Is there more to a design agency than coffee, black skivvies and lofi jazz? Let’s find out.
What even is an agency?
Before we get into the nitty gritty, what even is an agency?
An agency is basically a team that have a specialised skillset that help businesses solve specific types of problems and provide strategic guidance.
While there’s all kinds of agencies they all generally combine multiple disciplines – strategy, creative, technology, research – under one roof. The benefit of this is that you’ll have access to dedicated expertise, broad perspective and a range of experiences that can help your business solve meaningful challenges.
Easy?
Saying that, not all agencies are equal. Understanding your needs and to a greater extent understanding your problems is crucial to choosing the right type of agency. As a design agency is something of a broad category, there are numerous subspecialties tailored to specific needs.
This could include
- Brand (Identity)
- Digital & UI/UX (Websites, Apps)
- Advertising (Media, Video, Concepts)
- Marketing (Campaigns, Social Media)
- Integrated (Bit of everything)
- Specialised (Motion, Illustration, Typography or Health, FinTech, Fashion)
TL;DR? They’re more similar than they are different. All with plenty of overlap. Additionally, they’re all going to offer some sort of strategic and research component. While you’ll likely partner up with different types of agencies based on your needs – we’ll speak broadly about design agencies as a integrated team here on in.
What is a design agency?
So, are we ready for a definition?
A design agency is a highly-specialised team who help businesses understand problems, identify opportunities and execute solutions. Nice.
Because capitalism is a thing – it is the environment that our problems exist within. Capitalism is about the competition of value. Ridiculous but important contrast – if there were no competition and everyone just bought everything endlessly businesses wouldn’t need help. They’d just exist and kill it.
That however isn’t the world we live in. We live in a world where competition is rife. Or do we?
If all business is about value exchange – money for goods or services – what if you were the only one who created a certain type of value? A unique value?
Peter Thiel famously said, “Competition is for losers.”
Now we’re getting somewhere.
A good design agency should understand the environment you’re in and help you craft, create and communicate unique value. That’s strategy.
It’s better to be the only, than attempt to be the best.
In our opinion – this is what a design agency should be. Pairing strategy and execution to help businesses unlock unique value.
Follow the hyperlinks if you’re curious about brand strategy or differentiation strategy.
Honestly, if you look, feel, and communicate like every other brand, you’re not giving people a reason to choose you. Contrary to popular believe, hope is not a strategy.
If you’re comparable, you’re forgettable.
Now. that’s a real problem: getting lost in a crowded market.
Why would you need a design agency?
Strategy. Execution. Or both.
That’s kinda design in a nutshell. Really.
Design as a discipline is the bringing together of strategy and execution. Simply, design is about solving problems. It asks – How do we solve this problem? (Strategy) And implementing what will solve that problem. (Execution) – it’s that simple.
While colloquially the emphasis can sit on execution and the strategy viewed as something added after the fact, if at all. Even the simplest execution requires some agreed upon approach.
It’s just that what was revolutionary (strategic) at one time has become common place in another. The solution become so ubiquitous it became a default. The risk of this is that you apply a solution to problem or group of problems without understanding it and then wonder why your problem isn’t resolved.
That’s aside the point.
What does a design agency do?
As we said there are all kinds of design agencies – all offering different levels of service and value. Speaking generally the majority of agencies should be able to cover most of what we’ve listed in the executional category. It’s core capabilities. Saying that, the strategic value and experience of agencies can vary wildly.
Execution:
- Brand Identity – Logo, colour, typography, guidelines, creative direction
- Digital – UI/UX, website, digital products, social
- Print – Cards, posters, stationery
- Packaging – Packaging, labels, material selection
- Direction - Creative, art, photography
Strategic:
- Clarify Messaging
- Unlock Unique Value
- Escape the Competition
- Understand Opportunity
- Strategic Narrative
- Ignite Innovation
- Unify Cultures
- Drive Business Transformation
See the difference between the lists? The strategic component is noticeably high-level. It is however from this level that everything in execution not only makes sense but coalesces into a unifying positive force.
Why hire a design agency?
When does it make sense to hire a design agency? While every business if different – the following situations are universally common.
They generally centre around significant change.
- Innovation
New product or service hitting the market? Audiences will need help wrapping their heads around your innovation. A compelling story is the first place to start that unpacks the innovation of your idea and turns it consumer value.
- Disruption
Challenging an exisiting market or challenging your own established lines? Break free from a crowded and competitive market to stand out and change the trajectory of your business.
- Transformation
Got ambition but are stuck or directionless? You need a thought-partner who can help you articulate a new north star. Align your company, your team, create new energy and get rowing in the same direction.
- Double Down
Things working but you know you can level up? Let’s identify what’s working and go harder. 80% of your impact is connected to 20% of your input.
Good? Here’s some further detail
Specifically this could look like:
- Your messaging is unclear or confusing
- You’re working harder, not smarter
- You’re pouring more and more budget into ads and promotions, but your growth is stagnant.
- You’re losing pricing power
- You’re slashing costs to stay competitive
- You’ve ‘re-logo-ed’ and it’s not working
- You’re copying the competition
- You’re lost in the noise and lack strategic direction
- You have a new idea but don’t know how to communicate it
- You’re playing someone else’s game
- Encouraging leadership over management
Design agency in practice – A case study
Commonfolk Coffee came to us looking for a new website. But like many ambitious businesses, what they really needed was a new narrative. After a decade of doing things differently — building direct relationships with producers and investing in long-term sustainability — they were ready to move beyond the crowded category of “specialty coffee.” The problem? Their story wasn’t landing. Their brand and digital experience weren’t keeping up with their vision.
We worked closely with their team to define a clearer position: Partnership Coffee. A whole new category. One that elevated the unsung heroes of coffee — the farmers and workers at origin — and made their impact visible to customers. This wasn’t just a campaign idea. It became a brand direction, a strategic lens, and a flag in the ground for what Commonfolk stands for.
From there, we delivered the creative infrastructure to make it real. We designed and developed a custom Shopify store that unified two disconnected sites into one seamless experience — one that could sell beans, guide people to café locations, and tell the deeper story behind every bag. We also created a modular set of social templates, built on a structured grid system, to help them share that story consistently across every touchpoint.
The result? A tighter brand, a bigger story, and a digital ecosystem built for scale. What started as a website became a repositioning — one that brought the future of coffee into sharper focus.
This is what happens when strategy and design align — it’s not just a new look. It’s a new chapter.
How do I choose the right design agency?
It’s hard to overstate how important choosing the right design agency partner is. While there are hard factors like skills or portfolio, soft factors like communication and connection are just as important if not more so.
The difference can be that of a project that’s transactional or one that’s completely transformative.
The days of hiring an agency and not hearing from them for months are long gone. You’ll end up working really close with any agency, particularly as agencies and partners move towards a highly-collaborative working model. It means you’ll be in frequent contact and will often have to overcome numerous road-blocks along the journey. Good chemistry and a sense of trust are crucial to establishing a meaningful partnership to get the best results.
We’d say that while a portfolio is important, it isn’t everything. Particularly as a portfolio likely doesn’t represent all their work or capabilities. NDAs are a thing after all. Taking the time to meet, share a coffee and talk openly about the project and identified problems is as good a place to start as any.
Out of that initial and developing relationship both sides need to be able to embrace difficult questions, raise risks and have a genuine debate about the challenges they’re facing. It’s a fundamental part of the process and crucial to creating a transformational outcome. I’ll put it like this – if you already knew what to do, why do you need help?
How do design agencies charge?
How long is a piece of string? Unfortunately there’s no concrete formula or universal rate that will answer this question concisely.
As a starting point a design agency is a professional service. That’ll put things in the realm of equivalent services like accountants or lawyers given the structure of these businesses are really similar. But like a lawyer or an accountant depending on the value created and scope of the service the cost will vary. As an example an individual tax return is very different to auditing a listed company.
Strategic transformation will cost more than a website. A website will cost more than a business card. In that way the costs will scale with the value and the expertise required – especially if it’s in a specialised niche like business strategy or technology.
Every agency will vary, even project to project or within a project:
- Hourly - Costs + Material + Margin
- Project/Fixed Fee - Costs + Material + Margin
- Value Based - Based on how much value is generated for a business
- Subscription/Retainer - Fixed fee rate for a allocated scope of work in recurring time period
- Performance - Based on the outcome of the work
- Equity - Where an agency takes equity in exchange for work
- Hybrid - A bit of everything
At the end of the day, the only way to know is to have the conversation. Different pricing models may suit different situations. Make it a win-win decision.
Design Agency as Partner
Fingers crossed you’ll see how a design agency is much more than a “make-it-look-nice” service – And more than a bunch of people in skivvies. They’re a partner in forging a distinctive path through a market that rewards the bold choices and punishes boring. By aligning strategy and creativity, a design agency ensures you’re creating real, differentiated value—something that compels people to choose you over everyone else.
If you’re ready to chat to a design agency – Just say hi.
Short answer? It depends. Long answer? It still depends.
Design agencies are professional services, not commodity products. You’re not buying a logo off the shelf. You’re investing in transformation — and that comes in all shapes, sizes, scopes, and price tags.
It could be hourly. It could be fixed fee. It could be performance-based. It could even be equity if there’s alignment. But here’s the truth: if you're purely looking for the cheapest option, you’re probably not looking for a partner — you’re looking for a supplier.
And a supplier won’t challenge your thinking or help you grow. A partner will.
So yes, there’s a cost — but there’s also value. And if it’s done right, the return outweighs the investment many times over.
Let’s cut through the noise.
A design agency doesn’t just “make things pretty.” That’s decoration. Design is something else entirely. A good agency brings together thinkers and makers — people who can understand your problem, create a strategy to solve it, and then bring that solution to life in the real world.
Think: strategic thinking paired with world-class execution.
Brand identity. Digital experience. Messaging clarity. Internal alignment. Product innovation. Culture shifts. That’s all design. It’s the work of making your business more you — and more irresistible to the people who matter.
Strategy meets execution. That’s design. That’s the job.
It depends on the agency — but let’s speak broadly.
Most agencies offer a mix of strategy and execution. Some lean more toward brand, others toward digital, others toward specific verticals like fintech or fashion. But at the heart of it, a design agency focuses on helping you solve problems through creativity, clarity, and craft.
We focus on:
- Understanding – Your market, your audience, your goals.
- Clarifying – Your message, your value, your position.
- Creating – The visuals, the systems, the assets.
- Aligning – Your team, your purpose, your trajectory.
It’s not just what it looks like — it’s what it does for your business.
Strip it all the way back.
A design agency is a group of humans who help other humans solve problems — visually, verbally, experientially. It’s a combination of skill, insight, creativity and care. It’s about decoding complexity and expressing ideas in a way people understand, connect with, and act on.
So while it might sound a bit broad or vague — that’s the point. Design agencies don’t just do “one thing.” They make sense of things. They make them better. Clearer. More intentional. More powerful.
In short: a design agency is a strategic partner disguised as a creative one.
When something important is changing — or needs to.
A new product. A major pivot. A rebrand. A gut feeling that your brand doesn’t match your ambition. You’ve hit a ceiling, and you’re not sure what’s next. You’ve been pouring more and more money into ads but it’s not shifting the needle. Or maybe you’re just lost in a sea of sameness.
Design agencies thrive in moments of tension and transition. Not because they have all the answers out of the box, but because they know how to ask the right questions, dig beneath the surface, and help you shape a better way forward. Whether it’s clarifying your story, building a brand from scratch, or creating the infrastructure for growth — design is the catalyst.
TL;DR – You bring the ambition, we help you make it real.
Marcel McCarthy is the Creative Director at ONETOO. He helps ambitious brands turn strategy into clarity — and clarity into action. Known for asking hard questions, dodging trends, and making bold ideas feel obvious (in hindsight).