Best Brand Design Agency

Ranked #1 of 14 for best brand design agency

COLLINS review

A transformation consultancy in New York and San Francisco that Ad Age named Design & Branding Agency of the Year in 2024 and 2025 1 2 3.

Updated By the Best Brand Design Agency deskHow we scoreDisclosure

This guide is free, and no agency pays to be listed, ranked or linked. How the site is funded.

Verdict

8.2/10

COLLINS fits established companies that need positioning, naming and identity rebuilt by one team, with seven Ad Age agency-of-the-year titles since 2019 as the track record 4 5 2 3 6.

Best for Strategy-led enterprise rebrands

Skip it if you want a published price or a small-budget project: COLLINS lists no prices or minimum budget 7, and 29 of its 54 case studies are tagged Enterprise stage 8.

Visit COLLINS (opens the COLLINS website)

COLLINS at a glance
Founded2007; headquarters in New York, second office in San Francisco1
LeadershipCo-founders Brian Collins (designer) and Leland Maschmeyer (CEO)9
Team44 people listed by name and title on its team page9
Agency of the Year8 titles claimed on its homepage: Ad Age 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026, plus D&AD 20217
D&AD23 D&AD Awards on its D&AD profile: 3 Yellow, 4 Graphite and 5 Wood Pencils plus 11 shortlists; No. 1 Design Agency in 202110
Programs11, including Brand Refresh, Reposition, Brand Creation, Architecture Restructure and Exit (IPO/Sale)11
Case studies54 published, including Spotify, Twitch, Mailchimp, Dropbox, Figma and Arcane8
Minimum budgetNot published; new projects start by email to [email protected]7

How COLLINS scores

Score breakdown for COLLINS
Body of work 30%9.054 published case studies 8 include the Spotify brand evolution 12, a Twitch identity system with product design language and tone of voice 13, the Mailchimp rebrand 14 and Arcane's original typeface, Iron & Glass 15. Its D&AD profile counts 23 D&AD Awards: 12 Pencils, 3 of them Yellow, and 11 shortlists 10. Those awards are scored under recognition; the work alone puts COLLINS level with JKR and Wolff Olins.
Recognition 20%9.0Ad Age named COLLINS Design Agency of the Year three years running to 2021 4, Business Transformation Agency of the Year in 2023 and 2026 5 6, and Design & Branding Agency of the Year in 2024 and 2025 2 3. Points off for the D&AD slide: No. 1 Design Agency in 2021, No. 34 in 2022, No. 28 in 2023, No. 100 in 2025, with no 2024 entry 10.
Strategy depth 15%9.0Program features include naming, brand architecture, customer segmentation, pricing strategy and messaging guidelines 16 17 18 19. Case studies show names it created, such as Legence 20, and field research, such as in-person ethnographies in India for OYO 21. Ad Age gave it the Business Transformation title twice 5 6. Scores of 9.5 on this site go to agencies that also publish their own research or measurement tools, such as Lippincott's Brand Aperture and Siegel+Gale's EyeOpener.
Access and fit 15%5.5No prices, minimum budget or intake form are published; the way in is an email to [email protected] 7. Of 54 case studies, 29 are tagged Enterprise, 11 Growth, 10 Midmarket, 1 Scale Up and 1 Small 8 22 23, and the programs page addresses leaders moving their companies upmarket 11.
Range of delivery 10%8.5The team includes a Principal, Motion Design, a Director, Digital Design and a Creative Technologist 9. Case studies cover packaging for Target's up&up line 24, retail environments for Modern by Dwell 25, BP's Helios House station, whose credits list Ogilvy & Mather and Office dA 26, and a motion and product UI language for Muse Group 27; the Brand Refresh program adds messaging guidelines 19. Some credits name outside studios, such as Animade on Figma and TEKIO for Bose type 28 29.
Transparency 10%7.0The team page names 44 people with titles 9, 51 of 54 case studies credit a COLLINS team by name, and 52 tag the client's company stage 8 12. Program pages list features and results, but results such as 3x growth in 18 months name no client 19. No prices, budgets or timelines are published 7.

Strengths and weak spots

Strengths

  • Seven Ad Age agency-of-the-year titles since 2019, most recently Business Transformation Agency of the Year 2026 4 5 2 3 6 30.
  • Strategy and design in one team: programs include naming, brand architecture and pricing strategy next to identity design 16 17 18.
  • Identity work for Spotify, Twitch, Mailchimp, Dropbox and Robinhood, among 54 published case studies 8 12 13 14 31 22.
  • Delivery beyond the logo: packaging for Target's up&up, the Helios House gas station for BP, credited to a team that lists Ogilvy & Mather and Office dA, and a motion and product UI language for Muse Group 24 26 27.
  • 51 of 54 case studies name the COLLINS team that did the work, and 52 tag the client's company stage 8 12.

Weak spots

  • No published prices or minimum budget, and no intake form; the route in is an email address 7.
  • Weighted to large companies: 29 of 54 case studies are tagged Enterprise and 1 is tagged Small 8 23.
  • Its D&AD ranking has fallen: No. 1 Design Agency in 2021, No. 34 in 2022, No. 28 in 2023, No. 100 in 2025 10.
  • Some credits name outside studios: Animade as partner on Figma, TEKIO for the Bose typeface and DINAMO on San Francisco Symphony 28 29 32, and the Avon and Helios House credits list Ogilvy & Mather 33 26.
  • Results on program pages are self-reported, and some name no client, such as 3x growth in 18 months after a Brand Refresh 19.

Alternatives to COLLINS

Head to head

COLLINS: common questions

How much does COLLINS charge?

COLLINS publishes no prices, rates or minimum budget; new projects start by email to [email protected] 7. Its case studies tag most clients as Enterprise or Growth stage: 29 and 11 of 54 8.

Is COLLINS independent?

As of D&AD's 2023 rankings, yes: D&AD placed COLLINS in its Independent Agency table 10. Its LinkedIn page lists the company type as Partnership 1, and co-founder Leland Maschmeyer is CEO 9. COLLINS publishes no ownership statement on its own site 7.

What did COLLINS do for Spotify?

COLLINS advised Spotify to compete on personalized music experiences and evolved the Spotify brand to match 12. The case study credits that focus with Spotify's valuation rising from $6B to $19B; the figure is COLLINS' own claim 12.

Sources

  1. COLLINS (company page on LinkedIn). COLLINS | LinkedIn. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  2. Ad Age. Best Agencies: 2024 A-List Awards. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  3. Ad Age. Best Agencies: 2025 A-List Awards. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  4. Ad Age. A-List 2021 Best Design Agency: Collins. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  5. Ad Age. Best Agencies: 2023 A-List Awards. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  6. Ad Age. Best Agencies: 2026 A-List Awards. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  7. COLLINS. COLLINS. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  8. COLLINS. Case Studies | COLLINS. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  9. COLLINS. Team | COLLINS. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  10. D&AD. Collins: D&AD company profile and rankings. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  11. COLLINS. Programs | COLLINS. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  12. COLLINS. Spotify | COLLINS. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  13. COLLINS. Twitch | COLLINS. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  14. COLLINS. Mailchimp | COLLINS. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  15. COLLINS. Arcane | COLLINS. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  16. COLLINS. Brand Creation | COLLINS. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  17. COLLINS. Architecture Restructure | COLLINS. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  18. COLLINS. Value-Market Fit | COLLINS. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  19. COLLINS. Brand Refresh | COLLINS. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  20. COLLINS. Legence | COLLINS. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  21. COLLINS. OYO | COLLINS. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  22. COLLINS. Robinhood | COLLINS. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  23. COLLINS. Anson Calder | COLLINS. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  24. COLLINS. Target: up&up | COLLINS. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  25. COLLINS. Target: Modern by Dwell | COLLINS. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  26. COLLINS. Helios House | COLLINS. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  27. COLLINS. Muse Group | COLLINS. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  28. COLLINS. Figma | COLLINS. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  29. COLLINS. Bose | COLLINS. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  30. Ad Age. How Collins transformed its own business, bringing value to brands from Nike to NASA (Collins: A-List 2026). Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  31. COLLINS. Dropbox | COLLINS. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  32. COLLINS. San Francisco Symphony | COLLINS. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  33. COLLINS. Avon | COLLINS. Checked 9 Nov 2026.