Hiring or Not Hiring a Product Design Agency?
There are millions of different ways to design your digital product and millions of possibilities to fail. We want you to keep that in mind to understand what is at stake when deciding whether or not to hire a product design agency. Your entire business is on the line.
But do you need a product design agency to help you with your product? We’ll explore what product design agencies do, how they do it, crucial aspects to consider, and if it makes sense for you to collaborate with one.
What is a product design agency?
A product design agency is a company that works closely with businesses or individuals to create innovative and user-friendly products for their target market.
What makes these agencies popular is their product development process, built around the client’s needs, goals, and target market. They usually employ designers, engineers, researchers, and project managers to tackle complex tasks, from conceptualization and prototyping to user research.
What can product design agencies offer to your business?
• Effective projects
Conceptualization helps ensure that your concept is feasible, striking, and aligns with your business goals. This process involves brainstorming and perfecting ideas to establish a strong base for your product.
• Graphic design
This service intends to make your product eye-catching and appealing to your audience. Great design takes visual storytelling to another level to resonate more deeply with your audience.
• User research
User research is crucial in making data-based decisions, eliminating bias, and creating products that truly address users’ needs, preferences, and pain points. Many techniques and tools can achieve this objective. Among the most popular ones are surveys, interviews, and usability testing.
• Analytics services
One of the biggest challenges of modern businesses is gathering the right data and analyzing it to gain valuable insights that can be turned into actions. When overcome, the effort seems to be worth gold. This usually involves analyzing user feedback, market trends, and competitor strategies to optimize your product design for maximum success. Still, it can extend to other aspects of data analysis.
• Design Consultancy
Another typical service that product design agencies provide is guidance throughout product development, including strategic planning, design direction, or project management. Understand that this is not just for visual graphic design but also the creative process and design thinking.
• Market research
We briefly touched on this service as part of the analytics. Still, market research generally includes more comprehensive information on the industry and competition, sometimes including benchmarks, to ensure adequate product positioning.
• Product design
Product design is the end-to-end process of creating a product from concept to launch and ensuring post-launch success through updates that satisfy users’ needs. It also includes actualizing each stage of the process, requiring collaboration between many stakeholders.
• Wireframes
Wireframes are low-fidelity designs made to help visualize the flow of your product and refine the user experience before moving on to the full-scale visual design stage.
• Software Testing
After launching a product, ongoing support is a must, and it can lead to its success or complete failure. Finding and fixing bugs, glitches, and usability issues in your product is done to ensure smooth functionality and satisfaction with your product. Another aspect to consider is the application’s security.
• Validation
The main goal of testing is to validate if your product solves users’ problems. With well-made validation services and real users, you can quickly pinpoint what to improve or verify assumptions before committing to large-scale production.
If you’re considering hiring a product design agency to assist you with your product development process, this article will give you all the ABCs: the WHYs, the WHAT, the HOWs, and even the HOW MUCH! Let’s start from the beginning, shall we?
Why should businesses hire a product design agency?
Now that we understand the most common services a product design agency offers, we can explore why you may need one.
WHY #1: The product design agency has creative and experienced professionals with the right industry expertise. Sometimes, you may even find some geniuses. Ultimately, they've got the magic touch to make your product stand out.
WHY #2: Your competitors, whether direct or indirect, have probably hired one already, and you know what they say – if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!
WHY #3: Do you have a small team or many design initiatives happening simultaneously? Then, adding another one will most likely burn out your team or delay deliveries. That’s not recommended.
Only some companies have the budget to hire a product design agency, so prioritize your projects if hiring or collaborating with one is impossible for your company.
Awesomic is an app that connects you with experienced product designers in as few as 24 hours. All you need to do is create a task, and our AI-powered system matches you with experts in your industry who have already successfully delivered similar tasks. Do you need help getting your product design projects off the ground? Schedule a 30-minute demo.
Key factors to consider when choosing a product design agency
If you like checklists like we do at Awesomic, use this one to select the right product design agency for you.
✅ Expertise and experience of the design team
Do you know why creative agencies are growing? This level of talent, experience, and expertise is unmatched anywhere else. When choosing the one for your business, ensure they have specific industry expertise and proven experience with your product design tasks.
✅ Range of services offered
Another thing to consider when choosing a product design agency is the services they offer. Niche agencies with a proven track record of the services you need might be more beneficial for your company than overpriced all-in-one agencies. But an all-in-one agency is a good choice if you need a full suite of services. There are always cost-effective options if you do your research.
✅ Portfolio of successful projects
Please don’t fall for perfect demo sessions and convincing sales pitches. If the agency has no portfolio to showcase, opting for a team with a history of successful product designs can be the most cost-effective and time-saving option.
✅ Client testimonials and reviews
The recipe for business success lies in customer satisfaction. Watch out for product design agencies with no client testimonials or one-star reviews! Unless you have time to waste and money to spend.
✅ Alignment with your business goals and objectives
This one is a must-have! A product design agency you hire should have your best interest in mind. Beware of those overly obsessed with their greatness.
The role of a product design agency in the design process
Just like every other business, product design agencies follow a particular creative process that you need to be aware of before partnering with one of them. Below are 6 fundamental stages of every product design process.
Understanding the client's needs and requirements
The starting point of any product design project should always be discussing your business needs and requirements. So, clarify those before scheduling or during a discovery call with the potential agency. The more details you can provide, the better the outcome will be.
Conducting market research and analysis
The next stage is market research and in-depth analysis, which the agency does. The goal of market research is to gather and analyze consumer preferences and industry trends. This process isn’t just about quantity data. It’s about understanding users’ needs, desires, and pain points to tailor your product and make it stand out in a crowded marketplace.
Collaborating with designers and engineers
Stage three is about effective collaboration between your business and a dedicated team assigned to you as the agency’s client. Be ready for a lot of back-and-forth: brainstorming sessions, reviews, presentations, meetups, and Zoom calls. Yes, this stage takes lots of time and energy, but it is crucial for perfecting your product.
Creating design concepts and prototypes
Next is the stage when ideas take shape as design concepts and prototypes of your future product. These early-stage models allow experimentation, iteration, and refinement as touchstones for collaboration and feedback.
User testing and feedback iteration
After crafting prototypes comes the stage where your product is refined by fire, or in other words, user testing. This is when real users use a prototype of your product and share their feedback with the team. Based on those reviews, the product design team fixes bugs, glitches, and usability issues in your product.
Finalizing the design for production
Finally, your product is ready to see the light of day! When everything is done and you’re satisfied with the results, it’s time to start production. What next? Long-awaited launch, of course!
What are the benefits of hiring a product design agency?
Leveraging digital technologies for innovative solutions
New cutting-edge technologies are born almost daily, and product development is no exception. Product design agencies are skilled in utilizing the most innovative tools for effective product development. By collaborating with them, companies gain access to top-level knowledge and resources, which allows them to offer second-to-none solutions to users worldwide.
Designing user-centered digital experiences
Imagine the most intuitive interface that provides an almost seamless app experience. Would such a digital product be easy to sell?
This is one of the main reasons companies pay for product design agencies’ costly services. Product design agencies are strong at creating a user-centered digital experience. They use tools and processes such as user research, prototyping, and iterative design processes to create products that users are obsessed with.
Maximizing market share through digital transformation
If you’re trying to remain competitive and expand your market share in today's digital-first world, digital transformation is non-negotiable. Full stop. And working with product design agencies can be the way to start that.
Integrating data-driven insights into the design process
Product design agencies are known for collecting valuable data about user behaviors, preferences, and pain points. Integrating these data-driven insights into the design process helps craft exceptional products destined to win users' hearts.
The cost of hiring a product design agency
Factors that influence the hourly rate
Product design agencies will have different rates based on a bunch of factors, including:
- Expertise and experience.
- Location.
- Complexity of the project.
- Scope and scale.
Additional costs for design collateral and services
Awesomic covers all our designers’ services under a monthly subscription with no hidden fees, but that may not be the case for the agency you pick. After the negotiation stage with the product design agency of your choice, don’t forget to ask about additional or hidden costs or fees that may occur. Some of the most common ones are:
- Costs for physical or digital prototypes.
- Charges for extra visual elements.
- Costs for revisions and iterations.
- Expenses like licensing fees when using third-party tools or resources.
Determining the return on investment (ROI) for product design
Investing in your product design is 100% worth the hype. It can help you shorten the time to market and increase sales, build a strong brand, and gain a competitive edge. Who wouldn’t like that?
Bottom line: At the end of the day, hiring a product design agency is totally up to you. You know your business better than anyone else. Use this article to make the right call regarding your product design. We wish you the best of luck and invite you to see if our Awesomic plans fit your needs!
There are millions of different ways to design your digital product and millions of possibilities to fail. We want you to keep that in mind to understand what is at stake when deciding whether or not to hire a product design agency. Your entire business is on the line.
But do you need a product design agency to help you with your product? We’ll explore what product design agencies do, how they do it, crucial aspects to consider, and if it makes sense for you to collaborate with one.
What is a product design agency?
A product design agency is a company that works closely with businesses or individuals to create innovative and user-friendly products for their target market.
What makes these agencies popular is their product development process, built around the client’s needs, goals, and target market. They usually employ designers, engineers, researchers, and project managers to tackle complex tasks, from conceptualization and prototyping to user research.
What can product design agencies offer to your business?
• Effective projects
Conceptualization helps ensure that your concept is feasible, striking, and aligns with your business goals. This process involves brainstorming and perfecting ideas to establish a strong base for your product.
• Graphic design
This service intends to make your product eye-catching and appealing to your audience. Great design takes visual storytelling to another level to resonate more deeply with your audience.
• User research
User research is crucial in making data-based decisions, eliminating bias, and creating products that truly address users’ needs, preferences, and pain points. Many techniques and tools can achieve this objective. Among the most popular ones are surveys, interviews, and usability testing.
• Analytics services
One of the biggest challenges of modern businesses is gathering the right data and analyzing it to gain valuable insights that can be turned into actions. When overcome, the effort seems to be worth gold. This usually involves analyzing user feedback, market trends, and competitor strategies to optimize your product design for maximum success. Still, it can extend to other aspects of data analysis.
• Design Consultancy
Another typical service that product design agencies provide is guidance throughout product development, including strategic planning, design direction, or project management. Understand that this is not just for visual graphic design but also the creative process and design thinking.
• Market research
We briefly touched on this service as part of the analytics. Still, market research generally includes more comprehensive information on the industry and competition, sometimes including benchmarks, to ensure adequate product positioning.
• Product design
Product design is the end-to-end process of creating a product from concept to launch and ensuring post-launch success through updates that satisfy users’ needs. It also includes actualizing each stage of the process, requiring collaboration between many stakeholders.
• Wireframes
Wireframes are low-fidelity designs made to help visualize the flow of your product and refine the user experience before moving on to the full-scale visual design stage.
• Software Testing
After launching a product, ongoing support is a must, and it can lead to its success or complete failure. Finding and fixing bugs, glitches, and usability issues in your product is done to ensure smooth functionality and satisfaction with your product. Another aspect to consider is the application’s security.
• Validation
The main goal of testing is to validate if your product solves users’ problems. With well-made validation services and real users, you can quickly pinpoint what to improve or verify assumptions before committing to large-scale production.
If you’re considering hiring a product design agency to assist you with your product development process, this article will give you all the ABCs: the WHYs, the WHAT, the HOWs, and even the HOW MUCH! Let’s start from the beginning, shall we?
Why should businesses hire a product design agency?
Now that we understand the most common services a product design agency offers, we can explore why you may need one.
WHY #1: The product design agency has creative and experienced professionals with the right industry expertise. Sometimes, you may even find some geniuses. Ultimately, they've got the magic touch to make your product stand out.
WHY #2: Your competitors, whether direct or indirect, have probably hired one already, and you know what they say – if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!
WHY #3: Do you have a small team or many design initiatives happening simultaneously? Then, adding another one will most likely burn out your team or delay deliveries. That’s not recommended.
Only some companies have the budget to hire a product design agency, so prioritize your projects if hiring or collaborating with one is impossible for your company.
Awesomic is an app that connects you with experienced product designers in as few as 24 hours. All you need to do is create a task, and our AI-powered system matches you with experts in your industry who have already successfully delivered similar tasks. Do you need help getting your product design projects off the ground? Schedule a 30-minute demo.
Key factors to consider when choosing a product design agency
If you like checklists like we do at Awesomic, use this one to select the right product design agency for you.
✅ Expertise and experience of the design team
Do you know why creative agencies are growing? This level of talent, experience, and expertise is unmatched anywhere else. When choosing the one for your business, ensure they have specific industry expertise and proven experience with your product design tasks.
✅ Range of services offered
Another thing to consider when choosing a product design agency is the services they offer. Niche agencies with a proven track record of the services you need might be more beneficial for your company than overpriced all-in-one agencies. But an all-in-one agency is a good choice if you need a full suite of services. There are always cost-effective options if you do your research.
✅ Portfolio of successful projects
Please don’t fall for perfect demo sessions and convincing sales pitches. If the agency has no portfolio to showcase, opting for a team with a history of successful product designs can be the most cost-effective and time-saving option.
✅ Client testimonials and reviews
The recipe for business success lies in customer satisfaction. Watch out for product design agencies with no client testimonials or one-star reviews! Unless you have time to waste and money to spend.
✅ Alignment with your business goals and objectives
This one is a must-have! A product design agency you hire should have your best interest in mind. Beware of those overly obsessed with their greatness.
The role of a product design agency in the design process
Just like every other business, product design agencies follow a particular creative process that you need to be aware of before partnering with one of them. Below are 6 fundamental stages of every product design process.
Understanding the client's needs and requirements
The starting point of any product design project should always be discussing your business needs and requirements. So, clarify those before scheduling or during a discovery call with the potential agency. The more details you can provide, the better the outcome will be.
Conducting market research and analysis
The next stage is market research and in-depth analysis, which the agency does. The goal of market research is to gather and analyze consumer preferences and industry trends. This process isn’t just about quantity data. It’s about understanding users’ needs, desires, and pain points to tailor your product and make it stand out in a crowded marketplace.
Collaborating with designers and engineers
Stage three is about effective collaboration between your business and a dedicated team assigned to you as the agency’s client. Be ready for a lot of back-and-forth: brainstorming sessions, reviews, presentations, meetups, and Zoom calls. Yes, this stage takes lots of time and energy, but it is crucial for perfecting your product.
Creating design concepts and prototypes
Next is the stage when ideas take shape as design concepts and prototypes of your future product. These early-stage models allow experimentation, iteration, and refinement as touchstones for collaboration and feedback.
User testing and feedback iteration
After crafting prototypes comes the stage where your product is refined by fire, or in other words, user testing. This is when real users use a prototype of your product and share their feedback with the team. Based on those reviews, the product design team fixes bugs, glitches, and usability issues in your product.
Finalizing the design for production
Finally, your product is ready to see the light of day! When everything is done and you’re satisfied with the results, it’s time to start production. What next? Long-awaited launch, of course!
What are the benefits of hiring a product design agency?
Leveraging digital technologies for innovative solutions
New cutting-edge technologies are born almost daily, and product development is no exception. Product design agencies are skilled in utilizing the most innovative tools for effective product development. By collaborating with them, companies gain access to top-level knowledge and resources, which allows them to offer second-to-none solutions to users worldwide.
Designing user-centered digital experiences
Imagine the most intuitive interface that provides an almost seamless app experience. Would such a digital product be easy to sell?
This is one of the main reasons companies pay for product design agencies’ costly services. Product design agencies are strong at creating a user-centered digital experience. They use tools and processes such as user research, prototyping, and iterative design processes to create products that users are obsessed with.
Maximizing market share through digital transformation
If you’re trying to remain competitive and expand your market share in today's digital-first world, digital transformation is non-negotiable. Full stop. And working with product design agencies can be the way to start that.
Integrating data-driven insights into the design process
Product design agencies are known for collecting valuable data about user behaviors, preferences, and pain points. Integrating these data-driven insights into the design process helps craft exceptional products destined to win users' hearts.
The cost of hiring a product design agency
Factors that influence the hourly rate
Product design agencies will have different rates based on a bunch of factors, including:
- Expertise and experience.
- Location.
- Complexity of the project.
- Scope and scale.
Additional costs for design collateral and services
Awesomic covers all our designers’ services under a monthly subscription with no hidden fees, but that may not be the case for the agency you pick. After the negotiation stage with the product design agency of your choice, don’t forget to ask about additional or hidden costs or fees that may occur. Some of the most common ones are:
- Costs for physical or digital prototypes.
- Charges for extra visual elements.
- Costs for revisions and iterations.
- Expenses like licensing fees when using third-party tools or resources.
Determining the return on investment (ROI) for product design
Investing in your product design is 100% worth the hype. It can help you shorten the time to market and increase sales, build a strong brand, and gain a competitive edge. Who wouldn’t like that?
Bottom line: At the end of the day, hiring a product design agency is totally up to you. You know your business better than anyone else. Use this article to make the right call regarding your product design. We wish you the best of luck and invite you to see if our Awesomic plans fit your needs!
