We build brands that look as good as they perform. Every detail is intentional. No shortcuts. No excess. Just strategy, design, and execution.
The Duck's Guts is the work of Vaughan Cornell, a brand designer based in Collingwood, Melbourne. The studio runs as a boutique practice — tight by design, with a trusted network of developers, 3D artists, photographers, and other creative specialists brought in when the project calls for it.
Most clients arrive at one of two places. Either they've built something genuinely good and know the brand isn't doing it justice, or something isn't working and they haven't yet identified why. Either way, the process starts in the same place: understanding the business, the audience, and the gap between them.
The work across different clients spans different sectors and styles. The approach stays consistent: rigorous strategy, deliberate design, clean execution.
WORK WITH US
Process
[01] STRATEGY
Before anything is designed, we need to understand the business. What's the gap between how you're perceived and how you should be? Who are you actually talking to, and what do they need to hear? Strategy is the work that answers those questions. It sets the direction for everything that follows. Most clients find this phase surfaces things they knew but hadn't yet articulated, and a few things they hadn't considered at all.
[02] DESIGN
With strategy as the brief, design becomes deliberate rather than decorative. Every visual decision: colour, type, layout, hierarchy, is made to communicate something specific. The result is an identity and visual system that looks right because it is right. It also scales, built to grow with your business rather than be rebuilt every time it does.
[03] PRODUCTION
Design that exists only in a file isn't a brand. Production is where strategy and identity become real: print-ready assets, packaging files, custom website builds and digital collateral that rolls out consistently across every touchpoint. Built to be managed by your team without needing us every time.
Capabilities
Art Direction
creative direction
Branding
3D design & Animation
Digital Design
photography
Development
Image Retouching
copywriting
Packaging
illustration
Graphic design