ABOUT NOMAD ON BRAND
Experience shapes the instinct. Strategy gives it direction.
Nomad on Brand is the independent studio practice of Heather Wallace. A Perth-based creative brand strategist and designer helping established businesses navigate the moments when their brand needs to catch up with the business they have become.
Brand strategy, identity and digital design, considered together, built for what comes next.
THE STUDIO
A senior creative practice without the layers of a traditional agency.
Nomad on Brand works with established businesses, founders and leaders at moments of change: growth, repositioning, succession, expansion or a shift in direction. Often, the business has evolved considerably, but the brand, language or digital presence no longer reflects its experience, ambition or value.
That is where the work begins…
I bring strategy, identity, content and digital thinking together as one connected practice. This creates greater clarity at the beginning, stronger creative decisions throughout and a more coherent brand at the end. Clients work directly with me from the first conversation through to implementation, supported by trusted specialist collaborators when the project calls for them.
ABOUT HEATHER WALLACE
Strategist by experience.
Designer by instinct.
Both by intention.
I’m Heather Wallace, founder and creative strategist at Nomad on Brand. For more than 25 years, I’ve worked across brand, design, communications and digital. Beginning in global and independent agencies in Amsterdam, London, Edinburgh and Glasgow before building my practice in Perth, Western Australia.
My experience spans organisations at very different stages and scales, from established professional practices and industry bodies to family businesses, founders and emerging ventures. Across every engagement, the purpose remains the same: understand what the business is becoming, identify what is getting lost in translation and build a brand capable of carrying it forward.
I don’t separate strategy from design or design from implementation. The positioning, language, identity, website and day-to-day applications should all tell the same story. Because a brand is not simply how a business looks. It is how clearly it understands itself, and how consistently that understanding is communicated to everyone else.
THE EXPERIENCE BEHIND THE WORK
Global foundations.
Independent perspective.
My early agency career included experience with Saatchi & Saatchi, Redpath in Edinburgh and Graphical House/Skratch in Glasgow.
That foundation shaped how I continue to work: interrogating the brief, understanding the commercial context and treating design as a strategic business decision rather than surface decoration.
Today, I bring that depth of thinking to clients without the hierarchy or handovers of a large agency. You get direct access to the person thinking through the problem, shaping the strategy and leading the creative work.
25+ years
Across brand, design, strategy and communications.
Global agency experience
Developed across Amsterdam, London, Edinburgh & Glasgow.
Perth-based, working worldwide
Local collaboration with a broader perspective.
One connected practice
Strategy, identity, content and digital working together.
THE PREMISE
A brand should look like the business it has become.
Good branding does more than create recognition. It clarifies the business. It helps people understand what makes it valuable, why it is different and where it is going. It gives teams a shared language and provides a stronger foundation for decisions, communication and growth.
That is why the work begins before the logo. We look at the business, its audience, its market and the strategic tension it is trying to resolve. The identity and digital experience then emerge from that understanding.
The result is not change for change’s sake. It is a brand with greater coherence, confidence and capacity to evolve.
THE WORKING RELATIONSHIP
Direct, collaborative and considered.
I work best with clients who value thinking as much as making. You may know that something needs to change without yet knowing exactly what that change should look like. My role is to help surface the real problem, create a clear direction and translate it into something useful, distinctive and workable. The process is collaborative, but it is not directionless. I bring experience, perspective and a willingness to ask the questions that move the work forward.
EXPECT…
Direct access and senior creative involvement | Clear strategic reasoning behind creative decisions | Honest, constructive conversations | A connected view across brand and business | Practical systems designed for real-world use | Enough rigour to create clarity, and enough flexibility to evolve.
BEYOND THE STUDIO
Distance changes your perspective.
Outside the studio, I’m a distance swimmer. I’ve competed at national level [back in the day…] and completed the Rottnest Channel Swim. Open-water swimming has taught me something that carries directly into my work: progress rarely comes from reacting to every movement around you. It comes from understanding the conditions, holding your direction and adjusting without losing sight of where you are going.
Brand work is not so different…
There will always be noise, trends and pressure to move faster. The challenge is knowing what deserves a response, and what requires the confidence to stay the course. Perhaps that is the Scottish part of me.
Backbone, with a wee edge…
If the business has evolved…
The brand should be ready to meet it…
Whether you are repositioning an established organisation, refining a brand that has lost coherence or building a more considered foundation for growth, the first step is a conversation.
Perth, Western Australia | Working worldwide, by appointment