In today's competitive business environment, an attractive and functional design can significantly contribute to a company's success. Whether it's for website development, branding, or social media content, professional design is a critical element. However, hiring a full-time in-house designer can be costly and impractical, especially for small businesses and startups. This is where design subscriptions come into play. Design subscriptions offer a cost-effective solution, providing businesses with access to professional design services for a fixed monthly fee. In this blog post, we delve into this innovative solution, compare different design subscription services, and explore how they could be a game-changer for your business.
What is a Design Subscription?
Design subscriptions are essentially a model where businesses can profit from unlimited design services for a set monthly or yearly fee. It works like any other subscription service - you pay a recurring fee and, in return, get continuous access to design resources. This model is highly beneficial for businesses with regular design needs but without the budget or requirement for a full-time designer.
There are different types of design subscriptions available, tailored to meet various business needs. Some providers specialize in graphic design, making them an excellent choice for businesses that need consistent output for social media or marketing materials. Other subscriptions focus on UX/UI design, which is ideal for businesses looking to improve their website or app interface.
Some providers even offer a mix of different design services, from graphic and web design to brand identity design and illustration. Many of these services come with added benefits like unlimited revisions, quick turnaround times, and the ability to work on multiple requests at once. In the next sections, we'll delve into the pros and cons of these services and break down some of the top providers in the market to help you make an informed decision.
Why Should You Get a Design Subscription?
Design subscriptions offer numerous benefits that can significantly streamline your business processes and improve your overall brand appearance.
Cost-Effective: One of the main advantages of design subscriptions is cost-effectiveness. You get access to professional design services at a fraction of the cost of hiring an in-house designer.
Flexibility: With design subscriptions, you can scale your design needs up or down according to your business requirements. Most subscriptions also offer the flexibility to cancel anytime.
Consistency: Having a dedicated design team ensures consistent brand presentation across all your platforms.
Fast Turnaround: Many design subscription services offer quick turnaround times and unlimited revisions to ensure your business keeps running smoothly.
Learn how to make the most out of your design subscription.
Hiring Freelancers Vs. Full-Time Designers Vs. Design Subscriptions
Each of these options—hiring freelancers, employing full-time designers, or opting for an unlimited design subscription—has its unique strengths and challenges.
Freelancers provide flexibility, allowing you to pay only for the work you need and scale up or down as necessary. However, managing freelancers requires significant time and effort, and the quality of work can be inconsistent. There may also be communication challenges or potential conflicts with time zones and language barriers.
Full-Time Designers, on the other hand, can provide consistent work and a deeper understanding of your brand. They're available during your work hours, which can streamline communication. But hiring and having to manage a full-time designer means adding a substantial cost, including benefits, to your payroll. Additionally, if your design needs are not consistent, you might be paying for downtime.
Unlimited Design Subscriptions strike a balance. They offer the flexibility of freelancers while also providing a consistent, professional standard of work. These services can handle varying volumes of work and typically provide a team of designers, ensuring that work continues even if one designer is unavailable. They can be more cost-effective than hiring a full-time designer, especially for small businesses or startups. However, they may not offer the same level of customization or personal connection as an in-house designer.
How Design Subscriptions Save Time and Money
Design subscriptions offer a unique blend of cost-efficiency and time-saving benefits that make them a practical alternative to hiring freelancers or full-time designers. With a design subscription, businesses can access a variety of professional design services for a fixed monthly fee, significantly reducing the overall cost compared to hiring a full-time designer. Plus, subscriptions eliminate the need for time-consuming processes like recruitment, onboarding, and management. The quick turnaround times and unlimited revisions offered by many services ensure projects keep moving forward, while the flexible scaling aligns with your business needs, further contributing to savings in time and money.
Design Subscriptions
A. Awesomic
Awesomic offers a range of design services, with plans tailored to marketing and content creation needs. Their fast and high-quality designs can give your business a significant boost.
- The Light plan is perfect for marketers and content creators, priced at $35 per day or $699 per month. It offers social media creatives, banners, packaging design, email design, and more.
- The Pro plan, priced at $99 per day or $1995 per month, is ideal for startups and enterprises. It includes all LIGHT plan services, plus UI/UX design, logo design, custom illustration, and motion design.
- The 1 to 1 plan provides a personalized price and is great for businesses seeking an in-house designer. It offers a dedicated designer, unlimited tasks, industry-focused professionals, and high-value UX researchers.
B. Design Pickle
Design Pickle provides a centralized platform for all your graphic design needs. The service matches clients with creative professionals worldwide, streamlines the creative process, and delivers quality outputs. They offer flexible plans with no surprise fees and unlimited requests and revisions. Their included Adobe source files for all projects is a unique selling point, adding significant value to the subscription.
- Their Graphics plan, priced at $499/month, provides a solid foundation for basic design requirements. With a reasonable 1-2 day turnaround time, clients can expect quality graphic design and custom illustrations. It serves as an accessible entry point for businesses seeking design assistance.
- Stepping up the game is their Graphics Pro plan, available at $995/month. This plan encompasses graphic design, custom illustrations, and adds presentation design into the mix. With same-day turnaround and the inclusion of designated designers, real-time Slack collaboration, and an onboarding manager, clients receive a comprehensive package to tackle their design needs efficiently.
- For those looking for a more comprehensive creative experience, the Graphics Premium plan comes in at $1,695/month. In addition to graphic design, custom illustrations, and presentation design, clients benefit from motion graphics. The plan offers same-day turnaround, designated designers, real-time Slack collaboration, an onboarding manager, a motion graphics revision tool, and Canva file delivery. It aims to provide a full suite of design services for an enhanced visual presence.
C. DesignJoy
DesignJoy combines design and web development into one subscription service. From websites and mobile apps to logos, branding, and design systems, they have you covered. Their plans offer flexibility and convenience, allowing you to pause or cancel anytime.
- The Standard Plan is $4,995/month. It includes one request at a time, average 48-hour delivery, unlimited brands and users, unlimited stock photos via Shutterstock, easy credit-card payments. While it has a wide range of design services, flexibility to pause or cancel anytime, the price is a bit high and limited to one design request at a time.
- The Pro Plan, at $7,995/month includes two requests at a time, average 48-hour delivery, unlimited brands and users, unlimited stock photos via Shutterstock, easy credit-card payments.
While their subscription plans offer a comprehensive set of design services and the convenience of pausing or canceling, the high price point may not be suitable for all businesses. Additionally, the plans focus primarily on design requests, potentially leaving little room for customization or complex projects.
D. Kapa99
Kapa99 targets small businesses needing daily graphics, offering unlimited design requests for a fixed monthly fee. The service promises fast turnaround times, unlimited revisions, and a satisfaction guarantee.
- Their Business Plan costs $499/month ($349 for the first two months). It includes unlimited graphic design requests, 24-48 hours delivery, unlimited active tasks, custom graphic design, illustrations, logo design, presentation design, GIFs, native Adobe source files, Canva file delivery, unlimited team members, and brands. It’s ideal for agencies and local businesses seeking unlimited design support across various categories.
- Their Business Express Plan is $799/month ($649 for the first two months) and it includes everything in the Business Plan, delivered within 12-24 hours, best for agencies and business owners in need of fast turnaround times, receiving their graphics the next day.
The Design Project
At The Design Project, we set ourselves apart from competitors by focusing heavily on UX/UI design and ensuring an optimal user experience. While many design subscriptions provide a broad range of services, our primary aim is to cater to businesses with a strong interest in UX and UI, especially startups.
We aim to foster loyalty throughout the product's lifecycle. This UX-centric approach is supplemented by our provision of dev-ready designs, quick delivery times, and scalable processes, which effectively eliminate the usual hassles of searching, interviewing, hiring, and training freelancers.
Furthermore, we take special care in matching you with the right designer, ensuring a personalized and effective design process. This careful attention to matching, coupled with our commitment to delivering beautifully functional designs on a weekly basis, positions us as the ideal partner for businesses seeking to improve user experience, functionality, and overall design aesthetics. We are so confident in our services that we offer a 7-day money-back guarantee, emphasizing our dedication to customer satisfaction and project success.
Our pricing plans are designed to meet diverse needs:
- Essential Plan: Perfect for basic UI/UX design needs, priced at $2,600 per month. It includes UI execution, Slack communication, and a weekly 30-minute meeting.
- Pro Plan: Ideal for end-to-end product design, priced at $3,595 per month. It encompasses everything in the Essential plan, along with full UI/UX design and research, dev-ready Figma files, and a weekly 1-hour meeting.
- Turbo Plan: Tailored for products requiring additional design horsepower and tight timelines, priced at $5,200 per month. It includes all features of the Essential and Pro plans, plus user testing, Figma prototypes, flexible meetings, and custom workflows to expedite delivery.
Ready to embark on a design journey that prioritizes user experience, functionality, and aesthetic appeal? Schedule a free discovery call with us today to explore how The Design Project can bring your vision to life.
