In the world of unlimited graphic design services, Awesomic is a relative newcomer. Founded in 2019, they’ve only really started to make a name for themselves in the past year or two.
It’s easy to see why they’ve managed to stand out so quickly. They market themselves as something between a design service and an agency. They promise collaboration and supreme quality, and their own stunning website offers all the proof they need.
How does Awesomic stack up? Here’s our review.
A brief history of Awesomic
The beta for Awesomic (pronounced awe-SOMic, not awesome-ick) was launched on Product Hunt in 2019. Its founders, Roman Sevast and Stacy Pavlyshyna (along with much of the company’s team), are from Ukraine.
The company has managed to rise under a series of extenuating circumstances. First, they received funding in the throes of COVID-19 from Y Combinator’s 2021 summer startup batch. Now, their Ukraine-based team is continuing to scale the company in the heat of a Russian invasion.
Check out this blog to learn more about how Awesomic has continued to operate and build in the midst of war.
How unlimited is Awesomic? (scope, limits, turnaround time) - 3/5
Awesomic actually doesn’t tend to brand itself as an “unlimited” service. Rather, they advertise daily updates on your design projects, worked on by pro designers for a fixed monthly fee.
On the one hand, Awesomic offers most of the same features you’d expect from an unlimited design service. Auto-matching, design briefs, and no cap on requests and revisions.
On the other hand, someone seeking an unlimited service may be looking for a speedy, hands-off process—and Awesomic doesn’t offer that. Rather, they offer the sort of in-depth, interactive process you’d expect from a design agency or freelancer.
Scope of services
Awesomic’s elegant web app features unique forms for a variety of design tasks. The different categories of designs they offer are:
- Webflow
- Logo & identity
- Website & app
- Landing page
- Mobile app
- Presentation
- Custom illustration
- Animation
- Print & packaging
- Banner and digital ads
- Email
- Book
- Photo & images
Only the latter five categories are available on the Light plan; the rest require a Pro or Ultimate plan (which we’ll explain shortly). It’s as thorough a package as I’ve seen, seeming to run the gamut of graphic designs, but the lower-tier plan is quite restrictive.
How long does a design take?
Awesomic is careful not to make promises about their turnaround. When asked, the customer service representative was hesitant to say what designs could be finished within the service’s one-week trial.
The request I ended up making—a logo—was described as one of the simpler designs I could create. In my first message from my designer, he gave me a breakdown of how long it would take, pictured above.
The workflow estimated 7-11 business days for the project overall. For something more advanced than a logo, one would reasonably expect the process to take even longer.
Are there any other limits to Awesomic’s service?
Beyond the relatively long design period, Awesomic is fairly fully-featured. You can request as many designs and revisions as you want. As stated above, their range of designs offered is second to none, even including animation, 3D illustration, and video.
On the other hand, time constraints mean you’re not likely to see more than 2 complete designs in a month. Most plans come with only one designer, and you’ll have to pay more than double the entry-level price to access all their design options.
How unlimited is Awesomic? While it follows the model of an unlimited service, it hardly considers itself one. But it does offer unlimited requests, revisions, and users, along with an expansive catalog of design options. Still, you won’t get nearly as many designs for your monthly payment as you would from most unlimited graphic design services.
Awesomic value (pricing, design package, refunds) - 2/5
Pricing plans
Awesomic offers three plan options for subscribers:
- Light: $699/mo. Includes 1 dedicated designer and 1 task updated each day. Designs covered include print and packing, banners and digital ads, book design, email design, and general graphic design.
- Pro: $1995/mo. Includes 1 dedicated designer and 1 task updated each day. Designs covered include everything in Light plus webflow, website design, app design, illustrations, landing pages, logos and branding, presentations, and animation.
- Ultimate: $2490/mo. Includes 2 dedicated designers and 2 tasks updated each day. Designs covered include everything previously mentioned.
All plans also come with Slack integration and a dedicated customer success manager.
What is included in a plan?
As an Awesomic subscriber, you’ll have complete access to your designer, allowing you to communicate with their in-app chat, schedule a video call, and use the aforementioned Slack integration.
My design package included daily PDFs showcasing the project’s latest updates, along with Loom videos explaining my designer’s progress. Each update came with two new designs. Upon request, you can receive designs in almost any file type. You will also receive source files for your designs, although you can’t access them during the free trial.
Does Awesomic have a refund policy?
Awesomic’s refund policy is strict compared to other design services. While many unlimited design services have a 14- or 30-day money back guarantee, Awesomic instead offers a 7-day, $7 trial period.
This unique arrangement means you don’t have to pay (much) upfront, and you can witness the full scope of Awesomic’s service without even temporarily paying for a high-priced plan. During this period, a refund is guaranteed—in other words, you can get your seven dollars back.
Past this point, you can request a refund, but you might not get it, especially if your design project is already finished.
Overall value
Even Awesomic’s cheapest plan is relatively high for graphic design services. To get access to many designs that come standard with other services, you’ll have to buy the Pro plan, which costs almost twice as much.
At the same time, Awesomic offers a thoroughly invested experience for that price. Service-wise, it’s more like working with a design agency than it is other unlimited services. You get regular updates and an extremely accommodating design package, with the ability to integrate with your existing business structure.
All told, Awesomic’s user experience is invaluable. That being said, as I received relatively minor progress updates, I found myself wondering why I would pay a monthly subscription fee for this service, rather than the hourly or per-project cost of a design agency.
Awesomic user experience (signing up, dashboard, features) - 5/5
How do you sign up for Awesomic?
When you sign up for Awesomic, you’re first asked to make an account. After filling out some basic information like your name and email (or signing up with Gmail), you’re taken to the screen pictured above to select your plan.
By default, you’re placed on the 7-day trial for whichever plan you choose, meaning that the card you enter will be charged $7 and then charged the full cost a week later. Since you can always change your plan, it pays to book the largest plan for the trial period, but be mindful of the cost and remember to switch before the trial runs out.
Once you put in your payment info, you’re good to go. Awesomic has one of the easiest sign-up processes I’ve seen from a design service.
Dashboard
Awesomic’s dashboard is sleek and thorough, with a wide range of handy tabs to use. Here’s a rundown of the nine tabs on the left-hand menu of the dashboard.
My tasks
Here, you’ll see your tasks organized into three categories: Active, Queue, and Completed. As you may expect, the Active tab is where current tasks go, the Queue tab is for forthcoming ones, and the Completed tab is for ones that are finished. You can easily click and drag tasks over to a different drop-down, or open them by clicking the title.
New task
This takes you to the design forms for submitting a new task. We’ll get to those in a bit.
Brand assets
Like many design services, Awesomic lets you create brand profiles to make the design process easier for branded content. You can add details like your brand’s audience, logo, existing designs, and color schemes to help your designers understand your brand(s).
Projects
Individual design tasks can be sorted into Project folders. These can be used to keep track of multiple designs that are part of a single project, such as a website or product launch.
Archive
If you decide not to finish a project, or just don’t want it cluttering your dashboard, you can archive it.
Call
On top of daily updates and Slack integration, you can always schedule a video call with your designer. This is a helpful feature that many design services don’t offer.
Settings
Four different types of account settings can be found in this tab: Profile, Team, Integrations, and Security. Here, you can change your name, profile pic, and password, integrate with Slack, or add an unlimited number of users to your account.
Billing
Like Settings, Billing has a few submenus: Plans, Payment info, and Invoices. You can toggle your plan and see your next payment date here. The Invoices section lets you view receipts for any charge Awesomic makes on your account, another useful feature many similar services don’t offer.
Referrals
Awesomic offers $500 credits for you and your friend when you refer someone to their service.
Web app features
Awesomic offers a thoroughly useful and intuitive web app for desktop. While there isn’t much of an onboarding process when you sign up, they recommend all customers schedule a 15-minute call with their customer service to go over the web app’s features.
If you’ve never used a design service before, this call should answer most of your questions. If you have any others, you can always contact support, although much of the team works in the EET time zone (6 hours ahead of US Eastern time). Still, the app is intuitive enough that you’re not likely to run into problems.
Overall, I found the Awesomic web app well-designed and easy to navigate. They don’t currently have a mobile version, but the desktop software is phenomenal.
Awesomic designs - 5/5
During my demo call, I asked what types of designs I could expect to be finished during the one-week trial. They were hesitant to answer, but suggested a logo or pitch deck.
I decided to request a logo for a work management software called Workwheel. I created a color scheme and provided some reference images for the sorts of logos I was looking for.
Design request form
The design request process on Awesomic is thorough, but if I have one complaint, it’s that there’s no specifically outlined space for file requirements (size, type, etc.). Instead, the form for “logo & identity” includes four text boxes:
- Task title
- Do you have any preferred colors, fonts, etc.? And what about colors/fonts we shouldn’t use?
- What feeling or message do you want your logo to convey? Which adjectives could describe your logo best?
- Anything else we need to know? (optional)
In addition, there’s a space to include any files and reference images, an optional space for a timing preference (which in hindsight, I probably should have used), and menus to sort by user, project, and brand.
In my opinion, there are a few subtle problems with this form. Many design services have a brief that encourages you to share your vision of the project in as much detail as you can muster. This, in contrast, doesn’t explicitly have a space for directly describing the project at all.
While it may be intended to ensure that necessary details are included, I think this form is actually less likely to yield good prompts than a more general one. Even in my case, where I meticulously laid out the project concept in advance, I found myself leaving details out of the initial brief.
Each day of my trial, I received a PDF of new design concepts from my assigned designer, along with a 3-5 minute Loom video explaining their process. These videos were a great help and something I think more design services should consider implementing.
I liked the direction of these initial design concepts, and the thorough explainer video made them hard to dispute. Their concept was to combine a pie chart shape (which I mentioned in my brief) with a W or double-W for Workwheel and a subtle symbol for growth.
Along with the initial designs, my designer asked me to share some more details about the company. Luckily, I had prepared for that, but I also took the opportunity to try and push the design more in the direction I had pictured. It wasn’t until after the fact that I realized there were details I had in mind but didn’t feel there was space to include on the design brief.
First designs
Second designs
Once again, these designs aimed to combine a pie chart, a W, a growth symbol, and the orange and gray shades I included in my provided color scheme. This time, however, they also took note of my description of the product—a pie chart-style work management tool with a drag-and-drop editor. The results were much more like what I had pictured at the outset.
I praised these new designs, particularly the second one. I made a brief note about including a little more color, but otherwise encouraged them to keep going. I sent another message in the dead of night when I came to an unfortunate realization: we were hurtling towards the Overwatch logo. I think I was unconsciously thinking of it the whole time, so I can’t really place the blame on my designer.
Third designs
Since these designs came on the final day of my trial, they were the last I would receive. These move away from the Overwatch style, adding more color and shape variations. Concept 5 also incorporates the golden ratio.
I assume this is about the point where a design concept would be focused on and finalized. But after three days of getting two new concepts each day, I did find myself wondering, “why am I paying a subscription fee for this?”
The designs are certainly well thought out and high quality. Seeing my designer’s process, it was clear that they took my project seriously. But in a 7-day trial, I wish I was able to see more of what they could do.
In my No Limit Creatives review, I note their library of previous designs, which you can access and point to as references for your own. If even the most simple designs take longer than your trial period, I would appreciate seeing something like that. I got a sense of Awesomic’s dedication, but in terms of ability, I only got a limited (however strong) sampling.
Communication with Awesomic (customer support, designer chat, cancellation) - 4/5
Other than the initial 15-minute demo call, I was sort of pleasantly surprised by Awesomic’s hands-off approach to customer service. I received three emails during my one-week trial, but none that felt unnecessary. When I canceled my plan, they expressed understanding, only inviting me to hop on a call and share my thoughts on the experience.
While no one wants to be harassed by customer service, there were moments where I felt a bit in the dark as a customer. As I said earlier, there are many details I could have included in the request form, but didn’t feel I had space to. I would give feedback on my designer’s designs, but I wasn’t sure if I should have been playing a more active role to keep things moving.
That being said, the communication features are very robust. The in-app chat is good, the Slack integration is a great feature, and knowing I could hop on a call with the designer or support at any time made it feel really collaborative.
Another area where communication was great: the design process videos. As previously mentioned, each design update came with a video in which the designer walked through the new updates. This was really informative and allowed me to see how seriously my designer was taking my project.
Canceling your subscription
Just like signing up, canceling your Awesomic subscription is a quick and intuitive process. In the Plans section of the Billing tab, you can change or cancel your plan with a drop-down menu on the upper right.
First, you have the chance to hop on a customer service call or send an email. If you opt out of that, you’re asked to share why you’re canceling, then if you would recommend Awesomic. You’ll likely receive an email after you cancel, once again inviting you to hop on a call.
Final thoughts on Awesomic
What sets Awesomic apart from other design services?
Awesomic’s model is fairly unique in the graphic design service field. Many services focus on output, promising quick turnaround and a hands-off process. Working with Awesomic is more like contracting a design firm. You’ll be intimately involved with the design process; extra time and care is taken to ensure the work is up to your standards.
Who is Awesomic best for?
With relatively high prices and a methodical approach to designs, Awesomic is hardly a one-size-fits-all solution. It’s best for thriving companies looking to build a lasting relationship with a strong design team, or receive a few quality designs in a transparently-priced package. If time and money are of the essence, many services offer quicker turnarounds and lower rates.
Awesomic pros and cons
Pros:
- Strong communication with designers
- Easy sign-up and plan change processes
- Thoughtful, appealing designs
- Well-designed web app
Cons:
- Costly plans
- Slow turnaround
- Ineffective design request forms
- Short trial period (7 days)
Scorecard
How unlimited is it?: While it follows the business model of an unlimited graphic design service, Awesomic rarely calls itself one. While there are no true limits on design requests and revisions, you’re only likely to see about 2 finished designs in a given month. 3/5
Value: Awesomic’s starting price of $699 is higher than many other graphic design services. That plan doesn’t include many design options (even some simple ones like logos and illustrations); for those, you’ll have to upgrade to the $1995 Pro plan. In sum, Awesomic is a costly option, though it does offer quality for that price. 2/5
User experience: Awesomic has a well-designed and intuitive web app that makes all of its processes easy. It offers everything at your fingertips without feeling too “busy,” including some unique features. While it’s not as stunning as their website design, they’ve thought of everything (short of mobile support). 5/5
Designs: While the design process is slow, I was thoroughly pleased with the quality of the designs I received. Each daily update comes with an explainer video, and watching my designer’s process, it was clear they really knew their stuff. They were also fairly receptive to feedback, steering away when I pointed out similarities to an existing logo. 5/5
Communication: Awesomic clearly takes a lot of pride in their communication. They offer Slack integration on every plan, as well as calls with designers and a dedicated CSM. However, flaws in the request forms, copywriting, and design process sometimes left me in the dark, unclear on what input I should be contributing. 4/5
Overall score: 3.9/5
