Designhill: An All-Access Pass to Quality Design
The $64B global graphic design industry is fast growing in the digital sphere. Thanks to rapid globalization, increased internet access, and a growing awareness of the importance of visual brand identity, the industry has noted a growth rate of 25% and is set for continued momentum.
Payoneer recently launched a new partnership with Designhill, a leading platform breaking down barriers by facilitating easy access to quality designs online at an affordable cost.
Designhill is making strides in its mission to, according to co-founder Varun Aggarwal: “make it as hassle-free a process as possible for business owners and designers to buy and sell graphic designs and artwork.” We asked Aggarwal to share a few insights into Designhill’s journey in our growing-to-be-borderless world. Here are his thoughts.
What is Designhill?
Designhill is one of the world’s largest online graphic design platforms, connecting between the global designer community and its potential clients. The technologically driven platform offers graphic design solutions to individuals, SMBs, and enterprises alike.
Where did you start your journey?
Back in 2014, we identified that the need to source high quality designs was no longer just a concern for the large business but also for the smaller, individual business owner. This realization drove us to create Designhill. Our platform looks to address the common concerns of both designers and clients, and to provide an array of alternate design solutions at an affordable cost.
We started our journey out of the desire to provide designers with more exposure (so that they could grow their client base on an ongoing basis) to trustworthy clients, and security in terms of receipt of payments (on time!) for work done.
For clients, we wanted to solve the following pain points:
- Discovery and sourcing of new designers
- Vetting professionalism and experience of designers
- Guarantee of quality and on-time delivery
- Assuring affordability of design jobs
- Ensuring versatility in terms of design, and increased rounds of revisions
Initially, it was a challenge to attract the right talent set. But, through online marketing tactics, we were able to onboard a quality pool of stakeholders that included both designers and businesses. Since then, we have been working to enhance our credibility and support amongst the two groups to build trust on the platform. Our around the clock customer support service is one such initiative working constantly to promote such trust.
Since our launch, we have expanded our range of design solutions to include contests, Do-it-yourself (DIY) tools, one-to-one projects, and more.
What differentiates Designhill?
Our talented pool of global designers is what sets us apart. We fostered a global network with a deep understanding of cultures and audiences, which means that our designers are very spot-on when it comes to curating ‘locally relevant’ design solutions. Our one-stop-shop offers a wide range of brand-identity solutions at an affordable cost relative to traditional agencies. In addition, we offer 24/7 customer service to facilitate a seamless design process.
In which markets is Designhill active? How extensive is your reach?
We started in India – but most of our clients and vendors are based in the United States. Our reach is much more expansive though, spanning to over 150 countries. So we are very global. Currently, we are working to strengthen our foothold on India, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
Over 90,000 designers are part of our global network. Collectively, they have delivered design solutions to over 1.1 million clients to date. We have close to 4 million monthly visitors on our platform and hope to see this number continue to grow.
Tell us about an innovative pursuit that makes you proud.
We are working on an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Logo Maker. This AI product will use machine learning to develop custom designs within minutes. The way it works is such: Users will provide input and parameters, that will then be cross-checked with thousands of brief designs submitted previously. The tool will draw on these historic designs to create a new design from scratch; Elements will be pulled from a toolbox of countless icons, colors, fonts, and shapes. Once a logo is complete, customers will have the option to visualize the product on various elements. The quick and easy tool is a game-changer, in our eyes.
Describe the journey of a designer on DesignhIll
Signing up for Designhill is absolutely free and can be done easily through this link. Once a designer joins, he will be able to share a portfolio of past works with Designhill clients. Clients can reach out and hire any designer directly, or, they can launch a ‘contest,’ with a very clear brief – considered an open call to all designers interested in submitting a prospect for consideration. In this way, the journey of a designer is very versatile on Designhill – defined by either direct communication or an interactive, competition-driven approach.
What does the future hold for Designhill?
We have found that language and currency barriers restricted our reach in the past, limiting the access of remote clients to quality designs. To close this gap, we plan to unroll a multi-lingual, multi-currency website later this year. We view this as an imperative step to widen our client base and designer pool.
Furthermore, we’re about to launch a custom apparel marketplace that will allow designers and artists to sell their artwork on merchandise like phone covers, t-shirts, mugs, bags, and more. We are really excited about this launch, since it gives our freelancers an opportunity to extend their reach and make more money by diversifying their product offering.