Most businesses know what it costs to do design badly. The freelancer who disappears mid-project. The agency proposal that comes back three times over budget. The internal deck that gets assembled in PowerPoint at midnight because there was no better option.
What fewer businesses have experienced is what it looks like to do design well — consistently, affordably, and without the drama.
That is the gap that Design as a Service is built to fill. For €1,295 per month, companies get unlimited access to a dedicated team of designers covering everything from social media graphics and presentations to motion graphics, video, UI and UX design, and email templates.
Tasks are submitted and returned within 24 to 48 hours. Revisions are unlimited. There are no contracts, no setup fees, and no surprises on the invoice.
The company behind it is Obsidian, a Danish agency that built a fifteen-person design department over several years to serve its own clients — and eventually realised the operation could stand on its own.
“Companies often felt trapped between two bad choices,” says Christoffer Sandau, Product Lead at Design as a Service. “Either they paid too much for slow agencies, or they took a chance on freelancers and crossed their fingers. There was no predictable, professional middle ground.”
The reception across Europe has been encouraging. Customers are now based in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Germany, and Slovenia — five countries, each with different market dynamics, all experiencing the same underlying frustration with how design has traditionally been bought and sold.
The subscription model shifts the dynamic significantly. Rather than treating design as a series of one-off projects, each requiring its own brief, budget, and approval chain, it becomes a standing resource.
Need a pitch deck updated before a funding meeting? Done. Need a run of social assets for a product launch? Also done. The same monthly cost covers both.
“Design should just be there when you need it,” Sandau says. “Whatever shape that need takes.”
For businesses that have grown tired of the traditional model, that might be exactly the point.
Read more at getdesignasaservice.com.
