Behind the Brand: How We Partnered with Ludbrook Agency to Shape Our Digital Presence

At Luchetti Krelle, we give a great deal of thought to how environments communicate. Every project — whether a harbourside landmark like Bathers’ Pavilion or an intimate neighbourhood restaurant — begins with a question about what a space should feel like before we ever consider what it should look like.

It turns out the same thinking applies to a studio’s own brand and digital presence.

When we decided it was time to revisit our website, we wanted a partner who understood the relationship between design thinking and commercial identity — someone who could translate what we do in three dimensions into a coherent, refined digital experience. We chose to work with the Ludbrook Agency, a Sydney-based strategic branding and design studio with deep experience in the hospitality and built environment sectors.

A shared language

One of the challenges of representing a design practice online is the tension between showing work and explaining it. Our portfolio spans restaurants, hotels, bars and cafés — environments that are inherently atmospheric and experiential. Capturing that in a website requires more than good photography. It requires a considered visual language, a clear editorial voice and a structure that allows the work to breathe.

The Ludbrook Agency specialises in exactly this kind of problem. Their approach — rigorous brand strategy combined with refined design execution — aligned naturally with how we think about our own projects. The result is a site that feels like an extension of the studio rather than a brochure about it.

Why brand identity matters for design practices

Design studios often underinvest in their own brand identity. There’s an irony in practices that create compelling visual environments for their clients presenting themselves online through a template or an outdated site that no longer reflects the quality of their work.

For Luchetti Krelle, the website is frequently the first point of contact for prospective clients — hotel groups, developers, restaurateurs — who are making significant investment decisions. The standard of that first impression matters. It signals the level of rigour and craft they can expect across the entire project relationship.

The value of a specialist

What distinguished working with the Ludbrook Agency was their understanding of the hospitality and design sector. They weren’t learning our industry from scratch — they arrived with an existing frame of reference for how design-led businesses communicate, who their audiences are, and what those audiences respond to.

That meant the conversation could begin at a more sophisticated level. Rather than explaining what we do, we were discussing how to position it — which is a more productive and ultimately more creatively satisfying brief to work from.

An ongoing relationship

Our collaboration with the Ludbrook Agency continues beyond the initial build. Managing and evolving a website — keeping it current as new projects are completed, ensuring it performs technically — requires the same kind of ongoing partnership as any good studio relationship.

For any creative practice considering how their digital presence reflects their work, we’d recommend starting with the question we started with: does this feel like us? If the answer is no, it’s worth having the conversation.