Branding, website design, content creation, e-commerce design, web development, graphic design, user experience…the list of options in design goes on. If you’re looking for the best design agency in Nottingham to suit your aims and objectives, you might start feeling pretty overwhelmed with all the options and who to choose.
Luckily, we’re here to help!
Normally, blogs like this list a bunch of recommendations and finish with the authoring company themselves – cheeky huh? Not today! Whilst we believe in our great quality services, in order to provide you with the most valuable list of who actually are the best design agencies in Nottingham, we’ve removed ourselves from the running.
As a design agency ourselves, we’ve got the experience and skills to offer an objective opinion. Over the years we’ve reviewed hundreds of our competitors, but in this blog today we have shortlisted these six great agencies.
We think these companies are brilliant and would happily recommend them to clients and prospects. Sometimes we even work with them in order to provide the best possible service for clients and so we know many of the teams personally.
Read more: Who are the best design agencies in London?
When choosing a design agency, it’s important to be clear on your objective and choose a team that can help you achieve it. Some agencies specialise in a specific technology or design style, whilst others offer a full range of services.
Whilst yes some of these companies are our direct competitors, there is plenty of work to go around and we just want you, our reader/prospect/client to get the best possible value and outcome on your project!
Read more about getting the most from your digital design agency to help you understand what to think about during this selection process.
Right, let’s get to it – in this blog, you’ll find a short overview of each agency, the services they offer, what they are best suited for and finally a short opinion from us!
Best design agency for branding: ThreeRooms
Who are they? ThreeRooms are a strategic creative agency that creates and transforms brands to engage audiences and make change happen.
Which services do they offer?
- Strategy
- Brand
- Creative
- Activation
What are they best suited for?
Whilst the team at Three Rooms offer a whole range of services, it’s their branding work that really stands out for us.
What do we think?
For us here at Strafe branding is broken down into two major elements; the initial idea and the overall execution. This is where ThreeRooms excels – not only are their ideas awesome, but they’re great at pushing that idea into a full brand creation. On top of this their brand extensions are excellent and the look/feel always suits the target personas perfectly.
We love the work they did on the British Geological Society brand, especially as this will probably have been quite a difficult brief given the heritage and history associated with it. Modernising a heritage brand is a tricky ask – not only must you stay true to the history but you’ve got to bring the brand into the modern day and beyond. The ideas for this project are really strong and the brand extensions are excellent, allowing them to brand up imagery really simply whilst staying true to the new logo. See the branding.
Best full-service design agency: Framework
Who are they? At Framework Design we’re dedicated to providing unique creative solutions that make your business stand out from the crowd. Everything we produce follows our tried and tested process ensuring we deliver at the highest quality and on time.
Which services do they offer?
- Brand – strategy, development, guidelines
- Design – graphic, web, illustration
- Digital – web development, app development, hosting, support
- Content Creation – video & film, animation, photography, copywriting
What are they best suited for?
The team at Framework offer a full range of high-quality design services meaning they can work with you throughout the full design process, taking you from the brand strategy right through to content for social media.
What do we think?
This agency is the most similar to us here at Strafe; their work is of high quality and their style is really brave. If you’re looking for all your branding, web design and content to be created, Framework is a brilliant team who will definitely give you a great outcome!
We love the cohesive digital strategy they created for their client Speedo. Simple, but effective, this well-thought-through site is easy to navigate and digest. The beautiful photography really brings it to life helping the project stand out, plus it’s a great brand!
Best design agency for Craft CMS: Abstrakt
Who are they? As an agency based in Nottingham, we specialise in customer experience and achieving results by delivering engaging experiences, both digitally and offline.
We’ve made a point of redefining what you’ve come to expect from a digital agency and we work hard to ensure that our client’s goals and objectives are met and exceeded, no matter how big or small the project. An agency should make a difference to a business and that’s what we’re here to do.
Which services do they offer?
- Web Design
- Web Development
- Digital Marketing
- Branding
- Graphic Design
What are they best suited for?
The team at Abstrakt specialise in designing for Craft CMS. Craft is a newer content management system offering intuitive interactions and bespoke designs, which Abstrakt love. They’re a verified partner meaning their work on this platform is always up to date and brilliant.
What do we think?
This small yet mighty team have worked with some big clients including Ella’s Kitchen and Tweezerman. They offer a full range of services, from branding to web design and development, each service delivering well-thought-through and brave designs.
As they focus on Craft CMS they’ve been able to get a really deep understanding of it and have had some great results. We’ve got a great relationship with their MD Lauren and their general style is quite similar to Strafe so that’s probably why we find their work so great!
We love the work the team did for an Apple Reseller in Nottingham, KRCS (read the story here). Reseller brands often have a tough time positioning themselves as they’re competing with all the direct sales channels.
Despite this challenge, Abstrakt gave KRCS a new lease of life, helping the brand build trust and credibility with customers immediately through clean and clear branding. It’s been a great success and KRCS continues to thrive in the Midlands!
Best design agency for Shopify: Juno
Who are they? E-commerce. It’s what we do.
For over 12 years, Juno has been supporting growing businesses on their mission to become a global brand. Our team of creatives and developers work to revamp your site, launch new marketing strategies and increase your overall revenue. It’s how the little fishes can start making the big bucks, and how the big fishes can start raking in even more cash.
The bottom line? We’re here to make your life easier.
Which services do they offer?
- Marketing
- Web Design
- Development
- Content & Strategy
- Copywriting
- Branding
- Integration
- Progressive Web Apps
- Ongoing Support
- Animation
What are they best suited for?
The team at Juno specialise in working with Shopify Plus, typically with larger enterprise clients such as Nottingham Forest and Camelbak.
Read more: How much do Shopify experts actually cost?
What do we think?
The design and development work at Juno is high quality and performs very well – however, this does come with a higher price tag. The team are Shopify experts and have really deep-dived into the platform to offer the best quality service. On top of that, they go above and beyond for their clients and the quality of their work is second to none.
Juno also owns Patchworks, a platform development company which gives the team access to specialist platforms and updates that help improve the experience for their clients. We are in regular contact with CEO Dave and MD Brit and love collaborating with them if and when possible.
We love the work Juno did for Chinti and Park (read more here). As the cashmere brand garnered some high-profile clients, they wanted to upgrade to a high-converting, e-commerce site. You can see on each product page really showcases the imagery, with a parallax scrolling CTA on the right-hand side. A clean mobile experience and of course, with Shopify the buying experience is great!
Note: parallax scrolling is when the CTA stays ‘sticky’ and visible on one side of the page and the other side scrolls down to reveal more details.
Best design agency for Magento CMS – JH
Who are they?
JH is a digital agency based in Nottingham that specialises in creating eCommerce websites on the Magento platform. Over the past ten years, we’ve worked with a broad spectrum of brands, providing strategy, design, and development for online stores that are used by millions of people. Our industry-leading practice has cultivated long-term client relationships, won international eCommerce awards, and allowed us to grow the business year on year.
Which services do they offer?
- E-Commerce Web Design
- E-Commerce Web Development
What are they best suited for?
JH specialise in building e-commerce websites specifically on Magento CMS. This platform is best suited for larger companies that have thousands of products which require lots of categorisation.
What do we think?
The team have niched down into the world of Magento, won awards and even organise the UK’s official Magento conference, ‘Meet Magenta UK’. They’re the best agency when it comes to Magento, not even just in Nottingham but across the UK.
This is absolutely the best agency for enterprise-level e-commerce, firstly because it’s usually larger organisations that need Magento and secondly the price point is much higher given their level of expertise.
We don’t offer Magenta at Strafe so we regularly recommend the team at JH for projects – they’re honestly amazing.
We love the work they did on the WorkWear Express website – it really suits the persona type that requires its services. Whilst it’s not the flashiest website they’ve ever built, the complexity of the build is all behind the scenes; users can easily customise their choices before ordering. The overall UX is excellent and it’s proved to be a huge success – read the full story.
Best design agency for Packaging Design: Equator Design
Who are they?
At Equator we have a deep bench of talent across all our departments and locations, allowing us to respond with agility from strategy to shelf. Our 23-year love affair with retail and branding means we are perfectly positioned to help you achieve your business and brand vision.
Which services do they offer?
Packaging Design:
- Strategy & Research
- Concept
- Design
- Photography
- Illustration
- Artwork & Repro
What are they best suited for?
They specialise in global packaging design and have worked with some of the world’s biggest brands.
What do we think?
They are one of the best packaging design agencies you can find – infact they’re pretty famous in the industry for the quality of their designs and DTC packaging; you can see a huge amount of what they do on your local Co-Op or Waitrose shelf. I will always recommend these guys for anything to do with packaging or retail-based design – even though it’s the only company on the list we don’t know personally.
Whilst you’ll likely need quite a big budget to work with them, they will aim to work with you on lower budget design work where possible.
We love the work they did for Essential Waitrose – an entry-level price point without compromising on the quality of the products. If you compare it to the classic basics brands from Asda or Tesco, which are designed to look cheap, then this branding really stands out. On top of this, there are 100s of products to take into consideration, from apple juice to brownie bars – the design had to work across the whole portfolio, and it really does!
