Best Brand Design Agency

Ranked #7 of 14 for best brand design agency

Koto review

A London-headquartered brand and digital studio, founded in 2015, that modernized Amazon's brand across more than 50 sub-brands 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

7.6/10

Koto fits tech and consumer platforms that want strategy, identity, product design and launch campaigns from one team: it modernized Amazon's brand across more than 50 sub-brands and redrew Instagram's wordmark 3 4.

Best for Tech and platform rebrands

Skip it if you need a published price or minimum budget before you make contact 5, or you want a studio with a deep design-award record: D&AD's company page lists one ranking year for Koto, 36th among design agencies in 2025 6.

Visit Koto (opens the Koto website)

Koto at a glance
Founded2015, by James Greenfield, Caroline Matthews and Jowey Roden 1; its UK company, Koto Studio Ltd, was incorporated on 5 November 2014 72
OwnershipFounder-led; private equity firm WestBridge invested in April 2025 8 and the three founders kept a major shareholding2
StudiosLos Angeles, New York, London, Berlin and Sydney, plus contacts in Shanghai and Singapore; registered office in London 95
Team152 people listed on the About page; 230 people across eight studios after Koto bought Stereo Creative in September 2026 1011
ServicesStrategy, Brand, Digital and Campaign, including naming, verbal identity, motion and sonic identity, UX and video production12
Case studies37 projects on its projects page (our count, 2026-11-09), plus long-term partnerships with Microsoft and Google since 2023 13 1415
D&AD36th Design Agency and 40th Independent Agency in the 2025 rankings; 2025 Wood Pencils for the Faculty 16 and Google Fitbit Ace LTE 17 identities6
Published minimum budgetNot published; new projects start by email or phone to a studio5

How Koto scores

Score breakdown for Koto
Body of work 30%8.8Koto made the first update to Amazon's logo in over 20 years, in an 18-month program across 15 markets and more than 50 sub-brands 3, redrew Instagram's wordmark with the Instagram team 4 and unified Call of Duty under one identity 18. Its projects page also lists WhatsApp, Tripadvisor and Nubank 15, and a separate case study covers Microsoft Copilot+PC 19. Its investor WestBridge says Koto was design partner on the LA28 Look of the Games 20; LA28's own announcement credits the LA28 design team and does not name Koto 21.
Recognition 20%6.5D&AD ranked Koto 36th among design agencies and 40th among independent agencies in 2025, with 7 points from 3 winning entries, and its company page lists no other ranking year 6. In 2025 the Faculty and Google Fitbit Ace LTE identities each won a Wood Pencil in New Brand Identity 16 17. Transform Awards North America gave its Microsoft work a Silver in 2024, then two Silvers and a Bronze in 2025 22 23. Its 2026 listing among The Times Best Places to Work is a workplace ranking 24.
Strategy depth 15%8.5Strategy is one of four service lines and covers brand positioning, research and insight, architecture, and naming and nomenclature; verbal identity sits under Brand 12. Case studies show it in practice: a two-day ethnographic study with 10 creators for Adobe 25, strategy, brand architecture and a verbal identity for Rakbank 26, a repositioning and new tone of voice for Stack Overflow 27 and the De-Extinction name 28. Its Microsoft 50th anniversary work won Transform Silver for tone of voice in 2025 23.
Access and fit 15%6.0No prices, minimum budget or intake form are published; the contact page lists a named lead, email address and phone number for each of seven locations 5. Clients run from De-Extinction at its earliest stage 28 to Amazon and Microsoft 3 13, and its investor describes the roster as Fortune 500 companies and scale-up brands 2.
Range of delivery 10%8.5Services run from UX, interface design and design systems to motion, sound and haptics, sonic identity and video production 12. Case studies show a TVC, signage, wayfinding and an app component library for Rakbank 26, the nu.com website and launch films for Nubank 29, and in-game UI, packaging and merchandise for Call of Duty 18. Some craft comes from partners: an outside type foundry worked on the Amazon and Call of Duty typefaces 3 18, and Riot LCP credits outside studios for broadcast, arena and music video 30. In 2026 Koto launched its own type foundry, CC Type 31.
Transparency 10%6.0The About page lists 152 people with titles 11, the contact page gives studio addresses, leads and phone numbers 5, and the terms page names the operating company, Koto Studio Ltd 9. Of the 37 projects on its projects page, only the Adobe study names a Koto team member, its senior strategy director 15 25. No prices, budgets or process steps are published 5. Records disagree on basics: Koto gives 2015 as its founding year while its UK company dates from November 2014, and LinkedIn lists Koto as a public company while Companies House records a private limited company 1 7 32.

Strengths and weak spots

Strengths

  • Platform-scale identity work: Amazon's parent brand and more than 50 sub-brands across 15 markets, Instagram's wordmark, WhatsApp and Call of Duty 3 4 33 18.
  • Strategy and verbal work sit next to design: naming, research and verbal identity are listed services, and case studies show the De-Extinction name, an ethnographic study for Adobe and a new tone of voice for Stack Overflow 12 28 25 27.
  • Delivery runs past the identity: an app component library and TVC for Rakbank, the nu.com website for Nubank and in-game UI for Call of Duty 26 29 18.
  • Long-running work for Microsoft, across more than 78 workstreams, and for Google, including Gemini's brand systems, both since 2023 13 14.
  • Each studio's lead, email address and phone number are on the contact page 5.

Weak spots

  • No published prices, minimum budget or process; new projects start by email or phone to a studio 5.
  • A thin design-award record for its client list: D&AD lists one ranking year, 36th among design agencies in 2025, with two Wood Pencils that year 6 16 17.
  • Private equity backed since April 2025 and buying other studios: Stereo Creative is the first of several planned acquisitions 8 2 10.
  • Some specialist craft comes from partners: an outside type foundry on the Amazon and Call of Duty typefaces, Lewis McGuffie on Huntington Serif, and outside studios for Riot LCP's broadcast, arena and music video 3 18 34 30.

Alternatives to Koto

Head to head

Koto: common questions

How much does Koto charge?

Koto publishes no prices, day rates or minimum budget. Its contact page lists a named lead, email address and phone number for Los Angeles, New York, London, Berlin, Sydney, Shanghai and Singapore 5.

Is Koto independent?

No advertising holding group appears in Koto's ownership. Private equity firm WestBridge invested in April 2025 and says the three founders kept a major shareholding 35 8 2. Companies House traces Koto Studio Ltd up a chain of holding companies to Dragon 123 Limited, where WestBridge III GP LLP holds 25% to 50% of the shares and the right to appoint or remove directors 36 37 38 39 40. D&AD placed Koto in its 2025 Independent Agency ranking 6.

What did Koto do for Amazon?

In an 18-month project across 15 markets and more than 50 sub-brands, Koto made the first update to the Amazon logo in over 20 years, unified the brand's oranges into Smile Orange and, with an outside type foundry, created Ember Modern, which supports 364 languages 3.

Sources

  1. Koto. Koto, an international creative agency building impactful brands. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  2. WestBridge. WestBridge invests in global creative agency. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  3. Koto. Amazon. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  4. Koto. Instagram. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  5. Koto. Contact Koto: Get in touch with our team. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  6. D&AD. Koto. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  7. Companies House. KOTO STUDIO LTD overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  8. WestBridge. WestBridge backed Koto makes first acquisition as it accelerates global growth. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  9. Koto. Terms of use: Website use and policies. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  10. Koto. Koto acquires Stereo to build a new global studio network. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  11. Koto. Who we are at Koto: our team, our story, our values. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  12. Koto. Our Services: strategy, branding, digital, and marketing. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  13. Koto. Microsoft. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  14. Koto. Google. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  15. Koto. Case studies and impactful partnerships at Koto. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  16. D&AD. Faculty (D&AD Awards archive). Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  17. D&AD. Google Fitbit Ace LTE (D&AD Awards archive). Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  18. Koto. Call of Duty. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  19. Koto. Microsoft Copilot+PC. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  20. WestBridge. Koto named design partner for LA28 Olympics. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  21. LA28. LA28 Debuts the Official Look of the Games. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  22. Transform magazine. 2024 Transform Awards NA. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  23. Transform magazine. 2025 Transform Awards NA. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  24. Koto. Koto is named one of The Times Best Places to Work. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  25. Koto. Adobe. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  26. Koto. Rakbank. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  27. Koto. Stack Overflow Rebrand: A legacy recoded. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  28. Koto. De-extinction. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  29. Koto. Nubank. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  30. Koto. Riot LCP. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  31. Koto. Koto launches CC Type with a typeface built for modern brands. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  32. LinkedIn. Koto | LinkedIn. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  33. Koto. Whatsapp. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  34. Koto. Huntington Bank. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  35. WestBridge. Private equity. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  36. Companies House. KOTO STUDIO LTD persons with significant control - Find and update company information - GOV.UK. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  37. Companies House. THE RAT AND TWO HORSES LIMITED persons with significant control - Find and update company information - GOV.UK. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  38. Companies House. DRAGON 789 LIMITED persons with significant control - Find and update company information - GOV.UK. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  39. Companies House. DRAGON 456 LIMITED persons with significant control - Find and update company information - GOV.UK. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  40. Companies House. DRAGON 123 LIMITED persons with significant control - Find and update company information - GOV.UK. Checked 9 Nov 2026.