Graphic Design Subscription
If your business regularly needs presentations, social graphics, reports, campaigns, brochures or other design work, you’ve probably come across the idea of a graphic design subscription.
The basic idea is simple: instead of hiring a designer for every individual project, you pay a fixed monthly fee for ongoing access to design support.
You send work over as it comes up, your designer works through it, and the relationship continues for as long as you need it.
This depends on the designer or service you choose, but the model works particularly well for the kind of design work businesses need regularly.
It’s less about buying one particular type of design and more about having somewhere consistent to send the work as it appears.
For many teams, design demand sits somewhere in the middle.
There’s too much work to comfortably handle internally, but not necessarily enough to justify another full-time designer.
A freelancer can be ideal for individual projects, but if work is arriving every week, repeatedly finding availability, requesting quotes and briefing someone can start creating work of its own.
An agency can offer a much wider team and is often a good fit for substantial campaigns, strategy or major projects, but that level of structure isn’t always necessary for everyday design requirements.
A subscription sits between those options.
You have ongoing access to design support without needing to create another permanent role.
This is probably the bit worth understanding properly.
“Unlimited” normally refers to the number of requests you can submit, not the amount of design that can physically be produced in a month.
If you add ten jobs to your queue, they won’t all be completed simultaneously. They’ll be worked through according to the number of active requests your subscription allows.
That means the value of a subscription comes from having a continuous design workflow rather than buying an unlimited quantity of finished artwork.
At Design Shake, you can add as many requests as you like and make as many revisions as needed, while I work through one priority request at a time.
That depends heavily on the request.
A social graphic, small document update or straightforward piece of marketing artwork might be ready for review within a day.
A lengthy report, full presentation, new brand identity or more involved campaign naturally takes longer and may be delivered in stages.
A good subscription service should be realistic about this rather than pretending every type of design takes the same amount of time.
This varies between providers.
Some subscriptions give you access to a larger design team, while others are built around a direct relationship with one designer.
There are advantages to both approaches.
A larger service may offer access to a broader range of specialists. Working with the same designer, however, can reduce the amount of rebriefing needed as they become familiar with your brand, your preferences and the way your team works.
Design Shake takes the second approach. You work directly with me throughout the subscription.
It generally makes the most sense for businesses that have regular rather than occasional design needs.
That might be a marketing team with an ongoing campaign calendar, an agency needing additional design capacity, an events team producing assets throughout the year, or an organisation regularly creating presentations, reports, digital content and print materials.
It may not make sense if you only need one or two isolated pieces of design each year.
Likewise, if your business genuinely has enough design work to keep somebody occupied full time, hiring internally may be the better option.
The right choice depends on the amount and type of work you actually have.
A freelancer is usually a strong option when you have a clear project or need a particular specialist skill.
A subscription becomes more useful when requests are arriving continuously.
Instead of commissioning each job separately, you have an ongoing working relationship and simply add new work as it comes up.
Neither is inherently better. They solve slightly different problems.
An in-house designer gives you someone dedicated entirely to your organisation.
If you have enough work to keep that person genuinely busy, that can be difficult to beat.
A subscription is aimed more at organisations that want regular access to a designer but don’t need another full-time member of staff.
It can also sit alongside an existing internal designer or marketing team when they need additional capacity.
Agencies can bring strategy, account management, creative direction and multiple specialist disciplines together around a project.
That makes them particularly useful for large campaigns, major rebrands and more complex pieces of work.
A graphic design subscription tends to be deliberately simpler.
It is better suited to the steady stream of design jobs that appear throughout normal business and marketing activity.
Prices vary considerably depending on the provider, the type of work covered, the number of active requests and whether you’re working with an individual designer or a larger team.
Design Shake is £795 per month.
That includes unlimited requests, unlimited revisions and ongoing graphic design support, with one priority request worked on at a time.
There’s no long-term contract, so the subscription can be paused or cancelled when it’s no longer needed.
It comes down to how regularly you need design.
If you need something once every few months, probably not.
If design work keeps appearing on the marketing list every week, having a designer who is already familiar with your brand can make the whole process considerably easier.
The real benefit isn’t simply “unlimited design”.
It’s having an ongoing place for the work to go.
Design Shake is a UK graphic design subscription built around working directly with the same designer.
For £795 a month, you can send over as many requests as you need and I’ll work through them one at a time, covering everything from everyday marketing assets to campaigns, presentations, reports, digital, print and branding.
As we work together, I get to know your brand, your team and how you like things done, which means less starting from scratch every time something new comes up.
Adam · Marketing Director
Peter · Creative Lead
Marc · Events Manager
Full-time designer
Freelance designer
Agency
Typical cost per month
£795
£3,840
£6,960
Varies
Typical cost per year
£9,540
£46,100
£83,520
Varies
Freelancer monthly and annual figures are based on 20 working days per month at the average day rate.
Queue as much work as you need.
One subscription for everyone who needs it.
Most requests are ready within a day.
Pause or cancel whenever you need to.
Start today. Stay for as long as it works for you.
60+ companies + 23,000+ requests
Me, Dan. I handle the briefs, the design and the feedback, so you’re always speaking directly to the person doing the work.
Most everyday requests are ready within a day. A social graphic, a simple presentation update or changes to an existing document can usually move quickly.
Larger or more involved projects naturally take longer. A full presentation, lengthy report or branding project will be worked through in stages, and I’ll always give you a realistic idea of timing before I start.
Your work is managed through Trello, where you can add requests, upload files, leave feedback and decide what should be worked on next.
It keeps everything in one place and makes it easy to see what’s active and what’s waiting in the queue.
I mainly work in Figma, Affinity and Canva, depending on the project and what makes the most sense for you.
Editable files can be supplied where appropriate.
You can cancel through your Stripe customer portal.
Cancellations need to be made at least 7 days before your next billing date to prevent the next payment from being taken.
Once your subscription is active, I’ll get you set up and send over everything you need to start submitting work.
There’s no lengthy onboarding process, so in most cases you can send your first request the same day.
If there’s anything I haven’t covered, just drop me an email and I’ll be happy to help.
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