Creating a brand identity is first step in marketing your business. Brand identity is collection of elements that helps you to differentiate your brand from competition. But with plethora of choices available how do select best design agencies in India?
The pricing for brand identity creation is a bit fuzzy, with prices ranging few thousand rupees to a few crores depending on the scope of work. Suppose you head to Clutch to shortlist a design agency. You will find over 5,660 firms providing design-related services. Over the years, even mainline and digital agencies have started offering design-related services.
India has played a pioneering role in elevating design capabilities in South Asia regions, with designers like Sujata Keshavan, Ashwini Deshpande, Preeti Vyas, Anand Halve, and Nalesh Patel championing the cause. Over the years, we have also seen several international agencies network acquiring companies to enhance their presence in the country. But with new start-ups emerging to challenge large networks, we can conclude that India has no dearth of talent.
When we decided to create this list, we wanted to mention both design agencies owned by large networks and list independent agencies that have done award-winning work. The list is by no means exhaustive, and if some prominent names are missing, it does not imply that we do not value their work; it simply means that we reached our word limit for the article. We have excluded mainline and digital agencies which provide design services as we only wanted to focus on design agencies.
So without further ado, here is our list of best design agencies in India.
15 Best Design Agencies in India
Elephant Design is a strategic design and innovation consultancy based out of Pune. The consultancy was established in 1989 and currently has offices in India and Singapore. Elephant Design has won various awards and has consistently ranked among the best design agencies in India.
The consultancy has executed over 2000+ projects over the last two decades, including design projects for iconic brands like Persistent, Bajaj, Paperboat, Kurkure, etc. Elephant’s founding team comprises NID Alumni Ashish Deshpande, Ashwini Deshpande, and Partho Guha.
2. DY Works
DY Works is a design think tank based out of Mumbai. Sanjeev Malhotra set up the consultancy in 1997 as DMA branding and later merged with Yellow design to form DY Works. Future brands brought a 65% controlling stake in DY Works in 2009. Sanjeev Malhotra excited DY Works by selling his remaining stake to Santosh Desai, MD, and CEO of Future Brands.
DY Works today claims to be the largest brand strategy and design firm in India. The consultancy today has offices in Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore. DY Works has a prestigious clutch of clients like Mahindra, L&T, ITC, Marico, Godrej, PepsiCo and many others.
3. Landor India
Landor is one of the oldest brand consulting firms which was set up in 1941 by Walter Landor. Walter pioneered some of research, design, and consulting methods that are used even today. Landor has 26 offices in over 20 countries. Landor entered India in 2007 to provide branding, design, and digital services to companies across verticals.
Spearheaded by Lulu Raghavan, managing director of Landor’s Mumbai office, the company’s key clientele include Café Coffee Day, Taj Group, New Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport, Mahindra Group, and Tata Global Beverages, to name a few.
4. Wolff Olins
Founded in 1965, Wolff Olins now employs 150 designers, strategists, technologists, programme managers, and educators, and has been part of the Omnicom Group since 2001. The consultancy has studios in London, New York, and San Francisco.
Wolff Olins has worked on several iconic brands, including Google, State Farm, Tik Tok, Uber, Virgin Media, etc. The consultancy supports clients in three different domains strategy, design, and change management.
5. Super Union (Ray + Keshavan)
Ray + Keshavan started in 1989; Sujata Keshavan partnered with her former boss Raman Ray to start the agency. The agency’s portfolio includes clients like Infosys, Kotak Mahindra Bank, the Himalaya Drug Co., Bharti Airtel, Hindustan Lever, Reliance, ITC, Wipro, McKinsey, and many others. Sujata is considered a pioneer in developing South Asia’s design industry.
Ray + Keshavan was acquired by WPP in 2006 and was later rebranded as Super Union. The consultancy has over 500 people across 25 offices.
Almond Branding is a young and dynamic brand design consulting firm set up by Shashwat Das. His first startup, WOW Design, has been the force behind some of the most popular Brand revamps in the country. The consultancy provides services like brand creation, visual identity, packaging design, and more.
The consultancy has executed 525 projects since its inception. Almond has worked with clients like Amul, Tata Consumer, Tokla Green Tea, Nihar to mention a few.
7. Umbrella
Umbrella design was established in 2005 by Bhupal Ramnathkar. He has previosly worked with DDB Needham, Mudra DDB, Leo Burnett and Enterprise Advertising before he decided to set up Umbrella. The agency is today one of the few specialty design houses to offer Logo Design, Brand & Corporate Identity, Design for Retail, Corporate & Industrial Spaces, Packaging, etc.
The agencies portfolio includes clients like Reliance, Flipkart, Integerti, Redbull and Raymond to mention a few.
8. VGC
Founded in 1997 by Preeti Vyas, with the vision to transform the marketplace through Strategic Integrated Design and Innovative Communication Solutions, today VGC is one of India’s most recognised and sought-after consultancies. Preeti is also an alumni of National Institute of Design.
Since its inception, VGC has executed nearly 100 projects for several blue-chip clients. The consultancy has 30 employees with offices in Bangalore and Mumbai.
9. Interbrand
Interbrand has been the world’s leading brand consultancy for over 40 years – having pioneered iconic work and forged many of the brand-building tools that are now commonplace. The consultancy was set up in 1976 by brand consultant John Murphy, who pioneered the art of brand valuation. In 1993, Interbrand was acquired by Omnicom Group.
Interbrand is also popular for some of its publications, including the Best Global Brands and Brand Channel. Interbrand Health was set up as a separate unit to support healthcare and pharma brands.
10. Leaf Design
Since 2002, Leaf Design has been using design to empower companies to respond to change successfully. They work across industries including finance, travel, media, technology, healthcare, hospitality, and education, and spark thoughtful conversations and make strategic connections. Based in Mumbai, Leaf has worked with brands like Veena World, Avendus, GVK, Parle Agro, Spotify, etc.
11. Chlorophyll
Chlorophyll was set up by late advertising industry veterans Anand Halve and Nalesh Patel. Chlorophyll pioneered the agency space in India in many ways. It was among the first agencies to charge a flat fee instead of the retainer structure. The agency provides services like brand creation, identity, communication, packaging for Brands. Kiran Khalap spearheads the agency today as the MD and co-founder of chlorophyll. The agency has consistently ranked among the best design agencies in India.
Besides supporting several companies with their branding needs, the agency has managed personal branding projects for likes of Nandan Nilekani, Ravi Kailas and Shriji Arvind Singh Mewar.
12. Frog Design
Frog is a global design consultancy founded in 1969 by industrial designer Hartmut Esslinger in Mutlangen, Germany, where it was first named “esslinger design”. Frog was later acquired by engineering firm Aricent, which itself was acquired by Altran, which was in turn acquired by its current parent company, the consulting firm Capgemini, in 2019.
The agency was the brains behind the case of the portable Apple IIc and introducing the Snow White design language used by Apple during 1984–1990, and continuing with several Macintosh models.
13. NetBramha
Co-founded by Aashish Solanki and Dimple Jain, NetBramha is an award-winning full-service experience (UI/UX) Strategy and Design studio. NetBramha provides services in the domain of research, strategy, and design. The agency has worked with clients like Google, Infosys, TVS, Microsoft, Cisco, to mention a few.
The agency has worked with several fortune 500 companies and start-ups.
14. Design It
Designit is an international strategic design firm founded in Aarhus, Denmark, in 1991 by Anders Geert Jensen and Mikal Hallstrup. In 1994, David Fellah joined the company as an equal partner. In July 2015, Designit was acquired by Wipro for nearly $94 million.
Designit’s work has received more than 100 design awards, including International Forum Design awards (iF), Red Dot and Red Dot Gold, and GOOD design awards.
15. Opposite HQ
Opposite HQ was formerly known as Beard Design. They help clients with brand creation, packaging design, and digital experiences. They have worked with clients like Swiggy, The Ken, Sugar, Simba, Digit Insurance, Tea Trunk, to mention a few.
They work with brands of all sizes which is evident from the current portfolio. Among Opposite HQ’s most recent works is the packaging design for wellness brand, Kapiva. Opposite HQ is based in Mumbai, India.
Final Thoughts
When choosing a design agency for your next design project, consider the following factors of the team’s expertise, relevant industry experience, ideas and creatives presented, and rapport with the team to build a long-term relationship. Always remember that the best ideas can come from anywhere and don’t just go with a bigger brand believing that hiring them will ensure quality output.
