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Murphy Empire Design

Murphy Empire Design

Review
★8.4/10
🇺🇸 Portland, Maine, United States·2 - 9 employees·Est. 2007·Reviewed Jul 2026

Award-Winning Branding and Design Studio

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Best For
Hospitality and restaurant brands wanting distinctive logo and identity design
Hourly Rate
$150-199/hr
40% above the $125/hr median for marketing agencies in United States
Min. Project
$5K+
Industries
Hospitality, Restaurants, Retail
Murphy Empire Design

Clients

Portland Museum of ArtRabkin FoundationBell & Beacon

About Murphy Empire Design

Murphy Empire is a boutique branding and design studio founded by award-winning designer Ken Murphy. Located in an 1850s brick building in Portland's Old Port, they create timeless logos, cohesive brand identity systems, and custom websites that merge strategy with artistry.

Who Murphy Empire Design Is Best For

Murphy Empire Design works best for Hospitality, Restaurants companies that need Logo Design and Brand Identity Development. With minimum project size of $5K+, hourly rates of $150-199/hr, they are accessible to established businesses and enterprise clients willing to pay for senior expertise. Based in Portland, ME, their primary differentiator is award-winning designer founder.

Why Choose Murphy Empire Design

Award-winning designer founder
Old Port Portland studio
Timeless brand identity work
Strategy-meets-artistry approach

Things to Consider

Small team size means limited capacity for large concurrent projects or fast scaling requests
Senior staff may be stretched across multiple accounts, reducing dedicated attention per client
At $150-199/hr, costs can add up quickly for extended engagements or complex projects

Murphy Empire Design Services

Logo DesignBrand Identity DevelopmentBrand GuidelinesWebsite DesignContent CreationMarketing Collateral

Selected Work

Portland Museum of Art — Identity Architecture

Portland Museum of Art — Identity Architecture

Portland Museum of Art

Murphy partnered with the Portland Museum of Art to develop a refined identity system for one of New England's leading cultural institutions — a typographic and symbolic framework supporting exhibitions, institutional communications, and visitor experiences across physical and digital environments.

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Rabkin Foundation — Identity System & Digital Platform

Rabkin Foundation — Identity System & Digital Platform

Rabkin Foundation

Murphy partnered with the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation to develop a refined identity system and digital platform for a nationally recognized arts foundation dedicated to supporting arts journalism, including the $50,000 Rabkin Prize.

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Bell & Beacon — Craft & Heritage Brand World

Bell & Beacon — Craft & Heritage Brand World

Bell & Beacon

Murphy developed Bell & Beacon as a studio project exploring identity, craft, and material culture along the Maine coast — combining original artwork, product design, packaging, and digital storytelling in a unified maritime-inspired visual language.

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Reviews from Google

★5.0/5 (14)
★ 5/5· 4 years ago

As we started R A S Wines, my partners and I worked with Ken on all of our graphic design and branding elements, and he and his team created the label for our first wine, Arkadia. We cannot say enough terrific things about Ken and Murphy Empire. His empathy for and deep listening to our story and hopes led to design that feels like it comes from inside us. His patience, his willingness to revise, tweak, shift and improve, were infinite. He was always there, on the phone, in person or in prompt email, to both ask and answer questions. His passion for handmade design, mirrored in the products we make, took us all outside the context of "branding" to a true sense of craft. And of course, the final results were gorgeous. Also, Ken is just a terrific human being, and we loved sharing common int

★ 5/5· a year ago

We absolutely loved working with Murphy Empire on the branding for Nash&Co. They just got us from the start and brought our vision to life in such a thoughtful, creative way. The whole process felt easy, fun, and super collaborative, and the end result is a brand identity we’re so proud of. We couldn’t recommend them enough! Truly such a fantastic team to work with! Thank you Ken & Holly!

Reviews sourced from Google

See all 14 reviews on Google

Photos

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