Working exclusively in the cultural and heritage sector, we distil complex messages into simple, inspired, intelligent communication that demands attention.
You can call it consulting, branding, design, marketing or advertising. We don’t care what it’s called as long as you’re delighted with the results.
We are an agency obsessed with design and culture; that’s how we fill our days and nights. We have a monthly cultural outing that we call Cog Nights.
We firmly believe in the power of culture to transform lives. We work pro-bono to lobby for greater public funding and recognition in education.
This is going to be a big year at Cog. We’re working on ever more exciting projects, across digital, branding, campaign and editorial design.
We’re expanding our team to meet the needs of those projects and our ongoing relationships with wonderful clients.
If you have a love of the arts and want to work with some of the UK’s most exciting and important cultural and heritage companies, come and join us.
We have various specific roles to fill (project manager and assistant project manager, designer, design intern, marketing assistant) and we’re always open to suggestions and interested to hear from brilliant people, especially developers. If you really want to work here, drop us a line.
Cog Design has a core, full-time team, based in our studio in Greenwich, plus a distributed network across Europe. We operate a flat and flexible creative structure; everyone is involved in the creative output of every project.
As part of our expansion into digital services, we acquired the business of the respected web agency, Red Leader, in 2014.
A designer by training, Michael founded Cog Design in 1991 and has managed the development of the company ever since.
He takes the lead on large-scale branding or complex communications projects and provides a creative overview of all of the studio’s output.
Beyond the studio, Michael is Executive Chair at the National Campaign for the Arts, a Fellow of the RSA, an occasional lecturer in branding and design and a regular contributor to design journals.
This is going to be a big year at Cog. We’re working on ever more exciting… more
Michael gives a month by month overview of his favourite cultural events of 2018… more
This year’s BFI London Film Festival was as big as ever. Here’s Michael’s round-up of the… more
Jack is our Head of Digital.
With a wealth of client and agency experience, Jack joined us in 2017 to head up our digital team.
Most recently he was Website and Digital Manager at Heritage Lottery Fund and before that he spent more than three years as Digital Manager
at Shakespeare’s Globe.
With a degree in fine art, Jack combines an aesthetic sensibility with in-depth technical knowledge and a passion for delivering the best of both.
For our February Cog Night, we ventured into Peckham to see members of the Orchestra of… more
Jack’s highlights and top-tips from the Arts Marketing Association’s 2018 conference, titled ‘The Power of Play’,… more
For June’s Cog Night we went to Shakespeare’s Globe to see artistic director Michelle Terry as… more
Anna is our design lead
Anna joined us in 2015. She leads our design team and oversees the day-to-day creative output of the studio.
She manages many of our larger and higher profile projects, working across branding, digital, campaigns and editorial design.
As well as client work, Anna oversees our monthly cultural calendar, commissioning a bespoke illustration and curating the content.
For May’s Cog Night we took a short walk to Up The Creek for a stand-up… more
When stars of successful TV shows come back after 10 years it’s hard not to be… more
Last August we sent out our first Cultural Calendar email, Anna looks back over the year… more
A music graduate who conducts an orchestra in his spare time, Alex knows how to get the best out of people.
As one of our digital project managers he is detail driven and amazes us with his ability to juggle tasks and keep all the balls in the air.
For August’s Cog Night we went to the Hayward Gallery where more than 100 of Lee… more
Emily is our Studio Manager. If you call or call in then it’s Emily you’ll speak to first; she’s also does our bookkeeping and maintains our impeccable admin systems.
A design graduate from Ravensbourne she provides and maintains the perfect studio environment for our creative team to thrive.
In 2018, tragedy struck the Cog Christmas tree. Read Emily’s account of the ways our wonderful… more
July’s Cog Night was in the historic setting of the Tower of London. Seated in the… more
In the crisp dark night of a January evening, we set off to the South Bank… more
Em is a versatile all-rounder. With an MA in graphic design and many years working in client management, she brings a particularly well-informed perspective to our projects.
As a senior project manager in our team she is an ever-cheerful facilitator, putting plans in place and getting stuff done.
November’s Cog Night saw us pump up the jam at Clapham Grand. A night of house… more
As well as having amazing hair, Emily is an accomplished member of our design team.
She took an unusual path to us, through roles in youth engagement and marketing at Roundhouse before retraining as a designer. That background gives her a particular insight into our clients and their audiences.
As a key member of our design team, Claire works across branding, digital, campaigns and editorial design.
With a background in design for museums, and an MA in narrative environments, she is particularly adept at using simple visual cues to convey complex ideas.
We made our way to The Vaults Festival 2019 to see the Blue Departed. Claire gives… more
In addition to our London base, we also have an international reach. We have a network of developers and designers across Europe. And, we have a pool of trusted Associates with specialist skills in the UK that we know we can trust, including developers, photographers, copywriters, illustrators and many more.
Working from Romania, Razvan is an extremely experienced web developer, working across many digital platforms and content management systems.
His vast number of websites includes our work for Turner Contemporary, University of Essex, Live Art Development Agency and Creative United.
He also manages much of our eflyer, desktop applications and digital publishing work.