Arek Dvornechuck
Branding Expert
There is a multitude of graphic design companies that are based in New York, especially those focused on branding and design.
We got almost a hundred graphic design firms with offices in NY listed in the Clutch directory, but which are the best ones out of those focused on branding?Another hundred agencies you can find in the Dexigner directory.
Not even mentioning those that you can find on Google Maps searching in NYC area.
In the competitive industry of graphic design, there are many different sub-disciplines, but branding is probably the most competitive of all.
It's difficult to establish your name as a branding firm.
Designing a logo is often considered as the quintessence of a graphic designer's art and to most it sounds like a dream job - to become an iconic logo designer.
Out of hundreds of design agencies who offer branding & logo design services, some have managed to cut through the clutter and gain international prestige.
Read on below for the list of top 10 graphic design firms that specialize in branding and have offices in New York.
They made name for themselves with their impressive portfolio work and international reach have made them some of the most famous graphic design companies on Earth.
Offices:New York.
Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv is an independent New York City based graphic design firm specializing in the development of trademarks and identity programs.
The original founders - Ivan Chermayeff and Tom Geismar, are like dinosaurs in the graphic design field.
They're just like less famous Paul Rands.
Creators of many of the world's most iconic and enduring brands.
Although the CGH design studio is small (only one location - NY), it was founded way back in 1958 and since then they've managed to work for some of the biggest clients in the World.
In 2006 Sagi Haviv became the 3rd younger partner to form Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv and in 2018 one of the original founders, Ivan, passed away at the age of 85.
However, CGH is going strong and continue designing for big brands.
Also check out the new graphic design course by Sagi Haviv.
Recent clients: US Open, Dominion Energy, Imagen, Beko, RatPac.
Offices: New York, Bangkok, Beijing, Cape Town, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dubai, Geneva, Guangzhou, Hamburg, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Jakarta, London, Melbourne, Mexico City, Milan, Moscow, Mumbai, Paris, San Francisco, Seul, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Zone.
In their own words, Landor is “the world’s preeminent brand consulting firm.”
Headquartered in San Francisco with 36 offices in 20 countries, this design giant has one of the biggest clients in the portfolio.
The firms was founded in 1941 by Walter Landor and you already know how Landor got its name.
On the Landor's website you can read:
Landor build some of the world's most agile brands - brands that thrive on change.
They're a huge company that have strategic experts and creative explorers committed to solving complex challenges.
With smart tools and global resources, they're able to examine the implications of every brand choice, create new experiences, and open doors to opportunity, especially serving big organizations.
Recent clients: Australian Open, Cyprus Airways, Bank of Hope.
Offices: New York, London, Austin and Berlin.
One of the biggest and most famous graphic design firms in the world, Pentagram is owned and run equally by 20 partners—all of whom are practicing designers.
The Pentagram's structure is quite unique (different from other graphic design firms) and works more like a bunch of independent design studios (each run by a different partner) under one umbrella.
The Pentagram's structure is quite unique (different from other graphic design firms) and works more like a bunch of independent design studios (each run by a different partner) under one umbrella.
The world’s largest independently-owned design studio.
This is the only major design firm where the owners of the business are the creators of the work and serve as the primary contact for every client.
This is probably the best known graphic design studio ever with almost 1,000 projects in their portfolio, so if my only criteria was the impact on graphic design industry I should probably move Pentagram to #1 on my list.
Recent clients: American Express, Expedia Group, MasterCard, Verizon, Hillary Clinton.
Offices: New York, Beijing, Buenos Aires, Canada, Cincinnati, Cologne, India, Japan, London, Madrid, Melbourne, Mexico City, Milan, New Zealand, Paris, San Francisco, São Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, Zürich.
Interbrand believes that growth is achieved when an organization has a clear strategy and delivers exceptional customer experiences.
They do both, through a combination of strategy, creativity, and technology that helps drive growth for their clients’ brands and businesses.
Strategy, creativity, and technology to grow brands and businesses.
The brand consultancy has a network of 21 offices in 17 countries and is probably best known for its highly influential annual Best Global Brands report.
Which, by the way, inspired me to put together a list of 100 Style Guides of Best Global Brands.
Recent clients: Santander, PyeongChang 2018, Juventus, El Salvador, AT&T.
Offices:New York, Boston, San Francisco, Tokyo, Hong Kong, London, Paris and Seul.
Lippincott is a creative consultancy.
They believe that success in a changing world requires a more creative approach to solving problems.
It demands both rigorous business acumen and courageous creativity.
Inventing businesses, brands and experiences.
They combine both strategy and design.
This unique combination is brought to everything the firm does, guided by one purpose: make it meaningful.Lippincott core beliefs are big ideas and big action.
On the about page they list a whole bunch of other capabilities apart from pure graphic design.
Recent clients: Hawaiian Airlines, Nokia, Nissan, Taco Bell, Hyatt.
Offices:New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, Dubai and Shanghai.
Siegel+Gale is a global brand strategy, design and experience firm which set itself apart from other graphic design firms by its core belief "simplicity".
Using facts, intuition and creativity, they blend science with art, unlocking the power of simplicity to help organizations realize their full potential.
We are the simplicity company.
The company was founded almost 50 years ago by Alan Siegel on the premise that simple is smart.
And that's what the design firm is all about to this day.
Siegel & Gale has passion for simplicity that inspires them to deliver work that’s unexpectedly fresh and remarkably clear.
Recent clients: SAP, YMCA, HP, NBA and 3M.
Offices:New York, London, Madrid, Berlin, Istanbul, Mumbai, San Francisco, São Paulo.
Saffron is a global brand and innovation consultancy.
Similarly as with Siegel+Gale, the design firm sets itself apart by it's core belief: disruption.
Disruptive thinking for ambitious brands.
The agency challenges themselves and their clients to push boundaries; challenging the ordinary, to achieve the extraordinary.
From strategy to design, Saffron help brands develop a concise set of bold and innovative initiatives that challenge the status quo and make the brand vision a reality.
Recent clients: Gulf Air, YouTube, Xing, Vueling and Fujitsu.
Offices:New York, London and San Francisco.
Wolff Ollins is a graphic design firm that for over 50 years have been helping to create and build some of the most powerful and purposeful brands in the world.
As Siegel+Gale was all about "simplicity" and Saffron about "disruption", Woll Ollins emphasizes on working with "ambitious leaders" to build "radically better businesses".
We partner with ambitious leaders to design radically better businesses
Their work span four areas: leadership story, customer experience, employee experience and equipping to deliver.
Wolf Ollins also emphasizes that they always design from the point of view of the user, creating experiences that are for the many rather than for the few.
Recent clients: Grubhub, The Met, Spotify, USA Today and Aol.
Offices:New York, Paris, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Amsterdam, Bangkok, Beijing, Berlin, Bogota, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Cape town and Dubai.
www.superunion.com[/caption]Superunion design consultancy recently rebranded itself (Brand Union) and brags about being a brand new agency with 200 years of experience.200 years? Well if you combine the experience of all the companies that merged - that's true: The Partners, Lambie-Nairn, Addison, VBAT and of course the mother company - Brand Union.
Great brands unite.
Superunion is a union of 750 people in 23 offices and 18 countries.
Their skills, experience and backgrounds are diverse (different companies), but they're all united by their passion to deliver the very best work for their clients every day.
Recent clients: Equinox, Dell, Land Rover, Pfizer and Pizza Hut.
Offices: New York, London, Sydney, Paris, Madrid, Milan, Moscow, Geneva, Dubai, San Francisco, Auckland, Beijing, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Shanghai, Singapore, Bogota, Buenos Aires, Lima, Mexico City, Santiago De Chile, Sao Paulo, and Amsterdam.
FutureBrand is a graphic design firm that unites experts in strategy, design, innovation and experience, who work together across the globe to harness the power of brand for growth.
FutureBrand was founded in 1999 and is a relatively young design firm if you compare to others from the list.
However, the firm is has offices all over the world and won many awards as well.
We make brand experiences for a more connected future.
Their capabilities range from research through strategy to design and beyond.
Quite impressive for such a young company and their work is exceptional too.
Recent clients: Forever 21, NatWest, Bentley, Nesquik and Merck.
Are you in search for a graphic design services provider?
Do you need brand strategy or just the logo design?
How much money do you have to spend? - there's multitude of small graphic design agencies and you can basically pay any kind of price for creative services.
Each of those graphic design firms has some unique strong points. E.g. C
GH is a small design studio that is primarly focused on design, the rest from the list are bigger agencies with multiple locations.
Pentagram seems to be the most prolific graphic design firm on the list and they work not only with the big brands but also mid-size companies and organizations.
Landor and other design agencies serve primarily big brands with budget, who need other extensive brand building services (apart from graphic design), like positioning, insights, analytics, strategy, naming and more.
Wonder how much these companies charge for a logo?
Or what their design process looks like?
Just check their websites and past work, then contact the ones that you think make a good fit for you.
They'll usually have a simple contact form on the bottom of their page.
Also check this site, that critique recent branding and rebranding projects, where you can find some of the "behind the scenes" and insights into the design process of some of the firms from this list.
FYI - this list consist of the top-notch graphic design firms that usually serve big clients with big budget.
So if you're a startup or a small business, you might rather want to consider working with a small, local graphic design studio or an independent designer.
If so, check my other article where I talk about the pros and cons of working with a designer vs agency.
Apart from my list of top 10 graphic design firms, there are many more independent design studios in New York.
This list includes only established graphic design firms, but there are plenty of other great design agencies all over New York.
The choice is really up to you and it depends on your needs, your budget and how deep of design expertise you're looking for.
I've worked at Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv before I opened my own design agency, so if you're looking for a good design at affordable price — just get int touch.
