The one thing wrong with design subscriptions
Subscription services are all the rage. TV, news, food, booze, clothes. You name it there’s a subscription service for it.. What we’re looking at in this post is the more recent addition the subscription world: graphic design and creative services and how you can make sure you’re getting your money’s worth from your subscription.
For the uninitiated these are companies like Design Pickle who have a roster of designers you pay a flat monthly fee to who will do unlimited amounts of creative work within their scope.
I’ve worked with one of these services for one of our clients that already had them on the books. I wouldn’t recommend them (read on and I’ll explain why and what you can use instead). They offer a quick turn around but once you provide multiple rounds of feedback fo them to get what you want, it’s much slower than going to a ‘proper’ agency,
These guys aren’t a threat to what we do for reasons I’ll outline below. But if you’re going to go with them what’s important to us is you get the most out of the $700+ a month these guys charge.
Let’s start with the pros:
They're great for things like ebooks, flyers and sometimes even more complex work. But for the main part is mainly simple marketing collateral.
You’ll have to write your own content, which if you’re playing at home
They offer a pretty fast turn around - everything is templated and they just need to drop your content in. Their teams are based in places like the Philippines so they often work odd timed shifts. Even with the comment above, if you can give them something straight forward enough they can’t f*ck up, you’re laughing.
So what is the one thing wrong you click-baiting SOB?
It’s actually not with them, it’s with you and how you use them.
If you're going to use a design service subscription service, do so only after worked with a (real) creative agency to define your brand or campaign ideas.
There are a couple of big reasons
Brands are more than a logo and colours - if you're doing it right, your brand should be guiding the type of work you're giving out to designers, not just how it looks.
When you run a campaign, you need more than pretty pictures and a snappy headline. You need an idea driven by customer insight. Design subscription services don't have data and therefore can’t provide the direction you need. Gone are the Mad-men days of creative development, cigars and whisky. Data drives creative direction and development.
Unrelated to you but worth mentioning - they have a limited range of output formats. For one campaign we had to outsource production because these guys couldn’t’ create something as simple as a scrolling .gif banner. They also couldn’t include hyperlinks in PDF files. Very strange...
How
Make the most of your design subscription service.
If you're using one of the subscription services make sure you come to the table with a clear creative execution. Turning up to them with just an idea for anything more complex than a flyer or brochure won’t work because that’s not how they operate.
They're really helpful for when you have instances where you’re editing existing content. A lot of creative agencies will charge you for that, especially if you’ve only started working with them.
If you have all the assets you need to simply resize it for specific execution their subscription services are perfect. Treat them like an in-house junior designer that you may not trust to do a massive campaign from inception, but if you need a bit of housekeeping done they can do it for you.
Tip: Always get final artwork files from your agencies.
We’ll always give you the final files, a lot of agencies won’t unless you ask specifically for them. The reason is if you have them, even if you can open the file type, it makes it a lot easier for you to shop around and take your work elsewhere. Where if the agency is sitting on them, you have to chase them, they’ll make up a BS excuse, drag their heels… before you know it you’re working with them again just because it’s easier.
You’ll obviously also need a really well-defined brand first too so they know how to make everything look and sound. You can create this as a template for them to use over and over again.
One of the other plus sides is actually you. If you’re paying for something, there’s a chance you’re more likely to do more work because you have the means to do so. You’re worrying less about the cost of getting things done and want to get value out of the subscription you're paying for.
What
else can you do?
If you’re inclined to have a punt at design yourself and you’re only popping out content infrequently, just grab something like Canva. It does basically the same level of sophistication and is a fraction of the cost. Yes, you’ll need to do the work but if you use the paid version you can build templates to save you time.
Summary
Only use a design subscription for simple marketing collateral
Come to them with your brand already defined and any campaign ideas solid as they won’t be any help for anything remotely complex.
Consider something like Canva if you have the time and don’t see yourself getting your money’s worth.
I hope that helps! If you’re struggling with the second step above give us a shout and we’ll help you get your brand/campaign/idea to your customers.