Elmwood, Pearlfisher and Cog Design were named as the most successful design businesses of their size in The Drum’s recent Design Census.

RAR worked with The Drum to provide data about the design agencies that are most highly-rated by clients and The Drum then combined this information with financial performance data and a peer poll to find which businesses were best overall.

The research covered 141 agencies providing design services throughout the UK. Based on the number of dedicated design staff, the participants were grouped and then ranked against similar-sized agencies.

Elmwood was the overall winner for agencies with over 20 design staff, beating off competition from agencies including Coley Porter Bell, Brand Opus, Rufus Leonard and Purpose. Whitespace and Bulletproof took second and third place.

Pearlfisher was the leader of the pack for agencies with 10-19 design staff, coming out ahead of Blue Marlin and Ferrier Pearce among others.

Amongst the smallest agencies, Cog Design triumphed, being strongest across client feedback, financial performance and peer opinion overall.

The Design Census is the only report on the UK design industry that takes into account client ratings, and RAR is pleased to have supplied the data for this element of the survey.

Steve Antoniewicz, managing director of RAR commented, “There are industry reports that concentrate on financial performance, but our work with The Drum, supplying client ratings, make the Design Census unique. It gives as close to a 360 view of an agency as it is possible to get, so the census provides a great resource for sourcing agencies.”

Marketers in brand companies can get a free copy of the findings of the report here: http://www.thedrum.com/designcensus