Celery
Celery Design Collaborative is a Berkeley-based graphic design studio offering brand strategy, packaging, web, and sustainability communications services to enterprises, non-profits, and government clients in food, health, and social-impact sectors, operating since 1997 with a small partner-led team.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1997
- HeadquartersBerkeley, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Celery does
Celery Design Collaborative, LLC is a privately held graphic design studio founded in 1997 and headquartered in Berkeley, California. The studio operates with a small team (1–10 employees) under partners Brian Dougherty and Rod DeWeese, and offers a unified suite of professional design services including brand strategy, naming, visual identity, packaging design, digital/web experiences, sustainability reporting, and print collateral. Celery's distinguishing methodology is a lifecycle-aware approach it terms 'designing backwards' — designing from desired outcomes rather than outputs, with explicit consideration of strategy, content, materials, production, delivery, user experience, and end-of-life. The firm is led by two partners (Brian Dougherty and Rod DeWeese) and Creative Director Felicia Reyes, supported by a team of designers and project managers.
The studio's client base spans enterprise, non-profit/social enterprise, education, and government sectors, with particular concentration in sustainability, food systems, and public health. Named clients include Edison International, Keurig Green Mountain, Farmer Brothers, Go Raw, Feeney, Project Juice, Danone Communities, Prevention Institute, Berkeley Food Institute, Charlie Cart Project, Dovetail, and the CDC-grant-funded Equity in OC initiative. Long-term anchor engagements (Farmer Brothers since 2012, Berkeley Food Institute since 2013, multi-year Edison sustainability reports) indicate a project-based, retained-engagement model rather than transactional work. Celery also operates CelerySpace, a curated e-commerce sub-brand launched in 2019 featuring products with positive social or environmental impact, and co-founded The Charlie Cart Project, a mobile kitchen education program now active in 150+ schools.
The business is a project-based professional services operation with no external investors, no disclosed revenue, and no documented funding rounds. Go-to-market is sales-led via direct client outreach, referrals, and a portfolio-driven website (celerydesign.com), with supporting presence on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and a Medium content channel. Pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed. The company is independently owned by its partners, headquartered at 1718 San Pablo Ave, Berkeley, CA, and serves a primarily California/USA market with global project examples.
Celery firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Celery
- Legal name
- Celery Design Collaborative, LLC
- Website
- https://celerydesign.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1997
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Celery Design Collaborative is a Berkeley-based graphic design studio offering brand strategy, packaging, web, and sustainability communications services to enterprises, non-profits, and government clients in food, health, and social-impact sectors, operating since 1997 with a small partner-led team.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Celery industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Graphic Design Services
- NAICS
- Graphic Design Services (541430)
- SIC
- Services-Mailing, Reproduction, Commercial Art & Photography (7330)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Digital Creative & Experience Design Agencies (Web/App/UX) (MPAAAAAD)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Sustainability & ESG Consulting (BPAHACAK)
Keywords
Where Celery is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Berkeley
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Celery business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D
Revenue model
- Design Consulting Services: Professional services revenue generated through project-based engagements including brand strategy, identity design, packaging, web experiences, and sustainability reporting. Work is delivered to enterprise clients, non-profits, and government organizations.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels6 records
Celery product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Celery Design Collaborative is a graphic design studio that provides brand strategy, naming, digital experiences, packaging design, sustainability reporting, and print collateral. It is structured as an LLC operating from Berkeley, California, with a small team (1–10 employees) serving sustainability-focused enterprises, non-profits, social enterprises, and government clients through project-based engagements.
Product overview
Celery Design Collaborative is a design studio offering a unified suite of design services rather than a traditional software platform. Their core service offerings include Brand Strategy, Naming, Digital Experiences, Packaging, Sustainability Reporting, and Print Collateral. Notable portfolio highlights include The Charlie Cart Project (a co-founded mobile kitchen education program), CelerySpace (a curated e-commerce retail shop), and publications such as Hungry for Change and A System of Prevention. The studio specializes in serving clients in the food systems, social impact, sustainability, and healthy living sectors, emphasizing design that is conceptually satisfying, environmentally responsible, and effective.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- CelerySpace: A curated collection of products that are beautiful, functional, and have a positive impact in the world.
Products and services
- Brand Strategy
Quantifiable outcome
- Danone Communities fundraising up 30% in 2017; employee engagement increased 25%
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Celery
Customer profileNamed customers12 records
Segments1 record
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Celery technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature1 record
Celery partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Celery competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- frog (Capgemini Engineering): Global design and innovation firm with strong social impact and sustainability practices. Comparable to Celery's mission-driven design philosophy, but operates at much larger scale with corporate backing.
- Edelman: Global communications holding company with a sizable sustainability/ESG practice. Competes for the same corporate sustainability-reporting and ESG-communications budgets Celery serves.
- Landor & Fitch: Global brand consulting and design firm serving enterprise clients across identity, packaging, and sustainability communications. Overlaps directly with Celery's enterprise sustainability-reporting practice.
Direct peers
- Manual: Design and branding studio with explicit focus on climate, sustainability, and social-impact clients. Closely comparable niche positioning to Celery's sustainability design specialty.
- Hyperakt: Design agency focused on social impact, mission-driven brands, and cultural institutions. Closely aligned with Celery's specialization in social-impact and nonprofit design work.
- ThoughtForm: Brand strategy and design firm with a stated focus on purpose-driven organizations. Highly comparable in approach, scale (small partner-led studio), and mission orientation.
- Lippincott: Brand strategy and design consultancy working across corporate identity, packaging, and communications. Comparable to Celery in enterprise brand strategy and identity-system work.
- Pentagram: Partner-led graphic design studio offering branding, packaging, and digital design. Pentagram is the most direct comparable: a partner-owned, project-based graphic design firm serving large enterprises with similar multi-disciplinary scope.
- IDEO: Design innovation consultancy with deep sustainability and social impact work. Comparable to Celery in lifecycle-aware design methodology and commitment to designing for outcomes rather than outputs.
Emerging players
- Purpose: Communications and design agency that builds campaigns and brand strategies for social causes and progressive brands. Adjacent to Celery's social-enterprise branding work.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat2 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Celery social profiles
Digital presenceCelery financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Celery leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Celery funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Celery M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Celery
What does Celery do?
Celery Design Collaborative is a graphic design studio that provides brand strategy, naming, digital experiences, packaging design, sustainability reporting, and print collateral. It is structured as an LLC operating from Berkeley, California, with a small team (1–10 employees) serving sustainability-focused enterprises, non-profits, social enterprises, and government clients through project-based engagements.
Is Celery a public or private company?
Celery is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Celery founded?
Celery was founded in 1997. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Celery based?
Celery is headquartered in Berkeley, United States, in the North America region.
How does Celery make money?
One revenue line is on record: design Consulting Services.
Who are Celery's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are frog (Capgemini Engineering), Edelman and Landor & Fitch. Direct peers are Manual, Hyperakt, ThoughtForm, Lippincott, Pentagram and IDEO. Purpose is listed as an emerging player.
Does Celery have an API?
No public API is recorded for Celery.
What industry is Celery in?
Celery's product category is Graphic Design Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAAAAAD, Digital Creative & Experience Design Agencies (Web/App/UX), with a secondary code of BPAHACAK, Sustainability & ESG Consulting. Its NAICS code is 541430 and its SIC code is 7330.