Koto’s impressive client base spans WhatsApp, Netflix, Google, Amazon and a host of startups

Naming top clients for a project-based design shop is difficult, particularly when it’s Koto and there are so many top clients. Ad Age Small Agency Awards See all of the 2023 winners Click here The London-based studio has done brand design work for such heavy hitters as WhatsApp, Netflix, Google, Spotify, Peloton, Amazon and The Washington Post. But it’s also proud of work for a bevy of startups that includes Meatable, Bolt, Huma, Replay, Polkadot and Back Market. And it may be best defined by work for Airbnb, Uber Eats and Coca-Cola, for which it’s handled design for several portfolio brands. That client pool has produced phenomenal growth. Revenue soared 80% last year to $18.8 million and is on pace to add another $9 million, or 48%, in 2023. The shop has locations in Berlin, Los Angeles and New York, with CEO and Co-Founder James Greenfield based in London, backed by fellow Co-Founder (and Chief Creative Officer) Jowey Roden and Chief Operating Officer Caroline Matthews. Koto takes its name from a Japanese word that describes an emotional experience beyond pure aesthetics, which the founders see as driving them to build rich narratives. For a global rebrand of Meta’s WhatsApp, that meant developing a universal design system meant to deepen the connection between product experience and marketing around the notion of “Forward. Together.” Built around the equity of “WhatsApp green,” Koto developed an extensive color palette with different accents of the brand expressed across touchpoints, with flexible graphic modules for a broad range of storytelling. For Netflix, Koto injected some of the language of cinema across the app’s product experience, connecting iconography, typography and illustration to aspects of the cinematic universe. Ad Age Small Agency Awards See all of the 2023 winners Click here

Koto’s impressive client base spans WhatsApp, Netflix, Google, Amazon and a host of startups

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