An embedded creative partner, not just a design service.
Ongoing creative support for arts, cultural and public organisations needing consistent, high-quality design without the overhead of an in-house team.
From exhibition graphics and campaign rollouts to venue signage and education materials — we operate as an extension of your organisation, embedded alongside your internal teams.
Flexible monthly retainers.
Pause or scale as needed.
Built for cultural workflows.
How it works
Engage a retainer
Engage Novel as your ongoing creative partner across campaigns, exhibitions and organisational communications.
Submit requests as needed
From festival assets and donor reports to wayfinding updates and education kits — we manage one priority stream at a time.
Receive work aligned to program timelines
Most design requests are delivered within 2–3 business days depending on scale and complexity.
Need ongoing creative support?
Book a 15-minute intro call to discuss upcoming exhibitions, programs or campaigns.
We’ll recommend the most suitable partnership model based on your annual creative workload.
Ongoing creative support for cultural organisations delivering exhibitions, programs and campaigns across the year. Designed for institutions who need a consistent design partner embedded alongside internal teams — without the overhead of an in-house hire.
Expanded creative capacity for organisations delivering concurrent campaigns and multi-site programming. Ideal for festivals, precincts and institutions delivering multiple initiatives across overlapping timelines.
The partnership benefits.
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Fast turnarounds
Responsive design delivery aligned to campaign and exhibition timelines.
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Fixed monthly investment
Predictable budgeting with no surprise costs or scope creep.
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Institutional quality
Senior cultural designers embedded within your organisation.
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Flexible and scalable
Increase, pause or adjust support as your program calendar evolves.
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Distinctly yours
Every output is custom designed within your brand and curatorial context.
What we support.
An embedded studio across your organisation’s creative outputs.
We regularly support partners across:
Exhibition identities & wall graphics
Wayfinding & signage systems
Festival campaign rollouts
Venue branding & environmental graphics
Public program & education kits
If it sits within your organisation’s brand ecosystem — we can support it.
Seasonal marketing campaigns
Sponsorship & donor communications
Annual & impact reports
Digital promotions & social campaigns
Internal presentations & stakeholder documents
Why not hire in-house?
Hiring a senior designer now exceeds $100K+ annually before overheads, onboarding and workload fluctuation. Many cultural organisations experience cyclical design demand — peak exhibition and festival periods followed by quieter operational phases.
Our retainer model allows you to:
Access senior design capability
Scale support to programming cycles
Avoid underutilised staffing costs
Maintain visual consistency year-round
You’re only investing when work is active.
FAQs.
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Requests are unlimited but managed in a structured queue to ensure quality and delivery consistency.
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Most standard requests are delivered within 2–3 business days. Larger exhibition or campaign work is scheduled accordingly.
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Anything from a campaign suite to signage updates, donor reports or digital promotions.
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Your work is handled by Novel’s senior design team — specialists in arts, culture and public sector communications.
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Yes. Retainers can be paused during off-season periods and resumed when programming ramps up.
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Major exhibition identities or full festival campaigns can either run through the retainer over time or be scoped as standalone projects.
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Brand strategy, placemaking and major campaign development sit outside retainers but can be layered alongside them.