TL;DR – A reliable design subscription agency offers professional graphic design at a fixed monthly rate, with a quick turnaround time. When choosing providers, it’s crucial to look at red flags to ensure that you’re picking the right one for your brand and you’re getting your money’s worth.
For brands that don’t have an in-house designer, turning to a design subscription agency is a practical solution and for good reason. After all, data reveals that 81% of businesses use graphic design in various formats.
But with a wide range of options out there, how does one choose the right graphic design subscription agency?
In this outsourced graphic design guide, let’s unpack what top outsourced design services have in common, and how to choose the best unlimited design agency for your needs.
We’ll also throw in a few red flags to watch out for so you can steer clear of costly graphic design agency issues down the road. But first, let’s answer a common question:
What Is a Design Subscription Agency?
A design subscription agency offers ongoing design support for clients for a flat monthly subscription rate.
The client can request all the design projects and revisions they need from the design-as-a-service platform, and the design team works on each project in the queue one or a few at a time, depending on the plan.
On-demand graphic design service providers allows users to have flexible and scalable design support. In addition, credible providers offer access to experienced designers, like Penji, which only hires the world’s top 1% designers.
Unlimited graphic design at a flat monthly rate
Expert graphic design from the world's top designers
Is outsourcing graphic design to Penji smarter than hiring in house? On most cases, yes. A Penji subscription allows users to augment their creative team without a long term commitment. Plus, the don’t have to deal with:
- Interviewing candidates
- Onboarding
- Training new team members
- Paying for software licenses
Hiring a graphic design agency on subscription is particularly popular among users who want to minimize expenses. After all, data tells us that 57% of companies outsource because of an overall need to cut costs.
Despite the benefits of the graphic design subscription model, not all providers are created equal. Below are a few questions to ask yourself as you evaluate remote graphic design agency to ensure that you’re picking the best one that suits your needs.
Does the Agency Have a Strong and Consistent Portfolio?
Never hire a graphic design agency without looking at its portfolio. Browsing a provider’s past works will give you an idea of the quality and calibre of its work.
Here are a few questions to help you assess portfolios of unlimited graphic design services platforms:
- Are the designs creative and do they look professionally made?
- Does the portfolio display a wide range of graphic design types (eg. social media posts, illustrations, merch design, etc.)?
- Do the designs look polished and show a skillful choice of layouts, colors, typography, icons, and other design elements?
- Are different aesthetics and styles used in the designs or do they all look like tweaked versions of one another?
A strong portfolio shows expertise in a wide variety of design types, aesthetic styles, niches, and industries.
Red Flag to Watch Out For: A portfolio with designs that greatly vary in quality. It could mean that the company struggles to offer consistent output for every client.
How Fast Is the Agency’s Turnaround Time?
Statistics show that 34.3% of marketers spend 10 to 15 hours producing content. That’s almost two whole working days in a week!
With this number in mind, it’s crucial to choose a design subscription agency that will help speed up your content production workflow. Without a doubt, turnaround time is a crucial factor to take note of if you want to be on top of your campaign schedule.
Here are a few questions to ask when evaluating the turnaround time?
- How long does it take to get the first design draft?
- How long will revisions take?
- Will the designer offer status updates about the project?
Penji, for instance, offers a turnaround time of 24-48 hours. That means if you subscribe today and request your first project, you’ll get the initial draft as early as tomorrow. Penji’s designers are all trained to provide clear and detailed updates about the progress of each project.
Red Flag to Watch Out For: Platforms that offer extremely fast turnaround without explaining their design process. Yes, you’ll want a quick turnaround, but not rushed, low-quality work.
What Communication and Collaboration Tools Do They Use?
Communication is an integral part of collaboration, especially when you’re working with a third-party provider. In fact, data shows that around one in five businesses say that they have difficulties communicating with outsourced teams.
It goes without saying that even if a design team’s creative skills is exemplary, it would struggle to deliver real results if communication is poor.
When evaluating a platform, ask these questions:
- What tool do you use to communicate with clients?
- Do you use communication app integrations or do you have a dedicated app?
- How will my feedback be received and managed?
- What’s your system for delivering files and getting project approvals?
A systematic communication process helps foster a good working relationship, resulting in better results delivered on time. At Penji, for instance, subscribers have access to a state-of-the-art app that they can use to communicate witht the design team, request projects and revisions, and download files.
The app also features a point-and-type feature that allows users to identify a specific section of the design and communicate how they want that part revised. This feature allows for a clear revision system, ensuring that the client and the designer are on the same page.
Red Flag to Watch Out For: If a provider relies heavily on emails for requests and delivery, it could signal that the platform doesn’t have a streamlined communication workflow.
The Bottom Line
Getting unlimited visual asstets from a design subscription agency is a good solution, but only if you’re working with the right platform. Here’s a quick check list of everything you need to double-check before subscribing:
- High-quality portfolio
- Quick turnaround time
- Clear communication process
- Excellent client reviews
Need reliable and professional graphic design services? Penji is your best bet, backed by the world’s top 1% designers.
Check out Penji’s portfolio and see why Penji is a popular option among brands of all sizes.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
A design subscription agency offers users access to remote graphic design team. Users outsource graphic design projects to the design team on an unlimited design subscription basis for a flat monthly rate.
Outsourced graphic design services offered by design subscriptions typically include a wide range of creative projects, like logos, branding guidelines, digital and print designs, motion graphics, and custom illustrations.
In an in-house vs. outsourced graphic design comparison, design subscription service wins in terms of cost and lack of long-term commitment. Unlike with hiring an employee, users of remote graphic design services don’t have to pay hourly wages, over-time pay, benefits, and training. Subscriptions are also renewable per month, which means you won’t have to pay for it during months you don’t need the service.
About the author
Carla Deña
Carla is a journalist and content writer who produces stories for both digital and legacy media. She is passionate about creativity, innovation, and helping small businesses explore solutions that drive growth and social impact.
