Houston Group

Houston Group We are a strategic design agency working with organisations and brands that require creation, launch Over 80% of business value is intangible. They’re partners.

This is where we operate. We’re a nimble team of intuitive thinkers who truly ‘get’ the needs of our clients. In fact, we don’t consider them clients at all. We understand their business strategy as if our own. We create enduring, bespoke and effective brand solutions that deliver results. We make the intangible, tangible. We may be young, but our key partnerships go way back. Founder, Stuart O’Br

ien has led some of the country’s leading brand and creative businesses, running Moon for 12 years and then as CEO of Ogilvy Sydney for 4 years. Throughout those roles, clients have looked to Stuart for brand and design leadership, strategy and execution. The Qantas relationship goes back some 15 years, Jetstar 10 years, Lend Lease 6 years and most recently Macquarie Bank. In just over two and half years, Houston has delivered some of the country’s most exciting brand projects. But don’t let us tell you, have a look for yourself!

Last week the creative team got together and took themselves offline and offsite. Part 1: We workshopped our role in a c...
05/06/2026

Last week the creative team got together and took themselves offline and offsite.

Part 1: We workshopped our role in a changing creative industry. Where we’re heading, what we’re making and what kind of work we want to do next.

Part 2: After a few hours of big thinking, we handed the reins to Kubi at Sydney Collage Society and went back to something more tactile. Scissors, paper, glue, equestrian books 🐎. No screens. No prompts. Just making something with our hands, together.

Honestly the perfect one-two. 🧠 ✂️

Say hello to Rachel, our new Midweight Designer!We asked her five questions to introduce her properly. Swipe to see her ...
22/04/2026

Say hello to Rachel, our new Midweight Designer!

We asked her five questions to introduce her properly. Swipe to see her answers.

Welcome to the team, Rachel! 🖤

Before it was Auckland’s newest premium dining offering, the building now calls home was one of the city’s earliest mot...
02/03/2026

Before it was Auckland’s newest premium dining offering, the building now calls home was one of the city’s earliest motorhouses. A heritage industrial space of grit, craft and history, now playing host to reframed bistro classics.

Engineered to Perfection.

This duality formed the foundation for the identity we crafted for Bistro Saine – and the idea that sparked its creation.

The script logotype feels personal and handwritten, like the signature of a beloved neighbourhood bistro. The monospaced typefaces and grids echo the typewritten or hand-stamped marks of its mechanical past.
 
Together, these elements build a visual language that feels both crafted and casual. Where industrial and epicurean don’t just share a table – they set the tone for something special.

Full case study in our bio

We’re proud to share our recent work with Lendlease for Gurrowa Place. Sitting on the land of the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung...
03/02/2026

We’re proud to share our recent work with Lendlease for Gurrowa Place. Sitting on the land of the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people of the Kulin Nation in Naarm (Melbourne), beside the iconic Queen Victoria Market, this is a place of conscious restoration. A place for all of Naarm.
 
This required an identity that honoured Gurrowa Place’s past, celebrates its present and helps to inspire its future. We were proud to collaborate with – a Naarm‑based First Nations painter, artist and comedian – to bring this brand to life. Aretha’s bold, simple‑yet‑powerful illustrations, along with the identity’s hand‑drawn logo and bespoke textural patterns, capture the energy of Gurrowa Place and celebrate its First Nations heritage.
 
Gurrowa Place is a meeting point for work, life, play and culture. Through this work, it’s an authentic expression of art and identity as well.

24/12/2025

We debated whether to celebrate this year after recent weeks. But coming together matters. And it feels important to make space for connection, gratitude and a little joy - because what a year it’s been.

To our wonderful clients, thank you for your continued support, trust and partnership. Your collaboration means everything to us, and it’s a true pleasure working with you all. We’re so proud of the work we get to do every day (and have so much fun doing it, too!)

To our team, a massive thank you. Your hard work, commitment, talent and care for this business and the people in it, is what makes Houston such a special place. 

We can’t wait for what the new year will bring. In the meantime, take care of yourselves and each other…

Love from all your friends at Houston Group

26/11/2025

A big fortnight for awards! Earlier this month at the we picked up a bunch of awards for our work with and with 1 distinction, 2 merits and 4 finalists.

QT Hotels — Design Craft — Distinction
Bistro Saine — Brand Identity — Merit
Gurrowa Place — Design Craft — Merit
QT Hotels — Brand Identity — Finalist
Gurrowa Place — Brand Identity — Finalist
Vinnies NSW — Brand Identity — Finalist
Vinnies NSW — Design Craft — Finalist

AND our incredible picked up finalist for Emerging Designer of the Year!

Congrats to all the other winners.

Layers of local character are woven into QT’s creative identity through the development of bespoke frames, which provide...
26/11/2025

Layers of local character are woven into QT’s creative identity through the development of bespoke frames, which provide a consistent graphic language. We immersed ourselves deeply into the world of Singapore and discovered inspiration everywhere – from the striking shophouses, to the iconic Raffles Hotel. 

Balancing the localised elements at every step is the striking, monochromatic QT Masterbrand. It set the guardrails around the personalised perspectives – connecting the brand back to its re-energised strategy. The result? A new era for hotel brand that offers something extraordinary to those who are willing to stay

A key element of QT’s creative strategy is to connect to each place through the eyes of a local artist. For QT Singapore...
24/11/2025

A key element of QT’s creative strategy is to connect to each place through the eyes of a local artist. For QT Singapore, that artist was . Jill’s bespoke illustrations are unexpected and alive with character. They’re authentic to Singapore’s past, present and future – and Jill’s own lived experience too. 

Her work features eye-catching motifs like a peacock in a shophouse, or two tigers having a tea party, with palms and archways from the hotel adding further detail to these surrealist, dream-like expressions.

NEW WORK have been a disruptor from day one. But as the Australian boutique hospitality scene became more crowded, it wa...
24/11/2025

NEW WORK

have been a disruptor from day one. But as the Australian boutique hospitality scene became more crowded, it was time for this true individual to re-find their own take on refined.
 
The opening of QT’s new Singapore hotel marked an ideal start to a new era. A deep strategic dive uncovered by a refreshed brand strategy – anchored by the belief, ‘When the lines blur, extraordinary awakens’. This set the tone for an evolution that established each new hotel as its own kind of one-of-a-kind.
 
Welcome to a new expression of curiosity, creativity and character: our new identity for QT Hotels.

have been a disruptor from day one. But as the Australian boutique hospitality scene became more crowded, it was time f...
24/11/2025

have been a disruptor from day one. But as the Australian boutique hospitality scene became more crowded, it was time for this true individual to re-find their own take on refined.
 
The opening of QT’s new Singapore hotel marked an ideal start to a new era. A deep strategic dive uncovered by a refreshed brand strategy – anchored by the belief, ‘When the lines blur, extraordinary awakens’. This set the tone for an evolution that established each new hotel as its own kind of one-of-a-kind.
 
Welcome to a new expression of curiosity, creativity and character: our new identity for QT Hotels.

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