How a community conservation group went from holding page to a fully branded, professional website — in two weeks.
Overview
Kholo Creek Catchment Group (KCCG) is a community-led conservation group doing genuinely important work — protecting threatened species and restoring habitat in south-east Queensland. They came to this project off the back of a beautiful collaboration: a landholders’ guide for the Collared Delma, a small, threatened legless lizard whose habitat falls largely on private land.
The booklet was the starting point for our relationship. I’d designed it alongside content expert Deborah Metters for a collaborative project spanning Lockyer Uplands Catchments Inc., Pullen Pullen Catchments Group, and KCCG — and the team was delighted with the result. So when they needed to get the key information from that booklet onto their website, they came back.
The problem? Their website was a holding page. Filler text. No real content, no design direction, no way to communicate the depth of their work or rally their community to get involved.
They needed more than a content upload. They needed a site that looked as credible as the work they were doing, and they needed it built against a tight project grant deadline with two weeks on the clock. Limited budget. A lot riding on it.
Project Goals
KCCG came to me specifically because I already understood the project, the content, and the care they bring to their work. They needed a designer who could translate all of that into a cohesive online presence — fast.
But before we could build the website, we needed to establish the foundations. KCCG had a logo, but no colour palette, no typography system, no layout language. Nothing to build from with consistency. So the scope expanded — in the best way — to include a mini branding suite alongside the full website design and development.
The brief: create a digital presence that gave KCCG the perception they were after — community-led, collaborative, action-oriented, credible, and competent — that was easy for their team to update, and could grow as their funding allowed. Two weeks to deliver it.
the outcome
The first thing I did was set a clear project timeline. With a funding deadline of 30 March and two weeks from sign-off to delivery, there was no room for drift — so I mapped out every milestone upfront, confirmed Deborah could deliver content by her date, and established a structured feedback loop with project coordinator Liz from the start.
We tackled the brand before anything else. Starting from their existing logo, I developed a colour palette, typography system, and layout style that gave KCCG a cohesive visual identity — professional enough to hold up alongside government and publishing-sector partners, warm enough to reflect the grassroots community they actually are. The aim: look and feel as community-led, collaborative, action-oriented, credible, and competent as they genuinely are.
With the brand locked, the website design followed naturally. I built the new site on a private staging environment so their old landing page stayed live throughout — no downtime, no awkward ‘under construction’ moments. The final site was migrated to their domain only once it was fully approved.
Because budget was a real constraint, I suggested we handle the Collared Delma content as blog posts rather than bespoke pages. It was a practical call that also gave the team something genuinely useful: a repeatable template they could fill in themselves, any time, without needing a designer in the room.
One recommendation I pushed for: a dedicated ‘Get Involved’ page. A conservation group’s website shouldn’t just inform — it should activate. Visitors needed a clear next step. Join as a member. Come to a planting day. Download the free resources. Subscribe to the newsletter. That page made the whole site more than a digital brochure.
The brand suite also delivered beyond the website. With the colour palette, typography, and layout rules established, I built Canva templates for flyers and social media — so the team could create their own content, consistently and confidently, without starting from scratch every time.
the transformation
KCCG now has a fully custom, SEO-optimised, mobile-responsive website that genuinely stands apart from what most community groups are working with. It’s robust, beautifully designed, and built to be easy to update — which matters enormously for a volunteer-led team with limited resources and a lot to say.
The Collared Delma content is live and findable. The guide that took years of fieldwork and community trust to produce now has a permanent digital home — one that’s easy to navigate and built to reach the landholders and conservationists who need it most.
The ‘Get Involved’ page gives their community a clear way to take action: attend events, join as members, access resources, stay connected. The site doesn’t just tell the KCCG story — it invites people in.
And beyond the website? The Canva flyer and social media templates mean their events look the part. Their comms feel consistent. Their audience can read the information clearly and act on it quickly.
The whole project — brand suite and website — was delivered on time and within budget. No small thing when you’re working against a grant deadline.
in their own words
“Wanted to just say thank you for working with me on this website. You are a fast and efficient creative designer and the end product is outstanding. KCCG is lucky to have such a great website.”
— Deborah Metters, Project Collaborator
your work deserves to be seen
Your organisation is doing work that matters. Your brand should reflect that — clearly, credibly, and in a way that brings more people into the fold. Whether you’re starting from scratch or finally giving your visual presence the attention it deserves, let’s build something your community can rally behind.
