It’s a competitive world out there, marketers, and to succeed, your campaign needs more than just good ideas — it also takes some eye-catching creativity and design as well!
But being able to consistently crank out stellar, eye-catching content without losing quality is a tall order for most companies, especially ones that rely on a small in-house team or a constant revolving door of freelancers. Which is why so many brands are outsourcing their creative projects to third-party agencies to keep up with demand and keep their marketing assets top-notch without having to manage so many freelancers or making additional hires.
There are many options to choose from when it comes to outsourcing creative but two leading platforms stand out: Lightboard and Designity.
Both can connect you with expert freelance and design talent and both offer unique approaches to handling your brand’s creative needs. But which one is right for you and your business?
If you’re scratching your head over that, then we’re here to help! Today’s blog is laying out a detailed comparison of Lightboard and Designity’s features to see what they offer and how they stack up to each other!
Who is Lightboard?
Lightboard is a design agency that is focused on providing on-demand design services to marketing and sales teams in B2B marketing.
For businesses who have overflow design projects they need to outsource or who are in need of an entire design team, Lightboard offers a team of experienced in-house designers, project managers, and freelancers to help them meet their clients’ creative needs.
Who is Designity?
Designity is an innovative Creative as a Service platform that connects businesses with a hand-picked team of skilled freelance professionals.
Unlike traditional freelance platforms or design agencies, Designity offers both design and marketing services on a subscription-based pricing plan to help clients either meet creative needs or develop marketing campaigns to amplify awareness and grow their business.
How Lightboard’s Design Services Compare to Designity’s CaaS Platform
Lightboard and Designity are both great solutions for meeting an organization’s design needs, but how do the two compare?
And which is the best choice for your business?
To help you decide, we’ve compared each platforms’ key features so you can make an informed decision and get one step closer to finding the marketing partner your business needs!
1. Pricing & Plans
Lightboard
Lightboard operates on two different membership pricing, outline below:
- Monthly — $2,750 (or $110/hr). This plan includes up to 25 design hours from your team.
- Quarterly — $6,750 (or $90/hr) for up to 75 design hours.
If you need additional hours past your membership limits or prefer to use Lightboard for one-off projects, you also have the option of paying $140/hr until your project is completed.
Note: Membership fees must be paid in advance, though unused design hours can be rolled over with plan renewal.
Designity
Designity offers three flexible pricing tiers, with options for either monthly, quarterly, or annual billing.
Here’s a quick breakdown:
- Essentials — $3,495/month. Plan includes a Creative Director, 1 active Creative, and a select range of creative services.
- Plus— $5,495/month. Plan includes a Creative Director, 2 active Creatives, and a wider range of creative services.
- Premium — $8,495/month. This package includes a Creative Director, 3 active Creatives, and access to all 100+ marketing and creative services.
Note: Quarterly plans come with a 5% discount while opting for a yearly plan nets you a 10% discount. Whatever plan you choose, you’ll be provided a designated Creative Director to manage your account, plus unlimited project requests and revisions.
2. Project Management
Lightboard
Each Lightboard account provides you with an account manager who will work with you to coordinate all of your projects.
They will source and manage a rotating team of designers to make sure that your projects are consistent and true to your brand vision.
Designity
Every Designity account comes with a dedicated Creative Director, a marketing and design professional with at least 10 years of experience.
Your Creative Director is carefully matched to you by an Account Executive who factors in elements like communication style, industry, project needs, and personality to ensure that your partnership has the best chance of working smoothly.
Creative Directors handle your account, taking on everything from managing timelines to quality checking deliverables to sourcing and managing a creative team.
3. Trial Period
Lightboard
Lightboard does not offer a free trial period.
Designity
Designity provides a trial period for each of its 3 subscription plans:
- Monthly Plans — 2-week trial
- Quarterly Plans— 3-week trial.
- Annual Plans —4-week trial
During your trial, if you’re unsatisfied with the services you’re receiving, you have the option of canceling at any time without being charged. If you decide to continue with Designity’s services after the trial period, it will be rolled into your first invoice.
4. Your Creative Team
Lightboard
Partnering with Lightboard gives you access to a carefully selected team of US-based designers with at least 5 years of experience in fields like graphic design, illustration, animation, web design, and more.
The size of your creative team will be determined by your project and needs, but your account manager will see that you have a senior designer and an appropriate amount of additional freelance designers with the right skill set working on your project.
If you have more than one designer, however, be aware that their hours will be billed separately.
Designity
Partnering with Designity gives you access to vetted, US-based talent (only the top 3% of all creatives who apply each year).
Your creative team will be handpicked by your Creative Director and made up of the best of the best in fields like graphic design, copywriting, video production, motion graphics, SEO, digital marketing, or whatever skill set your projects need.
The size of your creative team depends on what pricing tier your plan is on, however, creatives can be rotated as needed to make sure that your projects are being handled by the best person for the job at all times.
5. Turnaround
Lightboard
Lightboard’s website notes the turnaround time is usually 3–5 business days.
In special cases, they can turn around small projects the same day. They will typically start a designer within one business day of a project submission and address revisions the same or the following business day.
Designity
When you begin your partnership with Designity, your Creative Director will meet with you to discuss your projects’ priorities, your timeline, and your overall goals.
After this initial meeting, they’ll get to work creating a detailed timeline that will outline all of your project milestones and deadlines, which you will always have access to via the Designity client dashboard.
Once set, your deadlines are guaranteed!
6. Scope of Services
Lightboard
Lightboard offers a wide variety of design services including, graphic design, web design, presentation design, branding, and custom illustrations.
If you need marketing, copywriting, or SEO services, however, you’ll have to find a separate provider, since Lightboard only specializes in design.
Designity
Whether you need design or marketing support, Designity acts as a one-stop for all of your brand’s needs.
They offer 100+ design and marketing services, including graphic design, copywriting, web design and coding, packaging design, social media management, marketing audit, digital marketing, motion graphics, and more; everything you need to execute your next campaign!
7. Collaboration
Lightboard
Your account manager is available by phone or email Monday–Friday during Lightboard business hours (9:30AM–5:30PM PT).
You can also message your design team through the Lightboard platform.
Designity
Your Creative Director keeps you in the loop at all times!
Whether it's weekly status check-ins, monthly check-ins, and 90-day formal reports, or just answering questions, submitting project requests, or giving feedback via Designity’s client dashboard or project management tools, you’ll always be up to date and know your ROI.
8. Client Onboarding
Lightboard
Getting started with Lightboard is a fairly straightforward process!
Simply create an account, sign up for a membership plan (or request hourly pricing), and someone from the Lightboard team will contact you to start your first project within a week.
Designity
Starting your journey with Designity starts with booking your demo call to speak to an Account Executive.
After the call, you’ll be matched with a Creative Director who will arrange a Kickoff Call to go over your project requirements in detail.
Your creative team typically starts your first project within 3 days of this Kickoff Call.
<div class="c-blog_comp-cta cc-component-1"><div class="c-blog_comp-cta-left"><div class="c-blog_comp-cta-left-wrap"><img src="https://global-uploads.webflow.com/61cdf3c5e0b8155f19e0105b/6369722e59155470b6840033_Potential-clients.png" loading="lazy" alt="" class="c-blog_comp-cta-left-img"></div></div><div class="c-blog_comp-cta-right"><div class="c-blog_comp-content"><div class="c-text-wrapper cc-mb-32"><div class="c-title-4 cc-bold"><strong>Want to save money without sacrificing the quality?</strong></div></div><div class="c-text-wrapper"><div class="c-text-2">Say goodbye to traditional, expensive agencies and unreliable marketplaces. Say hello to Designity.<br></div></div></div><div class="c-blog_comp-wrapper"><a href="/pricing" target="_blank" class="c-button cc-primary cc-inverted w-button"><strong>Get Your 2-Week Trial</strong></a></div></div></div>
Designity vs. Lightboard: The Verdict
So, which platform is the best for you?
Is it Lightboard with its wide range of design services?
Or is it Designity with its 100+ design plus marketing and SEO services?
The choice depends on your needs! If you’re after graphic design, then either of these platforms would make an ideal choice to connect you with designers to meet your creative needs. But if you need more than design; if it’s copywriting your next marketing campaign needs or SEO, digital marketing, strategy, and more, then Designity is the partner you’re looking for.
Designity has all of the services and experts you need to conceptualize, develop, and execute your next winning marketing campaign. And with your Creative Director there to handle your account for you and provide guidance and marketing strategy, it can be done without overextending your internal team or spreading yourself too thin.
Why not take a peek at our community portfolio to see how Designity’s innovative Creative as a Service platform has been the answer for brands just like yours. If you like what you see, then go ahead and take the next step.
Book your demo call today so we can get you started on your two-week, no-obligation trial so you can see firsthand the difference an one-stop shop marketing and design partner can make for your brand!
Are you ready to develop your next winning campaign?
If you’d like to see a more visual comparison to how Lighboard compares with Designity, then click that link! And if you’re looking for a more in-depth look at how Designity compares with other creative services providers in the market, then don’t miss this visual comparison!
