About our Brisbane web design & development team

Complex websites, eCommerce and integrations for medium and large organisations.

We are a specialist web design and development team for medium and large Australian organisations with important, complex or underperforming websites and digital platforms. We learn your organisation inside and out, and the experienced people making the strategic, design and technical decisions stay close to the work.

How we work

Specialisation is why we do this work better than generalist agencies. We focus on complex websites, B2B and D2C eCommerce, business system integrations and high-traffic platforms, and we take the time to learn your organisation inside and out. Our strategies and websites come from that understanding, not a one-size-fits-all template or a preferred platform.

Clients get direct access to an experienced team, continuity from the first recommendation through to ongoing development, and clear accountability when a difficult decision needs to be made. Strategy, content, design and engineering are all done in-house, so the people you speak to are the people doing the work.

It is a good fit for organisations that value candid advice, active stakeholder involvement and a long-term technical relationship, not a production line or a launch-and-leave handover. Based in Brisbane, we work with organisations throughout Australia.

Trusted by established organisations Australia-wide

The people responsible for the work

Jonathan Bird

Founder, Project & Technical Lead

Leads discovery, technical strategy, architecture and the ongoing ownership of complex websites, applications and integrations.

Technical strategy and architecture
Laravel, Statamic and commerce development
Business-system integrations
Long-term platform ownership

Jonathan founded the business after building websites and custom applications across commerce, government, health, education and enterprise environments. He holds an Information Technology degree with Distinction and has worked commercially across web strategy, development and integration since the late 2000s.

He is most useful where a project has complicated business rules, integrations or production risks. Jonathan translates those constraints into clear decisions, leads the technical work and remains involved after launch.

Josh Hanley

Senior Software Engineer

Takes a pragmatic approach to complex projects, translating client requirements into clear recommendations and building websites, integrations and business software for long-term use.

Large-scale, maintainable system architecture
Process-driven business software design
Requirements analysis and solution design
Testing and maintainable delivery

Josh is a Senior Software Engineer specialising in Laravel development and a member of the core team behind Livewire. Livewire is a leading tool for building interactive websites and business software in the Laravel ecosystem and has been used on more than 400,000 websites worldwide. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology, specialising in Enterprise Systems Development, and has presented at Laracon AU on building maintainable Livewire applications.

Josh takes the time to understand how a client actually operates, separates essential requirements from assumptions, and recommends the right solution for the project. That combination of framework-level expertise and practical judgement is especially valuable on custom applications with complex workflows.

Mishalia Bird

Design Lead & Content Strategist

Connects audience needs, inclusive communication, content structure and interface design across stakeholder-led projects.

User experience and interface design
Content strategy and information architecture
Inclusive and culturally informed design
Stakeholder communication

Mishalia is a designer and marketing communications specialist based in Brisbane, born and raised on Waibene (Thursday Island) in the Torres Strait. Her background combines training from Shillington College with degrees in Journalism and Business Management, plus the Indigenous Business Leadership Program at MURRA, Melbourne Business School.

She brings more than a decade of experience in Indigenous economic development, strategic communication, data analysis and reporting. That perspective helps organisations turn complex content and stakeholder needs into inclusive, useful digital experiences.

What clients say about working with us

“Digital Bird was excellent to work with. After countless attempts with speaking with agencies and other web design contractors, we finally found Jonathan and the team, and what a blessing that was. The project was handled end to end, with clear communication the entire time. We have now engaged Jonathan and the team for on-going website management and work due to how well things turned out. If you are on the fence about which direction to go, I highly recommend just taking a call with Jonathan and the team and seeing what you can achieve together.”

Will Cross

Head of Marketing & Partnerships, ROH Wheels

Google reviews

“We have used Jonathan for a number of years to develop and maintain our rather complicated Online Portal and website. Jonathan is always extremely responsive to requests and proactive in ensuring our online presence is safe, presents well and is functional to our customers needs. We would definitely recommend Jonathan for your custom web development needs.”

Nathan Smith East Coast Bullbars

Marketing Manager, East Coast Bullbars

“Digital Bird is my first pick for delivering web projects on time, on budget and to the brief — every time.

Beyond being a delight to work with, Jonathan Bird is that rare breed of developer who is both masterful on the tools (an absolute Laravel whizz!) while also being adept at engaging the client in UX-thinking, to which he applies expert insights, gained through years of experience, to help further improve the end design for the target user’s experience.

This powerful combination of skills means that 4 years on and a variety of projects later (from search directories to corporate website developments), Digital Bird firmly remains my first pick for developer.”

Emma Keller Brisbane South PHN

Communications Manager, Brisbane South PHN

“We’ve been working with Jonathan Bird for our website maintenance, and he has been nothing short of exceptional. Jonathan consistently goes above and beyond, responding quickly whenever we need help and resolving issues with impressive turnaround time. His communication is clear and thorough — he always explains what the problem was, how he fixed it, and provides helpful recommendations for long-term solutions. It’s rare to find someone this reliable and proactive. Highly recommend!”

Nichola Ross

Marketing Manager, Rapidline (FurnX Commercial Furniture)

“Digital Bird has had a huge influence on our business providing many solutions besides just a fantastic reliable website. Jonathan is great to work with and has a solution to every challenge. Jonathan also has the ability to “dumb it down” and provide timely advice and assistance if something goes astray. With Jonathan we have in excess of 99% uptime on all three websites.”

Jeff Ross

Director, Impact Office Supplies

“Velg Training has had an excellent experience working with Digital Bird. Jonathan has supported us with a complex Laravel/PHP website and has brought a rare mix of deep technical knowledge, practical problem solving, and clear communication.

He has assisted with major infrastructure and platform work across AWS, Laravel Forge, Cloudflare, Redis, S3, Sentry, PayWay, Mailchimp/Mandrill and related integrations. His work has included setting up and migrating infrastructure, improving performance, resolving production issues, monitoring errors, modernising legacy code, and strengthening the reliability of key business workflows such as checkout, invoicing, membership exports, PDF generation, transactional emails and background queues.

What stands out most is that Jonathan does not just “fix the ticket”. He investigates properly, explains the cause in plain language, and looks for the right long-term solution rather than quick patches. He has helped us move away from fragile legacy processes, improve automated testing, reduce errors, improve email reliability, address performance bottlenecks, and make the platform easier to maintain into the future.

He is responsive, thorough and highly professional, with an obvious understanding of business-critical websites and custom web applications. We would happily recommend Jonathan to any organisation needing a skilled, reliable and commercially minded Laravel/PHP web developer.”

Leonie Davis

Director, Content and Strategy, Velg Training

“Was an absolute pleasure to work with Jonathan. Could not be happier with our new website! Professional, responsive, brilliant communication from the beginning to go live. If you are fortunate enough to be in a conversation with Jonathan for a new site - just do it!”

Alex Brennan

Director, Blue Ink Office Supplies

“I’ve worked with Jonathan from Digital Bird for several years and found him to be a highly competent developer who often exceeds expectations.

Together, we’ve collaborated on a number of medium-sized platforms serving hundreds of thousands of users, including learning management systems, a widely-used school well-being platform, trade promotion competition sites, and more.

Jonathan is very skilled in API and platform integration, payment systems (such as Stripe), AWS, internet security, and more. As a Project Manager/Product Owner, I feel very confident working with Jonathan and recommending his services to our clients.”

Zachary Bavas

Technical Operations, Invision Media

“Highly recommend Jonathan for anything web development in Brisbane and Australia-wide. Have worked with a lot of developers over the years and Jonathan’s work and communication on projects has been a clear standout. A very talent developer if you’re looking for anything from WordPress, Shopify, Laravel, or anything in-between.”

Brodie Clark Brodie Clark Consulting Logo

Director, Brodie Clark SEO Consulting

“Jonathan Bird is one of the best I have worked with in this space. He is responsive, clever and contributes to the brief, and most importantly, he is a great person to work with. It can be hard to find the right people who can take on something and lift it to another dimension. Jonathan does that and more.”

Mark Gold

Director of Corporate Affairs, AMA Group Ltd