularly seen overseas through businesses like MicroX, which manufactures and exports miniature x-rays from a base in Tonsley, though the company reached new heights when they worked with one client recently.

“My business partner designed a logo for Inovor, which is a company based at Lot Fourteen,” Roxas says proudly. “That’s now on a little satellite that’s floating up in space at the moment, which is pretty cool.”