Desire Studio elevated the Summit brand to rise above Wollongong’s premium property market.
Summit by Level 33 is a Wollongong icon. The collection of residences and penthouses offers sweeping mountain and ocean views, Wollongong’s highest pool and a plethora of sophisticated amenities.
Our design team was engaged to evolve the Summit brand identity. The goal? Resonate with those seeking elegant living in a walkable Wollongong community. Canela, Graphic Designer at Desire Studio, explored the intent, challenges and AI collaboration along the creative journey.
This project focused on elevating the Summit direction, rather than creating one from scratch. How did this impact your approach?
Our approach for Summit was shaped by a strong, insightful brief that clearly outlined the key messages, target audience, highlights, and overall project vision. Rather than starting from zero, we began by analysing what elements of the existing brand no longer aligned with the broader strategy. This helped us identify what needed to evolve. From there, we focused on refining and elevating the visual identity to better reflect the brand’s message and positioning.
How did AI play a role in refining the brand?
We embrace AI in our workflow as a tool to elevate the creative process and produce more bespoke and customised work. AI worked as a tool to enhance and refine the art direction proposed in the visual direction moodboard. Once we defined the type of imagery for the brand campaign, we worked on creating precise prompts that reflect what we were looking for. We then described those images with key words in terms of medium. For example, photography key words included: angles, environment, lighting, composition, character, mood and colours.
What were some of the key learnings, unexpected challenges or standout wins that came from working this way?
One of the key learnings was how to iterate on visual concepts more efficiently, which led to faster turnaround times and more refined creative outputs. By using AI tools like Midjourney and Firefly, we were able to move beyond generic stock imagery and generate bespoke visuals tailored specifically to Summit’s brand narrative and use cases.
We also expanded our skills in bringing static visuals to life through motion, creating animated assets for channels like social media.
An unexpected challenge was learning to craft more precise prompts, fine-tuning keywords was essential to achieving the right visual direction.
This process reinforced the idea that AI is not a replacement for human creativity, but a powerful tool to augment it. Art direction still requires human intuition, strategy, and critical thinking to guide the outcomes.
What aspects of the original brand identity did you feel were important to preserve and what needed to evolve?
We felt it was important to preserve the connection to nature in the imagery, reflecting the development’s unique setting, and to maintain the visual duality that captured the contrast between coast and mountain, calmness and energy. This tension was a strong foundation we wanted to build on.
What needed to evolve was the brand’s tone. We aimed to shift it from a purely aspirational feel to a more contemporary, premium expression. The colour palette was refined to draw more directly from coastal and mountain-inspired tones, and the overall visual language was elevated to better reflect the concept of height, openness, and the 360° views offered by the tallest towers in Wollongong.
How has the response been — from both within the team and externally — since launching the refreshed Summit brand?
The response has been overwhelmingly positive, both within our design and media team, and externally from the client and their audience. Key elements such as the editorial art direction, the flexible logo system, and the cohesive communication across print and digital channels contributed to a strong reception. These choices helped differentiate Summit from other development brands and reinforced its unique positioning in the market.
Can you tell us about the initial design intent behind Summit and how that compares with the final results?
One of the early design directions for Summit featured a bespoke, stacked sans-serif logo with subtle wave-like forms in the letter “M” – a visual nod to both Mount Kembla and the nearby ocean.
The art direction included editorial-style outdoor photography, often captured during golden hour, with a model gazing toward the horizon. Her silhouette subtly echoed the shape of a mountain peak, reinforcing the idea of reaching the summit. This was complemented by light fabric textures that introduced a sense of movement and elegance. Print materials featured soft metallic foils, adding a refined, tactile quality to reflect the brand’s premium positioning.
In comparison, the final brand direction evolved into something visually bolder and more confident. The colour palette became stronger, dominated by rich blues and accented with complementary orange tones, aligning more directly with the campaign message, ‘Coastal serenity, urban energy, welcome to the top.’ While the core concept remained, the final result delivered a more energetic and striking visual identity, better suited to the project’s ambition and scale.
This project saw us align art direction, brand strategy and copywriting to create a distinct brand identity.
Canela reflected on the achievement, saying, “We’re proud of how the final outcome is expressed consistently across all touchpoints, from the social media campaign and website to printed assets like the editorial-style brochure and hoarding. It’s a great example of how thoughtful design, when aligned with a clear strategic vision, can truly elevate a brand.”
Now that Summit is out in the world, we invite you to explore the results for yourself.