How to Choose the Right Design Company or Agency

Understanding Your Design Needs

Your reason for seeking a design partner might feel straightforward. You just need more capacity. Or, your in-house team is lacking a specific skill you need to bring a campaign to life. But it’s worth digging a little deeper to fully define the parameters a design agency partner will need to fulfill.

By laying out these parameters now, you can make yourself a checklist to assess design partners against. Then, when it’s time to shortlist options, add these parameters to a spreadsheet—along with other considerations like pricing, which we’ll discuss a little later on—to quickly see which design companies best fit your needs.

Here are some basic considerations to guide your search:

• Your target audience. In a perfect world, the partner you choose will have experience designing for your industry and personas. We all know good design (and marketing!) starts with a deep understanding of your target audience. So, it makes sense to look for a design partner that’s worked with your audience or a similar one—they’ll be better equipped to create campaigns that connect.
  
  
• Your goals. If your main priority is to increase brand awareness, you may need to increase output, diversify content types and inject more creativity into campaigns. If you’re focusing on acquisition, you may need help scaling production work, like creating multiple variations of ads for testing. Working backward from your goals can help you define exactly what you’re looking for in a design partner.
  
  
• Your design projects. Considering your goals first will ensure you’re taking a long-term view when choosing a design partner. But once you’ve thought through your priorities, it can be helpful to make a list of specific design projects you’d pass off to a partner, whether that’s ads, social media creative, presentation design or video production. By getting into the specifics, you can better assess whether a partner can deliver.
  
  
• Your design preferences. Last but not least, your brand identity should be a major consideration. For instance, if your brand relies heavily on 3D illustration, it makes sense to look for a partner who specializes in this area. If you’re all about motion design, ditto. Finding a partner with expertise that aligns with your visual identity will shorten onboarding and speed up time to value.

As they say, this is just the tip of the iceberg. For a step-by-step walkthrough of how to assess your creative needs, check out our article on identifying your company's design requirements. And if you’re still wondering whether it’s worth investing in a design partner in the first place, read How Strong Design Partnerships Transform Brands [With Examples].

The Different Types of Design Services

When it comes to design services, you’re likely familiar with two options: design agencies and freelancers. But there’s a third option: A new design agency model called Creative-as-a-Service (CaaS), specifically developed to meet the needs of modern, high-growth teams.

There’s a time and a place for each option, and now that you better understand your own design needs, it should become clear which model will work best for you. Let’s take a quick look at what agencies, freelancers and CaaS have to offer:

• Agencies. Traditional agencies are often highly specialized and focus on a specific area, like branding, web design or video production. They tend to work on a project basis, though depending on the services they offer, they may function on a longer-term retainer. Either way, agencies generally work on larger, more complex projects since their pricing structures operate on margins. All this means traditional agencies may be best for specific, one-off projects, like website redesigns or commercial shoots. Between rigid contracts, specialized skill sets and longer turnaround times, this model isn’t designed to support a company’s ongoing, flexible creative needs at scale.
  
  
• Freelancers. For early-stage companies, freelancers are often a go-to solution. Ideal for filling specific gaps, freelancers are helpful if you don’t have budget for in-house hires, and you’re lacking a skill like print design or video editing on your team. In general, freelancers are much more affordable than agencies, though this depends on the caliber of the individual and whether you hire through a marketplace with inflated commission fees. That said, it can be difficult to manage freelancers and reliability can be an issue, meaning this approach isn’t a scalable or wide-ranging solution for creative needs.
  
  
• Creative-as-a-Service (CaaS). CaaS is the modern evolution of a design agency. Taking into account today’s need for high-volume, high-quality creative, CaaS offers design services on a flexible, subscription basis. In addition to pricing transparency, this model eliminates waste by rolling over hours—a system that accounts for the ebbs and flows of your creative needs. By leveraging a diverse, global-first workforce, CaaS providers like Superside are able to offer a wide range of creative services, from ad, social media and web design to print, branding and video production, with experts available in every style and industry. Simply put, CaaS is the better way to get high-quality creative at scale, on-demand and on budget.

Beyond design services, there’s also the option to hire in-house. If you’re an early-stage company, you’ll likely need to start with a foundational design hire or two in addition to outsourcing. As you grow, it may make sense to invest in a long-term outsourced design partner to supplement your in-house team. In fact, most companies these days, from mid-market operations to enterprises, use a hybrid model of in-house and outsourced talent, which gives them access to a wider range of skills and more capacity to scale.

Plus, even if you have the budget, hiring in-house comes with its own set of challenges, like limited candidate pools, lengthy onboarding processes and retaining people in the long run. All this to say, hiring is a big commitment that shouldn’t be made lightly. You might be able to get what you need from outsourcing, so make sure you consider all your options first.

For a more in-depth look at your options, explore our article on How to Compare Different Types of Design Services [Checklist Included].

Finding Design Companies and Agencies

Equipped with your checklist of design requirements and an understanding of different types of design services, it’s time to find some actual design company options!

Your first instinct will likely be to ask your colleagues and professional network for recommendations. This is a great place to start, but your search shouldn’t stop here. It’s always a good idea to source at least four or five design company options. That way, you can compare what each company offers and get a sense of fair market value.

So, if your colleagues swear by... oh I don’t know, Superside, and your network recommends Shuttlerock, make sure you do some additional research yourself to find a couple more options for comparison.

Here are a few simple approaches to help you source the ideal design partner:

Online resources

Search engines. Though not the best source for unbiased advice, you can still learn a lot by conducting searches for keywords, like “the best outsourced design services.” These articles will reveal a company’s competitors and how they position themselves against their alternatives.

Design blogs. You can tell a lot about a company from the quality of its content, especially when it comes to design. Just look at Figma’s publication, Design Systems—the impeccable UX and expert-driven articles are clear indicators this world-class design tool knows what it's doing.

Social media. If you want to see examples of a design agency’s work (while skipping the yawn factor of case studies), scope out their social media. Again, how a company presents itself on platforms, like LinkedIn, Instagram and Youtube, can tell you a lot about the quality of its work and its culture.

Online directories and review sites. At this point, we all know to take review sites, like G2 and Capterra, with a grain of salt. Careful curation of reviews can paint a company in rose-colored hues or a one-off negative review can skew things in the other direction. That said, you can get a sense for the maturity and caliber of a design company (as well as their competitors) on these sites.

Industry networks

Events. From webinars and summits to conferences and trade shows, industry events are a great way to network with your peers, learn about their favorite services and meet representatives from potential creative partners, too.

Meetups. In-person events are back and better than ever. Participate in local design meetups and workshops to connect with other professionals, learn from their experiences and explore potential collaborations.

Communities. Creative communities and associations are another great place to connect with your peers, tap into their experiences and get reputable recommendations for design partners.

Referrals

Your own network. As I touched on, your professional network is likely the first resource you’ll tap into. In addition to your colleagues, try asking customers or content partners for recommendations. You can also pose the question publicly on a platform like LinkedIn—if you don’t mind dealing with unsolicited DMs!

Industry contacts. You might work with consultants or other industry experts who can provide solid referrals. Or, your existing vendors may be able to suggest a design company partner based on their own network and experiences.

Testimonials and case studies. Keep an eye out for compelling testimonials and success stories on social channels. And of course, once you have a few design company or agency names on your list, be sure to check out their case studies for a better understanding of their capabilities and quality of work.

Still not sure how to go about finding a design partner? Check out 6 Strategies for Finding the Right Creative Agency and refine your search further by making note of the Top Qualities to Look for in a Design Partner.

Evaluating Design Portfolios and Capabilities

While researching potential design partners, you likely took a peek at their portfolios or work pages. But to pare your list back to a few top contenders, you’ll want to conduct an in-depth review of a design company’s creative capabilities as well.

This is an essential step to ensure a potential design partner can align with your vision, brand identity and overall creative needs.

In addition to a company’s website, you may find samples of their work on sites like Behance or Dribbble. If you really want to do some sleuthing, you can even look up the designers who work at a company on LinkedIn and check out their personal portfolios. This can help you gauge the expertise of the designers and creatives you’d be collaborating with.

Don’t hesitate to ask a design company to provide additional samples either! They may not be able to share all their work publicly, but if you book a call, a representative can run you through examples of projects most relevant to your needs.

Assessing design prospective design partner portfolios

Back to assessing portfolios. Similar to how you would assess a design hire’s portfolio, I suggest judging each company based on a set of predetermined criteria. You can add these criteria to your spreadsheet in a new tab called “portfolio review.” Here are some factors you might want to include as part of your design portfolio review criteria:

• Range of work. Look for a diverse range of design projects that demonstrate a company's adaptability and versatility. Especially if you’re planning on investing in a long-term partner, a design company’s ability to deliver on various creative needs will be key.
  
  
• Quality of work. Review the overall quality of their work, ensuring it meets your standards and expectations. If you’re not a designer yourself, you’ll want to loop in an expert or two to help. Pay attention to details like typography, color palettes and layout choices. Overall, portfolio pieces should feel balanced and harmonious, hinting at the use of fundamental design principles. To help you evaluate a company’s creative work, grab a copy of our Checklist for Reviewing a Design Portfolio.
  
  
• Style and consistency. Look for work examples that align with your brand style and preferences. Though every brand is unique, if you can find examples of projects where a company pulled off a similar aesthetic to yours or used techniques crucial to your brand identity, it’s a good indication a design company could be a good fit for you. Keep an eye on consistency across brand designs as well, which indicates attention to detail and effective communication.
  
  
• Customer testimonials and success metrics. This information may or may not be included on a portfolio page, but you should definitely be able to find testimonials and success metrics across a design company’s website and within case studies. Look for portfolio examples tied to specific outcomes and featuring customer quotes to gauge the impact of a company’s creative output, in addition to its quality.
  
  
• Problem-solving approach and adaptability. Each project should include a write-up where a design company explains the challenges they encountered and the creative solutions they came up with. Evaluating a potential partner’s problem-solving abilities will give you insight into how they approach creative work and whether they’re more strategic or tactical. Also, consider a company’s ability to adapt its work to suit varying needs and styles.
  
  
• Innovation and trends. Innovation is a hard quality to define, but you should be able to assess how original a company’s work is. At the same time, assess whether they’re incorporating the latest design trends into their work. A forward-thinking design partner will help your brand push boundaries and stay relevant in a constantly evolving market.
  
  
• Technical capabilities. This is a straightforward one! If you have specific technical needs, can a design company deliver? For example, if you’re looking to supplement your internal team by bringing in a partner with motion design expertise, make sure you can find strong examples of motion design in their portfolio. It’s worth taking a forward-thinking approach and considering what capabilities you might want to explore in the future, too. For instance, if you think you might try AR design for events six months from now, give extra points to a company that showcases this ability in their portfolio.
  
  
• Relevance. A company may be able to deliver on motion design, but how relevant are their samples to your needs? Do they primarily cater to B2C companies or are there comparable examples of work for your industry and business model? Look beyond technical capabilities to industry specialization and expertise. Again, if you can’t find the perfect reference piece in their portfolio but you like what you’re seeing overall, don’t hesitate to ask a design company for more specific examples.

If you’re hungry for more guidance, dig into our article: Graphic Design Portfolio Review: What You Want To See and Not See.

Comparing Pricing and Design Packages

You have a budget, and you need to stick within it. Simple, right?

Though your pricing requirements may be black and white, what you get for your money is a little more complex to unpack. Cheaper pricing may not offer more value, while more expensive design packages don’t guarantee better work. In other words, don’t just pick the cheapest option or compromise by going with the mid-range offer.

To get the best deal (and the best results!), consider the following factors when evaluating design company pricing:

• Pricing model. Assess whether a graphic design company or agency offers a project, retainer or subscription-based pricing model. Each model has its advantages and disadvantages. Project-based models are predictable but can be inflexible, more expensive than necessary and incur extra fees should the scope of work change. Retainers can also be inflexible and don't take into account fluctuating creative needs. On the other hand, the design subscription pricing model offered by CaaS companies is flexible, predictable and can accommodate evolving creative demands. With this model, any hours you don’t use in a month roll over, so your money never goes to waste.
  
  
• Flexibility. As we’ve seen, different pricing models offer different levels of flexibility. With a subscription-based model, you can scale up or down depending on the ebbs and flows of your creative needs. With project-based models, not so much. Depending on the stage of company growth you’re at, flexibility may be more or less important to you. If you’re growing rapidly, you’d likely benefit from the flexibility of a CaaS partner who can scale with you and offer additional services beyond the scope of your day-one brief. In short, a good CaaS partner adjusts to your needs, not the other way around.
  
  
• Scope of services. What can a design partner offer you? Evaluate the range of design services included in each package, and whether they cover your specific needs. Consider whether your needs are likely to change or evolve, too. For instance, you may need help designing an ebook now, but down the line, you may also need support creating social media graphics and ads to promote it. Or, maybe you primarily need graphic design support today, but you’ll also want to scale video production in the future. All this to say, finding a partner that offers a range of creative services can set you up for long-term success. (Did I mention design subscription models, like Superside, typically offer a wide range of creative services?)
  
  
• Value for money. What are you getting for your money? Consider the overall costs against the value a design partner offers. Beyond design services, can a partner offer strategic advice, project management and flexible revisions? (Hint: A CaaS partner can.) What kind of results can a partner share from comparable projects that could help you gauge the potential ROI? (More on measuring ROI in a moment.) Also, take into consideration the team you’re getting access to—are you signing up to work with a couple of junior designers or are you getting a full-stack team, complete with a creative project manager, creative director and experienced designers cherry-picked for their expertise in your area? (Yes, you get the latter with CaaS!)

In addition to considering the various pricing models and value for money, it's essential to have a clear understanding of your potential design costs. Use this handy design cost calculator to get an estimate tailored to your specific needs, helping you make a more informed decision when choosing a design company.

Assessing Company Culture and Fit

Culture can be hard to define. But in the context of choosing a design partner, there are a few concrete aspects to consider.

Don’t skip this step in your assessment either!

Expertise and capabilities are important, but I’d argue establishing a strong working relationship with your new design company is equally important—and ensuring you have complementary company cultures will make building a strong relationship much easier. So, consider the following when assessing design company culture:

• Communication style. Is the company responsive from day one or are you waiting several days to hear back? How clear and upfront are communications? When you speak with creatives at the company, are they able to understand your needs effectively? All of these interactions are good clues to a company’s communication style, which can make all the difference in ensuring projects run smoothly and your vision is accurately translated to final designs. Also, make sure to ask how communications work on a day-to-day basis. Will you be able to Slack with your creative team? Manage workflows through a tech platform? Who will your point of contact be?
  
  
• Work ethic. This one is a little harder to suss out. You should find clues in testimonials and case studies. Do reviewers mention the company meeting deadlines reliably? Providing regular updates? Over-delivering on work? You can also ask a company representative what kind of guarantees they offer. Are they able to accommodate fast turnaround times? How long have comparable projects taken in the past? And how many rounds of revisions or iterations can you get? All of these questions will help you figure out whether a partner is dependable and hard-working.
  
  
• Culture. You’ll also want to consider a company’s values—whether they align with your own can be another good clue in the puzzle of choosing the right design partner. Most companies share their values right on their about page. You can learn a lot about the type of work environment at a company and their process for choosing people on these types of pages, too. How does the saying go: Happy employees, happy partner? To help you better assess the quality of a design agency, grab a copy of our Checklist for Choosing a Design Partner.

And if maintaining a healthy culture is important to you, you’ll also want to learn How to Foster a Good Working Relationship With Your Design Partner.

The Procurement Process and Onboarding

Got the perfect design partner in your sights? Depending on the size of your company, sealing the deal may take a little time and effort.

But not to worry, if you’ve followed all the steps we’ve covered so far, you’ve already done a lot of the pre-work necessary to navigate the procurement process. Once you’ve successfully “procured” your partner, your last step will be to onboard them! Assuming you have a procurement team, let’s take a look at key considerations for each step:

The procurement process

1. Proposal clarity. Before you sign on the dotted line, make sure you’re clear on the parameters of your partnership. Your potential design partner’s proposal should outline the scope of work, deliverables, timelines and pricing in a manner that leaves no room for ambiguity. This will help both parties understand expectations and responsibilities, setting the stage for a smooth working relationship.

2. Creative approach. If you’ve made it this far, you’ve evaluated a company’s design portfolio, had conversations with representatives and assessed factors like culture. So, you should have a good sense for whether a company’s creative approach will align with your own. It may be helpful to share your assessment with your company’s procurement team at this stage, along with your thoughts on how a design partner could contribute to your brand’s success.

3. Technical expertise. As part of your assessment, you also looked at a partner’s technical capabilities to ensure they can deliver on your design needs. It’s time to share that information with procurement, including a potential design partner’s expertise and experience working with different design styles and mediums, as well as across industries and verticals. You can even get as granular as sharing whether a partner uses the same design tools as your team.

4. Collaboration plan. As part of a design partner’s proposal, they should outline how day-to-day communication, feedback and collaboration will take place, including details on project management tools, points of contact and regular meetings. Add to this the notes you took on a partner’s communication style and you should have a sense for how collaborative they will be. This is all the information your procurement team will want to review.

5. Cost- and time-savings. Your procurement team will definitely be interested in the cost savings, time efficiencies and value a design partner can deliver. After all, maximizing these qualities is a big part of their job! So, make sure you share your research on pricing models, turnaround times and the scope of services offered by different design partners. That way, you can show, in monetary terms, which partner makes the most sense. It can also help to showcase any data you’ve gathered around results and efficiencies.

6. References and reviews. It’s one thing to read a case study. It’s another to talk to a potential design partner’s customers and ask them about their experience. References are a crucial part of procurement, so make sure you ask for a few relevant customers to talk to. These conversations will either provide definitive proof of a design partner’s reliability, professionalism and quality of work… or sound the alarm.

7. Legal and compliance check. Privacy and copyright laws may not be the most exciting, but it is essential to ensure a potential partner complies with all relevant regulations—otherwise, you risk facing legal issues down the line. Thankfully, procurement teams are well-versed in regulations from data protection to intellectual property rights. They’ll be able to assess a partner’s compliance, ensuring you can enjoy a stress-free collaboration.

Onboarding your design partner

1. Contract terms. Procurement may sign off on the details, but make sure you thoroughly review the contract terms, too. That way, you can kick off onboarding with a solid understanding of the scope of work, deliverables, timelines and collaboration processes. To prevent any confusion, brief your team on these details and let them know to flag any breaches in behavior on your partner’s part.

2. Payment terms. Another detail for your procurement team (if you have one!), make sure payment details are taken care of by your company. You want to start your partnership on the right foot, and that means paying bills on time! Whether you’ve agreed on milestone-based payments, a lump sum or monthly installments, get those details sorted early on to build trust and ensure your partner is committed to fulfilling their responsibilities.

3. Onboarding process. Now for the actual work! Your design partner should walk you through how to use communication channels, project management tools and any other software or processes you’ve agreed upon. In return, you’ll want to provide them with your brand guidelines, core assets and any relevant background information they need to tackle your projects. A few introductory Zoom meetings with key stakeholders should do the trick.

4. Knowledge transfer. Speaking of background information, the more knowledge you share, the more context your partner will have, the better work they can deliver. So, don’t be afraid to overload them with information about your company, brand, products and services. Beyond brand guidelines, share details about your industry, target audience and positioning. Examples of successful work can also be a great resource for a new partner.

5. Training. Depending on the tools you’ve agreed to use for collaboration and design, your design partner or your own design team may need some training. If you have company training courses, check to see if you can invite your partner to complete them. If not, recording a few Loom videos is always a good solution. That way, your partner’s team can reference each process at any time and onboard new creatives as needed.

6. Performance metrics. Decide how you’ll measure success right away. By outlining key performance indicators (KPIs), you can monitor a design partner’s progress and whether they meet your expectations. Some helpful KPIs might include the number of design revisions, project completion times, customer satisfaction ratings or the impact of design work on business objectives. Regularly reviewing these KPIs also provides a basis for feedback and improvement.

7. Regular check-ins. You’ll likely have extra meetings at the beginning of onboarding, but as things progress, this should turn into a regular check-in cadence. Make sure you have a regular meeting in the books to review progress, address any concerns and maintain open communication. These check-ins can be weekly, biweekly or even monthly, depending on the complexity and duration of your projects.

Of course, there’s a lot more to onboarding than a few extra Zoom meetings. For tips to best onboard new design partners, read our article on Onboarding Best Practices: 4 Easy Steps to Getting Started With a Design Partner. A strong, collaborative relationship starts with solid onboarding—so take the time to lay those foundations!

Evaluating the ROI of Your Design Company

It’s not always easy to put a number on the value of design. Sure, with ads you can draw a direct line from creative to revenue. But with other design projects, like rebrands, digital reports or packaging, that line to revenue is more of a squiggle requiring interpretation.

Nonetheless, once your partnership is underway, you’ll want to evaluate the return on investment (ROI) your design company is able to deliver. Though the line you draw may not always be straight, here are some factors to consider that can help you tie a design partner’s performance to tangible returns:

• Brand impact. Though one of the trickier factors to measure, a strong brand is pivotal across all marketing programs. If you’re running a brand campaign in certain geographic areas, one way to measure brand impact is to look at traffic lift in those locales. It’s also possible to measure brand awareness and affinity through tools like Google’s Brand Lift if you’re advertising on YouTube. And of course, there’s an argument to be made for looking at engagement across platforms in relation to brand. Are you seeing an increase in engagement post rebrand or refresh?
  
  
• Customer satisfaction. By definition, your customers are your ideal audience. So, it’s worth getting feedback on whether a new design project speaks to them or makes their lives easier. For example, if your design partner helps you with the UX of your product, do your customers like the improvements? Or, if your partner helps you rebrand, does your new identity resonate with your customers? Running a quarterly customer survey, or just getting your CSMs to ask a few questions in their next catch-up call with a customer is a great way to gather qualitative feedback.
  
  
• Conversion rates. Here’s where the line straightens out a bit. If your design partner is helping you with ads, landing pages, emails and any other marketing materials with a conversion point, looking at conversion rates is an easy way to gauge performance. How do conversion rates compare to materials designed in-house? And looking further down the funnel, are those conversions turning into opportunities and customers? Though your content is a big factor here, the quality of your accompanying creative is just as important for capturing attention.
  
  
• Ad performance. Beyond conversion rates, what’s the cost per click (CPC) and cost per lead (CPL) on ads designed by your partner? Is it better or worse than in-house creative? Can you see improvements over time? How do these rates stack up against industry standards? And of course, you’ll want to consider the full funnel here too. Consider the quality of the leads coming in and how many are converting to customers. You should be able to calculate a clear ROI from ad performance, which you can attribute in part to your design partner’s support.

Even though we’re talking business, not everything is about money! Intangible benefits, like the relief a design partner is able to offer your internal creative team, how enjoyable it is to collaborate with them and how efficiently they run your design operations are worth considering, too.

These benefits may be intangible, but the outcomes associated with them can be measured. Like we discussed earlier on, I recommend setting KPIs based on quality of work, turnaround times, communication and more to be able to assess a design partner’s performance on an ongoing basis.

If you want to dig deeper into the math of it all, check out our article on Measuring the ROI of Design and Your Design Partner. You’ll find an effectiveness scorecard with KPIs you can adjust to suit your needs, as well as a formula for calculating ROI based on your design partner’s scores.

Choosing the Perfect Design Partner

As a creative or marketing leader, there’s a lot of pressure to make the right choices. Hire the right people. Bring on the perfect partner.

In my experience, breaking down those choices into a manageable step-by-step process can help relieve some of that pressure while increasing confidence in your decision.

So, my last words of advice: Take it step by step! If you walk through everything from your design needs and the different types of services available to a company’s portfolio, capabilities, pricing and culture, you will find the perfect partner at the end of the road.

A partner that understands your brand, shares your vision and can help you achieve your goals. Like Superside. 😉

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