Best Branding Agencies in Dublin (2026)

Introduction

Dublin’s branding work comes largely from a small group of studios and consultancies, and the 8 below are the ones whose strategy and identity practice could be checked for 2026. Most are studio-sized and work across Irish state bodies, consumer brands, cultural institutions and professional services, often for years at a time.

The past two years gave the scene some visible public projects. Zero-G created Ireland’s identity for Expo 2025 in Osaka. Dublin City Council replaced its 2002 Three Castles mark on 28 January 2026 with a bilingual identity led by Carr Communications, after a two-year process. Red&Grey took a Gold Bell in print design at the 2025 ICAD Awards, and RichardsDee took five awards at the 2025 Transform Europe Brand Awards. Unthink became a certified B Corp in January 2026.

Every firm here shows an active Dublin studio or office in 2026. Selection rested on strategy and identity work, recent recognition and the strength of each client list. The list is unranked, since the right choice depends on your brief, your sector and how much strategy you need before design begins.

The best branding agencies in Dublin

1. Image Now

Irish studio · Drury Street · imagenow.ie

Image Now describes itself as a brand consultancy and design studio, and its timeline runs from 1992 to 2026. Darrell Kavanagh is managing director. The work covers naming, brand architecture and visual identity, and extends further into wayfinding, signage and interiors than most Dublin studios.

Major projects include the An Post rebrand and signage, the rollout of PTSB’s rebranded branches and wayfinding guidelines for Irish Rail. Recent work includes South Dublin County Council’s rebrand and brand architecture, and naming and identity for Gofer Hospitality. ICAD Silver Bells include PTSB and National Parks. It suits organisations whose brand has to work in physical space as well as on screen.

2. Zero-G

Partner-led · Capel Street · zero-g.ie

Zero-G calls itself a Dublin design studio that “ignites and harnesses change”. Partners JP O’Malley (strategy) and Jason Delahunty (creative) run a practice in three parts: strategy, identity and culture. The culture strand covers purpose, values and employee engagement, so the studio often works on change inside an organisation as well as how it looks.

Recent projects include Ireland’s identity for Expo 2025 in Osaka, a new name and identity for wealth manager Fordel, and work for the National Museum of Ireland, Nearform and PSB Insights. Verbal identity and naming sit alongside the visual work, which is useful when a rename is on the table.

3. RichardsDee

Co-founder led · O’Connell Street · richardsdee.com

RichardsDee is a strategic branding consultancy founded in 2012 and led by Celine Dee (strategy) and Simon Richards (creative). It works from a five-floor studio on O’Connell Street Lower. Services are brand strategy, voice, identity and employee engagement. The firm won five awards across two projects at the 2025 Transform Europe Brand Awards, after three wins in 2024 for its work with Debra Ireland.

The client list is heavy on energy, utilities and food: Power NI, Energia Group, Gas Networks Ireland, Uisce Éireann, Kerry Group and Kerry Dairy Ireland, plus law firm McCann FitzGerald and Alltech. It suits large organisations that need staff brought along with a rebrand.

4. Unthink

Certified B Corp · Mary’s Abbey · unthink.ie

Unthink is a branding and digital agency that had a busy 2026: B Corp certification in January, a Webby Award for the Limerick School of Art & Design website in May, and coverage of its OMOS rebrand on The Brand Identity in August. It also lists 1% for the Planet and Design Declares among its affiliations.

Work spans education, culture, health tech and hospitality, including Dublin City University, Creative Futures Academy, FoodMarble, The Walls Project and Bar Pez. Branding and digital are often delivered as one project, which helps if the website is the main place the new identity will live.

5. Red&Grey

Irish studio · Portobello · redandgrey.ie

Red&Grey is a design and branding studio on Lennox Street with more than 23 years of practice. It reports over 30 Irish and European awards from ICAD, IDI and the European Design Awards, and took a Gold Bell in print design at the 2025 ICADs for its Creative Arts Summer School work.

It created branding for the Wild Atlantic Way, along with identity work for NCAD, Perigus Energy and the Architects’ Council of Europe. Other clients include An Post, Fáilte Ireland, IMMA, RTÉ, Trinity College Dublin and Ørsted. The mix of national tourism and international institutional clients is less common for a studio of its scale.

6. Neworld

Irish agency · Harold’s Cross · neworld.com

Neworld is a creative branding agency with over 35 years of experience, working across strategy, design, packaging and digital from Greenmount Avenue. Packaging and hospitality are the clearest specialisms in its portfolio.

Hospitality clients include The Shelbourne, Adare Manor, The Killarney Park and Montenotte. Food and drink work includes Flahavan’s, Glenisk, Áine’s Handmade Chocolate and Kish Fish, with software firm eDesk and Slane Castle also listed. It is a natural first call for a hotel group or food producer planning a rebrand.

7. True Story

Irish agency · Pleasants Street · truestory.ie

True Story is a brand strategy and identity agency near Portobello, grouping its work into corporate, drinks and grocery. That focus on consumer goods sets it apart from the more public-sector studios on this list.

Projects include Keogh’s crisps, Insomnia Coffee, Wines Direct, Sailor’s Home Irish Whisky and the National Lottery, with ESB on the corporate side. For Irish food and drink brands, the portfolio gives plenty of comparable work to review before a first meeting.

8. Idea

Irish agency · Lad Lane · idea.ie

Idea has operated for over 25 years from Clarendon Mews, with branding offered next to marketing consultancy, web, advertising and video. It is the most integrated firm on this list, and suits clients who want the brand and the launch campaign handled by one team.

Branding projects include GEM (“Rebranding for Growth”), Rycroft, and place branding for Ballymore’s Hampton Demesne and Ballinderry Gardens developments. Campaign clients include EirGrid and Dublin Port, and AIB, UCD and the National Gallery of Ireland appear among its client logos.

What to look for in a Dublin branding agency

Start by working out how much strategy the project needs. Firms such as RichardsDee and Zero-G run research, positioning and employee engagement as distinct services, while others come in closer to the design stage. On a large rebrand the early phase can be substantial: Dublin City Council’s identity had five to six months of research before any ideation began.

Ask how the identity will perform in the places it has to live. Many Irish briefs involve signage, fleet, wayfinding or retail branches, and studios such as Image Now have direct experience there. Public bodies should also ask about bilingual work. The Dublin City Council identity sets Irish first, with feedback from the Irish Language Commissioner before final approval, and it is reasonable to ask for examples of how a studio has handled the same issue.

Sector experience varies more than the similar-looking websites suggest. Neworld and True Story show deep food, drink and hospitality portfolios, while Red&Grey and Unthink lean towards culture and education. Ask to see two or three comparable projects, and ask who on the current team worked on them. The Dublin market is small enough that a reference call is easy to arrange.

Finally, agree what you will receive at handover and how approvals will run. A rebrand produces guidelines, templates, logo files and rollout assets, and these need a clear home once the project ends. Rounds of feedback from senior stakeholders can also lose time when they sit in separate email threads, so it helps to settle early on one place for review.

How Fabric helps branding agency teams

Fabric gives a branding team one workspace for files, client feedback and project knowledge, with AI search across all of it. The brand identity setup keeps research, positioning decks, identity routes and final assets together for each client, and brand strategy teams can search interview transcripts and workshop notes alongside the work they informed.

Early-stage work often starts on a canvas, an infinite whiteboard that embeds Figma and YouTube and exports to SVG or PNG, which suits moodboards. Search works by meaning across documents, images and transcribed recordings, and colour search finds visual assets by shade. Similar search surfaces past work with a comparable composition, colour or subject. Heavy files sit in the cloud drive, which streams them on demand and takes no local disk space.

Client feedback goes through sharing. Share a folder of identity routes with the client as a commenter, and they can use the link without signing up. Annotations let them draw on an image and attach a comment to the drawing, highlight text in a PDF of the guidelines, or leave timestamped comments on a logo animation or sonic mark. The team marks each comment completed, so a round of feedback works like a checklist. There is more on this workflow under review and approval.

Finished brand guidelines can be published as a web page that updates when the source is edited. Published links are view-only, with optional download, so they suit reference material rather than review. Password protection covers anything confidential, and link analytics shows when each named recipient opened a link and how long they spent with it.

On Team plans, self-writing docs can maintain a page for each client from meetings, Slack and the workspace, covering decisions, deliverables and open items. Password protection and link analytics are included on Pro and Team plans, and self-writing docs on Team plans. See plans for teams.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best branding agency in Dublin?

There is no single answer, as the right agency depends on the brief. On recent recognition, RichardsDee won five awards at the 2025 Transform Europe Brand Awards, Red&Grey took a Gold Bell in print design at the 2025 ICADs, and Unthink won a Webby in 2026.

Who designed Dublin City Council’s new logo?

Carr Communications led the work, with Stephen Walker, its head of creative and digital, as lead. The new mark replaced the Three Castles logo on 28 January 2026 after a two-year process. It combines the three towers, the shield from the city’s crest and a stylised River Liffey.

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

A branding agency usually starts with positioning, naming and strategy, then builds the identity that expresses them. A design agency tends to work across a wider range of design outputs, and many Dublin studios do both. If your strategy is settled and you mainly need design capacity, see our list of design agencies in Dublin.

How long does a rebrand take in Ireland?

It depends on the size of the organisation and how many people must approve the result. Dublin City Council’s refresh took two years, including five to six months of research, and produced a full suite of templates, fleet designs and guidelines. A smaller company with fewer stakeholders should expect considerably less, and any studio can give a working timeline once it has seen the brief.

Which Dublin branding agencies are B Corps?

Unthink announced its B Corp certification in January 2026. B Lab’s public directory is the place to confirm the current status of any other firm you are considering.

Related lists

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

More in Dublin: Creative agencies · Design agencies · Advertising agencies · Marketing agencies · UX design agencies · Social media agencies

Run your agency on Fabric: Fabric for agencies · Fabric for brand identity teams · Brand guidelines in Fabric