Graphic assets are a crucial part of any brand’s marketing and promotion. It’s simply essential to have a beautiful website, catchy advertisements, a presence on social, and attention-grabbing promotional items.
When you need consistent design work for your company, doing it yourself can be a lot to handle. You may not have the time, expertise, or programs necessary to create the quality assets you need.
That’s where an unlimited graphic design subscription can be an incredible investment.
Here, we’ll discuss two major brands in the flat-rate graphic subscription industry- Flocksy and Design Shifu.
Both Design Shifu and Flocksy offer the graphic services you need to keep up with your competition and engage your audience. However, what you’ll get with each company is very different and can make or break your success, particularly if you’re trying to remain budget-conscious while still getting all your creative content managed.
While we both offer unlimited graphic design for a flat monthly rate that you can cancel at any time, one of us gives you a lot more.
In this Design Shifu vs Flocksy review, we’ll cover:
Let’s dive in.
A Design Shifu vs Flocksy Comparison Table
To begin, here’s a side-by-side comparison:
| Features | Design Shifu | Flocksy |
| Least Expensive Package | $399/m | $595/m |
| Most Expensive Package | $1,499/m | $1,695/m |
| Graphic Design Included (yes/no) | Yes | Yes |
| Web Development Included (yes/no) | No | Yes, on higher tier |
| Video Editing Included (yes/no) | No | Yes, on higher tier |
| Voiceovers Included (yes/no) | No | Yes |
| Copywriting Included (yes/no) | No | Yes |
| Custom Illustrations Included (yes/no) | Yes, on higher tiers | Yes |
| Motion Graphics Included (yes/no) | Yes, on highest tier | Yes, on higher tier |
| Average Turnaround Time | Graphics- 24 to 48 hours Video- 48 to 72 hours | Graphics- 24 hours or less Video- 24 to 48 hours |
| Money Back Guarantee (days) | 14 days | 14 days |
| Project Managers? | Yes | Yes |
Cost
The first tier on Desigh Shifu, the Unlimited plan, is $399 a month. You’ll get up to five active requests at a time and can choose how many you want from a dropdown. Each additional active project does have an associated fee. You’ll get unlimited revisions and brands as well. Each project offers a turnaround time of roughly 24 hours, is considered a basic project, and does not include custom illustrations.
Their next tier is the “Unlimited Plus” plan for $599. This tier also offers one to five active projects, and you’ll get unlimited revisions and brands. You’ll also get work on more complex projects, including illustrations, with a 24 to 48-hour turnaround.
Their most expensive plan is their “Unlimited Pro” plan. Here, you’ll get everything mentioned above and motion graphics services. This highest tier only offers one active project at a time because it assumes it will likely be a motion graphics request, which comes with a 48 to 72-hour turnaround time.
In all three monthly plans, there is no long-term contract, and you get full email support, a dedicated designer, unlimited team members, stock image licenses, and onboarding and project managers.
At Flocksy, we also offer three plans with design services, video editing, copywriting, and more. Our plans break down like this:
- Silver– $595/m- You get a design project queue, where the designers work on your projects individually on a first-come, first-served basis. Your designated creative team completes your requests, and you can get whatever graphics or custom illustrations you need. The team is US-daytime based and provides quick turnaround times, from as little as 12 hours. With Flocksy, you also get a dedicated project manager who guides you through the platform and offers assistance. We also have excellent communication and update capabilities through the Zapier integration, where you can use Trello, Slack, Asana, Google Drive, email, & more, and our unique dashboard’s Message Center.
- Gold– $1,195/m- You’ll get everything above, and we now offer copywriting, video editing, motion graphics, logos & brand guides, and voice-over work. You’ll receive double the output with faster turnarounds on most projects. Also, you can request revisions through video and audio with the Loom Video Messaging option.
- Platinum– $1,695/m- You’ll get everything above and triple the output. We will also offer web development projects on this tier, which comes with PSD/Figma/Sketch to HTML, PSD/Figma/Sketch to Elementor, PSD/Figma/Sketch to Drag-and-Drop Builders, and PSD/Figma/Sketch to Divi.
Onboarding Process
Design Shifu offers pre-subscription demos, and you’ll have an onboarding manager to guide you through the setup process and learning the dashboard. Then, you’ll be able to work with your assigned project manager to begin requesting projects, or you can reach out to them if you have questions.
At Flocksy, we also offer demonstrations of our all-in-one platform before and after signing up. Your project manager can jump on a video or phone call whenever you need help. You can reach out to them through the Message Center chat or Slack via Zapier.
One of our most impressive features is our project managers because they’re with you from the start. You can schedule a demo whenever you want if you need to see it again or want to train new users. Your PM will always be there to keep things running smoothly.
Also, you can peruse the dashboard as you run projects, send video messages, or just start requesting projects right away. You’ll get responses from talented creatives within hours. You can also use our Message Center to discuss projects with your creatives, including pre-vetted graphic artists, video editors, writers, and voice-over performers.
Submitting a Design Request
When managing projects on the Design Shifu platform, you use the main menu on their dashboard to look at your projects and their status. You’ll be able to see how many active projects are going and navigate to new requests. If submitting a new project, you’ll want to detail your needs in their intuitive request form.
Once you submit a graphics request, the system will match it with a dedicated designer who will handle the project from beginning to end, including revisions.
Your dedicated designer will send you a draft for you to review. From there, you can ask them for revisions, or you can sign off on the design and get your final files, including source files.
Once you’ve received your project documents, you can close out the request and start using the design however you wish. You’ll get each file type you need for the various places your asset will go. Last, the next project in your queue will become active, and the process will start again.
At Flocksy, we also have an internal dashboard and a similar process. You can begin projects in just a few clicks, view statuses, message your team, comment revisions on your designs, and see all your assets and files stored for future use and reference by our team.
When starting a new project, it’s easy, no matter what type of request you’re opening. The intelligent briefs will walk you through what information to provide and give you several fields where you include the important details and references. We also give you unlimited brand buckets to store your brand guides, colors, logos, and relevant files. Attaching them to your briefs is one click and done. These are especially useful when you’re working with multiple brands.
Flocksy creatives can also look at previously approved designs for reference and inspiration, showing them the styles you like.
Turnaround Time
At Design Shifu, you choose how many active projects you want on the first two tiers, which can affect turnaround times. How quickly a design comes back varies based on not only your active projects but also the project’s complexity.
In most cases, they promise to get drafts back to you in 24 to 48 hours, with simple designs on the first tier coming back within 24 hours.
For motion graphics, or what they refer to as video, the turnaround time is 48 to 72 hours.
Here, we’ll get your graphics in the same timeframe, as well as almost all of our other services- not just design.
Flocksy delivers projects in less than 24 hours for simple designs. We have a 24 to 48-hour timeframe when you have something more detailed. You’ll also see a timer on each project that shows you when to expect your first drafts. When you’ve approved your designs, you’ll immediately be able to download them and start using them.
Quality of Work
Quality is subjective. Both Design Shifu and Flocksy can get you content you love so that you can focus on other responsibilities. However, at Flocksy, we can also ensure you work with a pre-vetted team member who is held to the highest quality standard.
We also hire our creatives from every walk of life and work hard to offer diverse individuals who can provide various viewpoints and skills. You won’t get the same templated designs. Instead, you’ll be working with an experienced creator who understands current trends and can provide a unique perspective as they get to know your brand.
Here is an example of our work:
Here is an example of Design Shifu’s work:
Storing Completed Projects
It’s unclear whether Design Shifu will house your completed project files. However, they do offer Zapier integration, which means you could pair your projects to your Google drive for file storage.
We allow you to manage projects and reopen any you want from our dashboard. You can copy completed briefs to start a new one, update or add new buckets whenever you need, and store your projects, files, and conversations for as long as you’re a client. Whenever you need to download something again, it’s easy.
Moreover, we also offer that same Zapier integration, so you can connect your Flocksy account with Trello, Google Drive, etc., and have your files saved in the folders or cards you determine.
Communication with the Design Team
Design Shifu offers 24-hour customer support and provides a project manager. You’ll also be able to communicate with your team on Slack using the Zapier integration. They provide a live chat feature as well.
At Flocksy, you can contact your project manager through phone, email, video messaging, Message Center chat, and Slack through Zapier. Project manager communication is one of our most-loved features.
You’ll also be able to message your team in the Message Center.
You can chat with your creatives in a general thread or within a specific project. It makes organizing your messages easier because you can talk about a specific project in one thread and ask general questions in another.
You can also provide feedback on Flocksy designs with the point-and-click tool on the platform and leave comments for video editors, etc. Loom video messaging also makes providing comments even easier because you can record yourself and your screen, showing exactly where you want something changed while you detail your goals verbally.
We pride ourselves on our client-creative relationships. Our designers, and all our other professionals, work hard to build strong working relationships with you. You can create a preferred team of highly-professional individuals who truly “get” your brand and invite them back to every project you run. These trust team members can provide even better results- and faster than someone who’s just met you.
And if you’re looking for a fresh set of eyes, you can open up your project to the entire Flocksy community to get new perspectives.
What’s more, because you’ll have a whole team of trusted creatives, someone being out of the office won’t stand between you and your deadline.
Wrapping Up
Design Shifu offers fair rates for an unlimited graphic design subscription and can get your designs back pretty quickly. However, they don’t provide many related services, and if you compare their rates to an all-in-one provider, their price seems much more expensive for what you’re getting.
Flocksy offers graphic designs, custom illustrations, copywriting, video editing, motion graphics, and more for nearly the same amount as the Design Shifu Unlimited Pro plan. We also have dedicated project managers, quicker turnaround times, and enhanced communication options on an easy-to-learn platform. With Flocksy, you’ll not only get everything Design Shifu offers, but you’ll also get so much more.
We can handle all your creative needs, from art to video to coding, and we can do it all under one roof so that you don’t have to juggle several agencies or freelancers. When you need consistent content of multiple types, which is typical for nearly every brand, you’re better off with an all-inclusive service. For the highest quality and broadest array of unlimited services, trust Flocksy.
To learn more about starting a project with Flocksy for yourself, be sure to check out the Services and Pricing pages. You can also shoot us an email through the contact form or reach out over the phone at (877) 263-7389.