The Reason for DesignCue
Before going much further with DesignCue, I thought it’d be favorable to explain why I’m starting DesignCue. From the moment the idea to popped into my mind to this very moment, DesignCue has gone through several iterations. After talking with friends, professionals, other designers, and startup founders — I’ve adjusted my angle and purpose.
My original idea was this: to create the “Uber for logos.” Yep, another Uber concept. Under this model I would organize a team of remote designers to handle design tasks as my clients assign them to me. I created a scaling system, pricing structures, an online interface, and plans for my very own app. The first time I pitched this to another professional they said “you don’t need an app — make a Squarespace site.” Another professional said, “you won’t be able to get the really good designers to stick.”
Were they right? We’ll see. Have you heard of the sharing economy? Uber and Airbnb have paved the way for what economists call the “sharing economy.” For years, dozens of startups have taken advantage of this shift from employees to independent contractors. This is the age of convenience — for the consumer and for the worker. No longer do employees desire to show up to a specific geographical location wearing a set dress code under set business hours. We want to the ability to make money wherever we want, whenever we want.
This brings me back to DesignCue. Simply put, I believe DesignCue is the design agency of the future. That a small team of designers will shoot the bulk of their work to independent designers across the city. Here’s why I believe what I believe:
The design industry is changing. Well, it doesn’t want to but it has to. As it stands now, the design industry is filled with large firms, boutique firms, and independent designers. Because of this, you have less expensive designers working independently, or you have large firms charging a large price. That’s a problem.
Another issue is, those independent designers are fairly unreliable. Even if they’re responsive to your text, call, or email, their time is divided between actually designing, responding to emails, self-promoting, filling out invoices, doing taxes, doing revisions, etc. The independent designer spends very little of their time actually designing. This is a problem.
An alternative to the independent designer and the design firms are online marketplaces like Odesk and 99Designs. Not only does 99Designs under-pay their designers, quality talent does not stay on the service due to better opportunities that guarantee payment. 99Designs is set up as a design competition for every project and pays a relatively low rate. This starts out being bad for the designer and ends up being really bad for the recipient. Why? These services are hit or miss. You may, by chance end up being connected with a really good designer. But, that’s not very likely. Hopefully you’ll get good work back, but again, that’s not likely. It’s cost effective, but rarely yields good results. How do I know this? Several clients have come to me after attempting to find a fitting logo on 99Designs.
The truth is, 99Designs tries to make the consumer of design the expert. By giving you numerous options and avenues to pursue, they try to make you feel powerful. You get to choose. However, you are left feeling hopeless when faced with making the choice between several seemingly good designs. That’s okay though, because you aren’t the design expert and shouldn’t have to be. After all, you’re entrusting your money to another professional so they can handle that for you — which is the point of outsourcing in the first place.
Here’s why I believe DesignCue will grow expediently. I believe in the DesignCue model because it can produce quality design cheaper than large firms, more reliably than independent designers, and at higher-quality than online design marketplaces. This is our market fit. DesignCue has the power of multiple designers (just like the big firms), at a low burn rate (just like the independent designers), and can do it quickly and seamlessly (just like the online marketplaces).
The DesignCue guarantee is this: we can provide top-quality design, at an affordable (but not cheap) price, under a quick timeline. So, high-quality, fair pricing, and favorable turn-around times. That is DesignCue, powered by the sharing economy and furthered by those willing to take a chance on a non-traditional business model.
Here’s how I believe DesignCue will impact designers, entrepreneurs, and Atlanta. If you’ve ever been in startup circles or listened to a startup-focused seminar you know building fast is key. Why? If you have a bad idea, you’ll get it out of the way quickly. If its golden, you’ll begin to scale-up slowly and build a business. To help entrepreneurs do this, we have to make design quicker than the traditional model. From the time it takes to search for a designer, contact a designer, wait to hear back from a designer, pay an upfront fee, meet with the designer, get first fruits from the designer, and wait for final revisions from the designer, it could take weeks, maybe a month!. For this reason, I decided I could guarantee a 7-business day turnaround time for logo designs with DesignCue. That way, even with several rounds of revisions, you have company branding delivered to you within two weeks — at most three weeks and you are on your way to creating your business.
The fact is, design doesn’t have to be slow. Graphic design isn’t like making leather products that have to be hand-cut, sewn, and packaged. We’re creating digital designs. One day to meet with the client, the next day to gather inspiration and brainstorm, the next to sketch ideas and dialogue with colleagues, the next to work up first drafts and send the client. This is four days and we still have three more days to take our time if we need it. Design shouldn’t be slow. We can maintain extremely high quality by using a more simple process to accomplish design tasks. This helps us produce more and helps the client build their business quicker.
For designers, DesignCue pays very well. We only take approximately 15–20% of the project income. The rest goes directly to the designer. Because DesignCue designers are classified as independent workers, designers get the full 85–80% of the project cost. With this model, there are far more benefits for the designer in comparison to being fully independent. DesignCue handles all client acquisition, self-promotion, invoicing and billing, client setup, file storage, and project management. All they have to do is design, which they love. It is good for us and it is great for them. Work for us and we help you make a favorable wage.
Because DesignCue is starting in Atlanta, Atlanta will be the first to benefit from it. DesignCue will help early to late stage startups get high quality design at affordable costs, and in a timely manner. It will create more organized work for local designers. And in the future, even more jobs will be created as Atlanta becomes the headquarters for DesignCue and will employ a team of people to handle day-to-day operations, marketing, and design consulting. I hope to make Atlanta known for disrupting the design industry.
Do you want to disrupt the design industry with DesignCue? Commission some design, become a Cue Designer, or just root us on! Feel free to share this story, comment, and ask questions. After all, we’re doing this for you!
Sincerely,
Preston Attebery
Lead designer + Founder
