Task 1: Collaboration In Industry

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Two heads are always better than one, isn’t that how the saying goes? That’s certainly true when working in the design industry. Whether it’s a new product launch, a brand redesign or even simply getting a company message out there, collaboration can be critical. “Great ideas are rarely formed in isolation, and collaboration can often help bridge the gap between creative visual concepts and technical, real-world executions” (E. Odeh, 2025).

So how exactly does collaboration work within the industry? Well that usually depends on the size and notoriety of your company. Let’s start with looking at how a small studio might tackle a collaborative project compared to a larger institute.

TH3 (TH3, 2026) work on the ‘Produce of Hull’ website campaign.

A great example of this, is with a small local design team known as ‘TH3’ (TH3, 2026) and more specifically their involvement in the rebranding of The City of Hull Fruit Markets (H. C. Council, 2026). Due to size of this design company, when it came to collaborating with Hull City Council (H. C. Council, 2026) on the project, TH3 (TH3, 2026) were only responsible for a small portion of the redesign. As opposed to spearheading every step of the design stage and being responsible for the brands new look, TH3 (TH3, 2026) were given a preexisting brand guideline to follow for the creation of the company’s website. This resulted in the art direction for this project never really being TH3s (TH3, 2026) responsibility and instead leaving them to rely heavily on communication for approval from Hull City Council (H. C. Council, 2026). Ultimately this resulted in a slower process, with very little creative input from TH3 (TH3, 2026), a problem that can often occur with small studio collaborations simply due to the lack of manpower.

Our Creative’s (Our Creative, 2025) work on the product rebranding of ASDA’s (ASDA, 2026) smart price range.

On the opposite end of the scale, when looking for an example for how larger design studios operate within industry collaborations, I landed on Our Creative (Our Creative, 2025) and their work with ASDAs smart price range (ASDA, 2026). Whilst TH3 (TH3, 2026) were only enlisted to create a website persona, Our Creative (Our Creative, 2025) was trusted with the complete rebranding of ASDAs products (ASDA, 2026). By adjusting the color to a more prominent yellow and choosing to showcase the company’s logo loud and proud, they were able to reshape how people perceive budget items. Due to already having a brief set by ASDA (ASDA, 2026), Our Creative (Our Creative, 2025) was given far more creative input, leaving them to essentially pitch their designs as apposed to asking for permission every step of they way. This resulted in a more unique outcome that demonstrated that a good design changes perception, not the product.

Two advertisement campaigns done by Shelter (H. Jones, 2024) to bring awareness to homelessness.

Now, we’ve discussed the difference between small and large design studio collaborations, but what if there was a not so secretive third option? Whilst a lot of larger companies do outsource their marketing to design studios, there are those who prefer to do their designing from the comfort of their own home. These are in-house studios, with a great example coming from the charity Shelter (H. Jones, 2024). With a design team of just 14 people, Shelter (H. Jones, 2024) could easily be considered small. Though due to the tight knit nature of the group, they’re able to work shoulder-to-shoulder with their stakeholders, resulting in better communication and feedback along the way. When moving forward in this project, I aim to use this mentality towards my own groups collaboration, as this often results in more unique and creative work that is more like to align with our clients original brief.

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