Best Design Agencies in Minneapolis (2026)

Introduction

Minneapolis and St Paul have 11 design agencies worth a close look in 2026, most of them small multidisciplinary studios that move between print, packaging, environments and identity. They were chosen for the range of their practice and the strength of their current client rosters.

The local design scene has long roots. Joe Duffy started his firm in 1984 in partnership with the ad agency Fallon, McElligott & Rice, and Sharon Werner worked at Duffy Design for seven years before founding Werner Design Werks in 1991. Consumer brands and Target’s retail programmes appear across many of the portfolios here, and some older firms have widened their offer: Duffy now trades as Duffy Collective and sells websites, SEO and AI integration alongside identity and packaging.

Every studio here showed a Twin Cities studio or office on a page checked in late 2026. Strategy-led identity firms sit on our branding list and product specialists on our UX list. This list is unranked, as the right choice depends on the brief, the budget and how much of the making you want done under one roof.

The best design agencies in Minneapolis

1. Capsule

Founder-led · Northeast · capsule.us

Capsule has worked from Marshall Street NE since 1999 and is still led by its co-founders, Aaron Keller and Brian Adducci. It describes itself as a special projects agency, and the team covers research, naming, identity, packaging, digital and experiential work. The studio lists recognition from AIGA, Communication Arts, Graphis and the Pentawards, among others.

Featured projects include packaging system standards for Osprey, a consumer brand for the dairy farmers behind Dinner Bell Creamery, and a clinic design for Bright Blue Health Center. Testimonials on its site come from Hydro Flask, Red Wing Shoes and Tyson Foods. It is a sensible first call when packaging is the centre of the brief.

2. Werner Design Werks

Founder-owned · St Paul · wdw.com

Sharon Werner founded the studio in 1991 after seven years at Duffy Design. Werner Design Werks covers brand development, packaging, logos, environments, products and publications, and Werner’s work is held in the permanent collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum and Cooper Hewitt. The practice has also co-authored a series of type-based children’s books.

Its project list includes Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day, Cabot Creamery, Lucini, Peace Coffee and Tahiti Rum, and a 2017 conference biography records that Target named it Vendor of the Year. That biography described a three-person firm, so expect close contact with the founder and check capacity for larger programmes.

3. Replace

Founder-led · North Minneapolis · designreplace.com

Replace is a brand design firm of artists and writers that has been operating since 1996, led by founder Jeffrey K. Johnson, who was also founder and creative director of Spunk Design Machine. Its services run wide: identity, packaging, signage, environmental graphics, typeface design, editorial, menus, vehicles and apparel. Its “MN Invents” posters entered the permanent collections of the Minnesota Historical Society and the 3M Innovation Center in 2016.

Clients include the New York Stock Exchange, the Minnesota State Fair, Geek Squad and JonnyPops. The studio also has a civic strand, having worked for the cities of Northfield, Willmar, Becker, Delano and Columbia Heights.

4. Hi, Hello

Independent · Whittier · hi-hello.co

Hi, Hello is a branding studio on West 26th Street that lists strategy, identity, digital, packaging, print and spaces as its disciplines. The spaces work is the distinguishing part: for Brown-Forman it designed office environments and Garvin’s Grounds, a gathering space at the company’s headquarters.

Much of its portfolio is made for people inside large companies. For Pinterest it has produced an employee onboarding experience, a Women’s Conference brand system and the naming and identity for its social impact platform, and Coinbase Learning is an employee education brand. Other clients include Calyxt and Fairview Pharmacy Solutions.

5. Malley

Partner-run · Northeast · malley.design

Malley was established in 2005 and is run by partners Bryan, Ben and Denae Malley from Tyler Street NE. The team of nine works across brand, environmental, motion, print and web, and it concentrates on professional and financial firms, nonprofits and churches.

Saorsa Ranch, a brand, print and environmental project, shows the range. Other recent work includes Lost Loon, a cannabis brand, the Sauna Water beverage and iTValuations, an M&A firm. Service firms that need signage and print as well as a website will find the mix useful.

6. Studio MPLS

Independent · South Minneapolis · studiompls.com

Studio MPLS describes its team as artists specialising in branding, packaging and illustration, with print collateral, naming, photography and 3D rendering also on its services list. Its illustration work features heavily in its food and drink packaging.

Current portfolio projects include Rishi Tea & Botanicals, Happy Ending Cocktails, Little Sesame, Yoke Outdoors and Sola Coffee Co. Client testimonials on its site also come from Panda Express and Jack Daniel’s.

7. Eight Hour Day

Partner-run · North Loop · eighthourday.com

Eight Hour Day is a design and illustration studio run by Katie Kirk and Nathan Strandberg from Washington Avenue North. The work covers branding, posters, books, murals, apparel and letterpress prints, and the studio is represented by Closer&Closer.

Target is its most frequent client, with holiday packaging, in-store signage and murals on the project list. Recent and notable work also includes IKEA’s Holiday Collection 2025, murals for Databricks and Minnesota United, and conference branding for Intercom.

8. Aesthetic Apparatus

Independent · South Minneapolis · aestheticapparatus.com

Aesthetic Apparatus is a graphic design, illustration and printmaking studio founded by Dan Ibarra and Michael Byzewski. Posters are its best-known output, and it also takes on packaging, logos, identity, merchandise and magazine illustration. Prints are sold through its own online shop.

The portfolio names Bob Mould, Trampled By Turtles, Fulton Brewing, Knickerbocker Gin, IKEA and The New York Times. It suits briefs where the printed object matters, such as a music project, a brewery label or a limited run.

9. Studio2

Independent · Downtown St Paul · studio2info.com

Studio2 Design + Digital has worked since 2000 from Minnesota Street in St Paul, with a second office in Holland, Michigan. It handles branding, packaging, graphic design and websites, and it runs its own web hosting and maintenance service, which is useful for clients without an in-house web team.

Featured projects include the Discover Stillwater Visitor Guide, Seven Hawks Vineyards wine labels and work for Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral and TDS Gift Cards.

10. Duffy

Independent · Minneapolis · duffy.com

Duffy, now trading as Duffy Collective, has been working since 1984, which makes it one of the longest-running design names in the city. Joe Duffy received AIGA’s Legacy Medal, and the firm’s packaging history runs through Minute Maid, Diet Coke, Fresca, Summit beer and Starbucks.

The firm now describes itself as a brand and digital agency, adding websites, SEO, AI integration and content to its identity and packaging work. Current projects include Masterpiece Automobile, Red Locks Irish Whiskey and Speedland. Clients who come for packaging should ask how much of the current team’s time goes on it.

11. Little & Co

Independent · Northeast · littleco.com

Little & Co, also known as Little & Company, cites a brand design history of more than 45 years and works from First Avenue NE. It organises its services under brand strategy and brand expression, and it describes its focus as brand transformation, which places it towards the larger end of this list in scope.

Current case studies include King Arthur Baking Company, Lagunitas, the playground maker Landscape Structures and KI Wall. It suits established companies refreshing a brand across many touchpoints.

What to look for in a Minneapolis design agency

Start with what you need made. Most studios here will design an identity, but far fewer take on signage, environmental graphics or physical spaces. Replace, Malley, Hi, Hello and Werner Design Werks all show this work, and asking to see photographs of finished installations will tell you more than renders.

Consider studio size as a feature of the brief. Several firms on this list are small enough that founders do much of the work themselves, which suits packaging ranges and identity projects with a clear decision-maker. A Fortune 500 rollout with many stakeholders may need more project management than a small studio can offer, so ask who will run the schedule.

Check for category experience, since the Twin Cities have clear pockets of it. Food and drink is the deepest, given the region’s consumer brands, and retail work for Target has shaped several studios’ portfolios. A studio that knows print production and retail packaging rules will save time at the proofing stage.

Then look at how the studio handles production and review. Multidisciplinary work means many file types and rounds of feedback from people outside the design team, including printers and fabricators. It is reasonable to ask where the latest files live, how comments are collected and who confirms that a change has been made.

How Fabric helps design agency teams

Fabric gives a design studio one workspace for its files, client feedback and project knowledge. Layout files, packaging artwork and photography sit in Fabric’s cloud drive, which streams files on demand so they take no local disk space. Shared team folders hold the latest versions, and the built-in viewer opens files without a full download.

Studios that work across print, packaging and environments build up large visual archives. Search works by meaning across documents, images and PDFs, and colour search finds visual assets by shade. Similar search starts from a selected image and finds others with related composition, colour and subject, which helps when pulling references from past work. Early concept work can go on a canvas, an infinite whiteboard that embeds Figma files and exports to SVG or PNG.

Client feedback runs through shared links. Share a file or folder with the client as a commenter, and they can review without signing up. Annotations let them highlight and comment on PDFs and documents, draw on images and attach a comment to the drawing, and leave timestamped comments on video and audio, including a drawing on the video frame. The team marks each comment completed as it goes, so feedback works like a checklist.

For finished work, any file or folder can be published as a web page, with password protection if needed. Published links are view-only, with optional download, which suits final brand guidelines that a client’s suppliers need to read but should not edit.

Password protection is included on Pro and Team plans. See plans for teams.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best design agency in Minneapolis?

There is no single answer, as it depends on what you need made. Capsule and Werner Design Werks have long records in packaging, Replace has one of the widest service lists, and Hi, Hello stands out for spaces and work made for employees.

What is the difference between a design agency and a branding agency?

The two overlap, and most firms here also design identities. This list favours studios that make a wide range of things, including print, packaging and environments. Firms that lead with strategy and identity systems are covered in our list of Minneapolis branding agencies.

Which Minneapolis design studios work on signage and environments?

Replace lists signage and environmental graphics among its services, and Malley shows environmental work for clients such as Saorsa Ranch. Hi, Hello designed office and gathering spaces for Brown-Forman, and Werner Design Werks lists environments as a discipline. Eight Hour Day is a good option for murals.

Which Minneapolis studios are strongest in packaging?

Capsule, Werner Design Werks, Studio MPLS and Duffy all have packaging at the centre of their portfolios. Studio2 has done wine and drinks labels, and Aesthetic Apparatus takes on packaging with a print-led approach.

Does this list include St Paul?

Yes. Twin Cities studios are included, and two on this list are based in St Paul: Werner Design Werks on Payne Avenue and Studio2 on Minnesota Street.

Related lists

Design agencies in other cities: New York · London · Los Angeles · Chicago · Toronto

More in Minneapolis: Creative agencies · Branding agencies · UX design agencies · Advertising agencies · Photography studios · Animation

Run your studio on Fabric: Fabric for designers · Fabric for creative teams · Best design feedback tools