Merri-bek City Council

Merri-bek City Council is a local government based in the inner north of metropolitan Melbourne.

The municipality (formerly Moreland City Council) is well-known for the beloved Sydney Road Street Party that kicks off the Brunswick Music Festival (returning in 2024), Brunswick Town Hall, and the annual MoreArt event which showcases local art in public spaces along the Upfield Bike Path.

The Council is also home to the Brunswick Design District; the new go-to place for enterprise startups and creative entrepreneurs (like our team at Ethical Design Co.) Read more about the Brunswick Design District in Caitlin’s article.

The brief

We worked with Merri-bek City Council over two years on a range of projects including branding, marketing design, and most notably their 2018-19 Annual report (both printable and digital formats).

We were hired to oversee full design conceptualisation, layout and sustainable printing. The brief was to utilise their brand new style guide and bring it into the 178 page report, upgrading the design and style from previous years.

The result was a colourful, slick/modern report that highlights our Council’s achievements and, on a more conceptual level, visually captures the cultural vibrancy at the heart of Merri-bek .

See the digital report here.

How is this ethical?

Merri-bek City Council is a progressive inner-city council, well-known for its support of local arts and music scenes. They offer a range of top quality services for the community including youth programs (see: Oxygen Youth Space), aged care services, waste and recycling collection (including providing Green bins for organic matter), and some of Melbourne’s best parks, open spaces and fitness facilities (e.g. the Brunswick Baths).

We are delighted to have partnered with our own local council on these projects.

Our sustainability strategy

We engaged a local certified green printing company (Finsbury Green) to produce the report. We printed the report on 100% recycled EcoStar stocks using vegetable based inks, and added stamps to the back page of the report to ensure these green credentials are transparent to the public.

Read more about Finsbury Green Star rating here.