Case Study: Digibite Studio Rebrand

Changing Industry is the Reason

Raising cost of onshore development

The Australian web development industry is at a crossroads. As onshore labor costs rise, the entry-level market is being rapidly absorbed by offshore builders and "no-code" platforms like Wix and Squarespace.

For a lot of startups and small businesses, the math is simple: For a $3000 budget, instead of getting one basic website with quality code onshore, why not approach overseas vendors, who may deliver three, sometimes even six, complete different websites. Not to mention that there may be a better chance to find the suitable one in the midway and save the rest of the budget for other vital components to start with. Sure, the code might be a nightmare and it'll eat up the "valuable" time to manage it, but when cash is tight, people choose to spend their time instead of their bank balance. The working hours can be squeezed out more from the day, but the number in the bank isn't that easy to go up by just working harder.

Audiences are diverted

Because of that massive price gap, the market is splitting. On one side, you have the DIY/offshore crowd. On the other, you have businesses that are done with the "nightmare" support and want a hassle-free, premium experience.

DigiBite Studio is planting our flag in the second camp. We believe a fine-tuned, modern website is the best way to prove our professionals and perseverance.

What do we want to focus on?

Appearance and User Experience

The primary objective for this rebranding is bringing a premium and professional feeling of the brand and the website, to generate leads from high profile clients, who are looking for a one stop solution and peace of mind support for their websites, digital transformations and digital marketing demands.

Tech Choices

We didn’t want to choose between "pretty" and "fast." Usually, heavy animations and video kill your load speed, but we found a workaround, as page performance is our top concern for this project.

We have chosen NextJS Static Site Generation (SSG), connected with CraftCMS via GraphQL for this project, by trading off a bit on convenience of instant content update, but gain exceptional page speed for better user experience.

At What Cost

Logo Design, Website UI/UX Design, Website Development and Assets / Contents Creation are the major cost components for this typical Brand + Website project. Check out the cost breakdown and overall time involved, as following:

By using our hybrid model (overseas design + local senior developers), we saved a ton, with our closely cooperative team. To get this same logo and design purely in Australia, which will easily be looking at $9,000+ just for the visuals.

The development cost is calculated based on an average rate for a Mid-Sensor developer with 200 working hours. Project management expanse is eliminated for such projects. As we have moved the content from previous websites, the most costs for content creation is coming from purchasing assets licenses.

The "Budget" Route

If we also sent the development offshore, to developers who have similar skill levels, (with us just doing code reviews and management), we could get this total down to about $16,000. It’s all about where you want to put your money.

Observed Deficiency

We’re big on peer reviews, so we asked friends in and out of the industry what they thought.

The most common feedback? "I thought this was a logistics company." Ouch. It turns out the logo, while modern, didn’t quite scream "Digital Agency" to everyone at first glance. It’s a classic case of being too close to the project. This feedback is gold, though—it reminds us that even with a $25k budget, branding is an evolving conversation, not just a one-off purchase. We're taking that on board as we continue to fine-tune the "DigiBite" vibe.