The first step in marketing your business is developing a brand identity. A collection of components that help you distinguish your brand from the competition is called a brand identity. But how can one choose the best design agencies in India given the abundance of options?
Depending on the scope of the work, the cost of creating a brand identity can range from a few thousand rupees to several crores. Let's say you visit Clutch to narrow down your list of design firms. More than 5,660 businesses offer services related to design. Even mainstream and digital agencies have begun to provide design-related services over time.
Indian designers like Sujata Keshavan, Ashwini Deshpande, Preeti Vyas, Anand Halve, and Nalesh Patel have led the way in advancing design capabilities throughout South Asia. A number of foreign agencies have acquired businesses to strengthen their presence in the nation over the years, as well. But given the emergence of fresh start-ups to take on powerful networks, we can say that India has no shortage of talent.
When we made the decision to compile this list, we wanted to include both independent agencies that have won awards and design firms that are subsidiaries of sizable networks. The list is by no means comprehensive, and if some well-known individuals are left off, it doesn't mean that we don't appreciate their work; rather, it just means that we used all of the allowed words for the article. Since we only wanted to concentrate on design agencies, we excluded mainline and digital agencies that offer design services.
A strategic design and innovation consultancy with headquarters in Pune is called Elephant Design. The consultancy was founded in 1989 and has offices now in Singapore and India. Elephant Design consistently ranks among the top design firms in India and has received numerous awards.
Over the past 20 years, the consultancy has completed over 2000 projects, including design work for well-known brands like Persistent, Bajaj, Paperboat, Kurkure, etc. Ashish Deshpande, Ashwini Deshpande, and Partho Guha are NID alumni who made up the founding team for Elephant.
Mumbai is home to the design think tank known as DY Works. The consultancy was founded by Sanjeev Malhotra in 1997 as DMA branding, and it later merged with Yellow design to become DY Works. In 2009, Future Brands acquired a 65% controlling interest in DY Works. By selling his remaining stake to Santosh Desai, MD and CEO of Future Brands, Sanjeev Malhotra delighted DY Works.
Today, DY Works asserts that it is India's largest brand strategy and design company. Today, the consultancy has locations in Bangalore, Mumbai, and Delhi. The list of prestigious clients for DY Works includes companies like Mahindra, L&T, ITC, Marico, Godrej, PepsiCo, and many more.
Walter Landor founded one of the earliest brand consulting companies, Landor, in 1941. Some of the research, design, and consulting techniques invented by Walter are still in use today. In more than 20 countries, Landor has 26 offices. Landor arrived in India in 2007 to offer businesses in a variety of industries branding, design, and digital services.
The company's key clients include Café Coffee Day, Taj Group, New Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport, Mahindra Group, and Tata Global Beverages, to name a few. Lulu Raghavan, managing director of Landor's Mumbai office, is leading the charge.
Wolff Olins, which was established in 1965 and now employs 150 designers, strategists, technologists, programme managers, and educators, joined the Omnicom Group in 2001. The consulting firm has studios in San Francisco, New York, and London.
The iconic brands that Wolff Olins has worked on include Google, State Farm, Tik Tok, Uber, Virgin Media, among others. The consulting firm offers three types of support to its clients: change management, design, and strategy.
Sujata Keshavan and Raman Ray founded the advertising agency Ray + Keshavan together in 1989. In addition to many other companies, the agency's client list also includes Infosys, Kotak Mahindra Bank, the Himalaya Drug Company, Bharti Airtel, Hindustan Lever, Reliance, ITC, Wipro, and McKinsey. Sujata is credited with helping to establish the design sector in South Asia.
WPP purchased Ray + Keshavan in 2006, and the company later changed its name to Super Union. Over 500 people work for the consultancy across 25 offices.
Shashwat Das founded Almond Branding, a young and energetic brand design consulting company. One of the most well-known Brand revamps in the nation was the work of his first company, WOW Design. The firm offers services including brand development, visual identity, packaging design, and others.
Since its inception, the consultancy has completed 525 projects. Among the companies that Almond has worked with are Amul, Tata Consumer, Tokla Green Tea, and Nihar.
Founded in 2005 by Bhupal Ramnathkar, umbrella design. Before he made the decision to found Umbrella, he had previously worked for DDB Needham, Mudra DDB, Leo Burnett, and Enterprise Advertising. The company is currently one of the few specialty design firms that provide packaging, retail, corporate, and industrial space design, as well as logo and brand development.
Among the clients in the agency's portfolio are Reliance, Flipkart, Integerti, Redbull, and Raymond, to name a few.
VGC is one of India's most renowned and sought-after consultancies. It was founded in 1997 by Preeti Vyas with the mission to transform the market through Strategic Integrated Design and Innovative Communication Solutions. Preeti graduated from the National Institute of Design as well.
VGC has completed nearly 100 projects for a number of prestigious clients since its founding. The consultancy employs 30 people and has offices in Mumbai and Bangalore.
For more than 40 years, Interbrand has been the top brand consultancy in the world, having created many of the now-ubiquitous brand-building tools as well as iconic work. John Murphy, a brand consultant who helped to establish the field of brand valuation, founded the firm in 1976. Interbrand was purchased by Omnicom Group in 1993.
Some of Interbrand's publications, such as The Best Global Brands and Brand Channel, are well-known. To support pharmaceutical and healthcare brands, Interbrand Health was established as a separate division.
Leaf Design has been using design to enable businesses to successfully adapt to change since 2002. They work in a variety of fields, including healthcare, hospitality, education, finance, travel, media, and technology. They also spark meaningful conversations and forge useful connections. Leaf, a Mumbai-based company, has collaborated with companies such as Veena World, Avendus, GVK, Parle Agro, Spotify, etc.
1. Independent Contractors
Some designers opt to work independently, which is another way of saying they run their own design firm. Since they are a one-man team, they probably work from home to finish projects and don't have a fixed income. They frequently bill by the hour and may rely on a steady stream of work to support themselves. These designers' work schedules can be very flexible, ranging from a few hours here and there to a full work week. Everything is dependent on how much work they look for. Some designers may even do freelance work on the side while holding down a full-time position elsewhere.
The freelance designer may promote their services on a personal website or post their portfolio on a website where potential clients can go to hire a designer, such as Thumbtack, AIGA, Behance, or Dribble, depending on their skill set.
You might need to be accommodating with project deadlines if you're thinking about hiring a freelance designer for your design requirements. Freelancers manage their own time and can only take on a certain number of projects at once because they work alone. Your project might not receive any attention for a few weeks if they are already working on a task for another client. On the other hand, some independent contractors might not have any projects scheduled at the moment and would be able to complete the designs sooner than you even anticipated.
2. Publicity Companies
Your thoughts may immediately turn to Don Draper and Mad Men-style client pitches when you hear the word "advertising agency." Even though that isn't really how all advertising agencies operate, the show may be able to clarify the distinctions between this kind of design firm and others.
When it comes to your design requirements, an advertising agency will provide you with a different experience than a freelancer, primarily because you'll have an entire creative team working on your project rather than a single person.
A significant portion of the design work done by advertising agencies involves corporate branding. While they can work on a single project, such as a logo or set of business cards, they are set up to handle larger tasks, like creating campaigns that can be distributed across different media (print, TV, radio, etc.). With well-known, high-profile clients in their clientele, they are also likely to have influence and credibility in the market.
This kind of design firm has a very particular organizational structure. To ascertain the specifications for a campaign or other design elements, an account director or account manager communicates with the client. The copywriters and designers work together to develop the concepts into deliverables after creating a creative brief, which is then shared with the team.
Working with an advertising agency will typically cost more than working with a freelancer. Due to the higher fees, it is more typical to see larger companies or businesses with larger marketing budgets working with advertising agencies.
3. Small Businesses that Have Their Own Designers
Although advertising agencies have numerous creative teams, each with a dedicated account manager, their clients typically have large budgets and demand ongoing campaigns across a variety of media. Smaller, more individualised design firms are ideal for medium-sized businesses with needs ranging from printwork to web design.
Even though they frequently employ fewer people, these design firms are still incredibly powerful. Everyone usually knows what is going on with each project in this highly collaborative environment. Project managers typically serve as the point of contact between clients and designers in small design firms. Why is that a benefit? It's more intimate. You only have one project manager—a single person you can communicate with about every aspect of your project.
The office has all of your designs. Why does that matter? If you request an update, whether it be for website or print work, it is typically completed quickly and the person making the changes is typically fully invested in your project and likely has been from the beginning!
4. Businesses That Use Freelance Designers for Outsourcing
Banks provide internal loans, and some of them are sold to outside investors. Consider design teams from firms in the same way. Some design firms employ their own designers, while others hire freelancers or designers from other firms to complete the work. If you prefer to collaborate closely with the person who is managing and creating your project, businesses that contract out their design tasks might not be what you're looking for.
You will work with account service personnel at businesses that contract out their design work to make sure your project is finished on schedule. In contrast to being a single team, they serve more as intermediaries between you and the designers.
