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About Mustard Seed Studio, 
Australian Website Strategist & Designer.

If you appreciate having a designer who thinks like a founder, leads with strategy and delivers something you're genuinely proud of without the stress, the guesswork, or the back-and-forth that never seems to end,  we're going to work beautifully together. 

Because a website that just looks good is only half the job.


HELLO, I'M JOANNE NELSON

I didn't start here. My first career was in fertility science,  trained to think precisely and never sign off until the answer was right. Then COVID took my lab overnight, and from a kitchen table during nap times, I built The Curated Parcel into a seven-figure eCommerce brand. No agency. No roadmap. Just grit and a refusal to give up on a good problem.

When I kept meeting founders with brilliant businesses and websites that didn't reflect them, I knew exactly what that cost. So Mustard Seed Studio was planted because every founder who has grown something remarkable deserves an online presence that finally proves it.

When I'm not creating websites, you'll find me creating spaces of life - tending my garden, making art, or getting lost in a digital design. I gave up coffee four years ago but I'll never say no to a glass of rosé at the end of a good day. I'm somewhere in my own quiet personal revolution reading, making music, and learning to live with a lot more intention and a lot less noise.

If you've made it this far, I think we're going to get along just fine.

"I've always believed in small beginnings.
The mustard seed is the smallest of all seeds and yet it grows into something remarkable."

Our Ethics

We believe you shouldn't have to choose between doing good and doing well. At Mustard Seed Studio, they've always been the same thing.
Kind, transparent, and sustainable isn't just how we work.

It's who we are.

We were in the Gold Coast, I came down with a cold, lost the taste for it completely and that was that. Four years later, not a single cup. I used to drink three a day for a decade and assumed I was addicted. Turns out I was just tired. The rosé, however, stays. Completely non-negotiable.

Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Then Honours. Then a Masters in Clinical Embryology. Five years training my brain to think precisely, go deep, and never sign off until the answer was right. I left the lab when COVID took my career overnight. Now I build websites.

Life is wonderfully unpredictable.

Since 2019, no agency, no business partner, no roadmap. Just a kitchen table, three kids in the background, and a stubborn refusal to give up on a good problem. I figured out logistics, marketing, design, and copywriting by doing it — badly at first, then better, then well enough to build something real. Every mistake I made is now something I save my clients from. So I suppose it was worth it.

I know most people disagree with me on this. Social media is rented land — the algorithm changes, the platform shifts, and you own none of it. Your website is yours. It works for you at 2am, it does not need a trending audio, and it never expires. I have made my peace with being the person who says this out loud.

Motherhood is the best and hardest thing I have ever done and somehow it made me a better founder and a better designer. When you learn to think clearly with three children asking you questions simultaneously, client briefs become surprisingly manageable. Weekends in our house are sacred. Family, board games, someone always crying about losing (usually me), and absolutely nothing on the schedule.

Non-negotiable.

Creating beautiful things is not just what I do for work — it is how I am wired. You will find me tending the garden, making art, getting lost in a digital design, or rearranging a corner of the house until it finally feels right. If I am not building something, I am reading, listening to records, or planning the next adventure. Stillness and beauty are not luxuries for me. They are essential.

For forty years I lived inside the status quo without ever really questioning it. The career path, the expectations, the way things are supposed to be done. Then slowly and then all at once, I started questioning everything. How I spend my time. What I say yes to. What kind of business I want to build and what kind of life I want it to fund. I am not finished yet. But I am finally asking the right questions.

That feels like enough for now.

They are my favourite places I have ever travelled to — the kind that get under your skin and stay there. Each one shifted something in me. And the list of places I still want to visit only keeps growing.

Travel is one of the things that fills my cup completely. Scenic drives with the perfect playlist are basically a spiritual practice in our house.

Next stop, somewhere that surprises me.

We were in the Gold Coast, I came down with a cold, lost the taste for it completely and that was that. Four years later, not a single cup. I used to drink three a day for a decade and assumed I was addicted. Turns out I was just tired. The rosé, however, stays. Completely non-negotiable.

Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Then Honours. Then a Masters in Clinical Embryology. Five years training my brain to think precisely, go deep, and never sign off until the answer was right. I left the lab when COVID took my career overnight. Now I build websites.

Life is wonderfully unpredictable.

Since 2019, no agency, no business partner, no roadmap. Just a kitchen table, three kids in the background, and a stubborn refusal to give up on a good problem. I figured out logistics, marketing, design, and copywriting by doing it — badly at first, then better, then well enough to build something real. Every mistake I made is now something I save my clients from. So I suppose it was worth it.

I know most people disagree with me on this. Social media is rented land — the algorithm changes, the platform shifts, and you own none of it. Your website is yours. It works for you at 2am, it does not need a trending audio, and it never expires. I have made my peace with being the person who says this out loud.

A LITTLE MORE PERSONAL

IF YOU'RE CURIOUS. 

Motherhood is the best and hardest thing I have ever done and somehow it made me a better founder and a better designer. When you learn to think clearly with three children asking you questions simultaneously, client briefs become surprisingly manageable. Weekends in our house are sacred. Family, board games, someone always crying about losing (usually me), and absolutely nothing on the schedule.

Non-negotiable.

Creating beautiful things is not just what I do for work — it is how I am wired. You will find me tending the garden, making art, getting lost in a digital design, or rearranging a corner of the house until it finally feels right. If I am not building something, I am reading, listening to records, or planning the next adventure. Stillness and beauty are not luxuries for me. They are essential.

For forty years I lived inside the status quo without ever really questioning it. The career path, the expectations, the way things are supposed to be done. Then slowly and then all at once, I started questioning everything. How I spend my time. What I say yes to. What kind of business I want to build and what kind of life I want it to fund. I am not finished yet. But I am finally asking the right questions.

That feels like enough for now.

They are my favourite places I have ever travelled to — the kind that get under your skin and stay there. Each one shifted something in me. And the list of places I still want to visit only keeps growing.

Travel is one of the things that fills my cup completely. Scenic drives with the perfect playlist are basically a spiritual practice in our house.

Next stop, somewhere that surprises me.

Motherhood is the best and hardest thing I have ever done and somehow it made me a better founder and a better designer. When you learn to think clearly with three children asking you questions simultaneously, client briefs become surprisingly manageable. Weekends in our house are sacred. Family, board games, someone always crying about losing (usually me), and absolutely nothing on the schedule.

Non-negotiable.

Creating beautiful things is not just what I do for work — it is how I am wired. You will find me tending the garden, making art, getting lost in a digital design, or rearranging a corner of the house until it finally feels right. If I am not building something, I am reading, listening to records, or planning the next adventure. Stillness and beauty are not luxuries for me. They are essential.

For forty years I lived inside the status quo without ever really questioning it. The career path, the expectations, the way things are supposed to be done. Then slowly and then all at once, I started questioning everything. How I spend my time. What I say yes to. What kind of business I want to build and what kind of life I want it to fund. I am not finished yet. But I am finally asking the right questions.

That feels like enough for now.

They are my favourite places I have ever travelled to — the kind that get under your skin and stay there. Each one shifted something in me. And the list of places I still want to visit only keeps growing.

Travel is one of the things that fills my cup completely. Scenic drives with the perfect playlist are basically a spiritual practice in our house.

Next stop, somewhere that surprises me.

FUN FACTS

Every remarkable thing
starts with a small first step.

BOOK MY DISCOVERY CALL

Yours might be a 30-minute call. Book a free discovery session and let's find out if we're the right fit for each other — no obligation, no pressure.