Switch to a flat-rate Design as a Service subscription and eliminate the financial unpredictability of agencies, freelancers, and in-house overhead. Businesses consolidating their design spend into a single TDS subscription reduce total design costs by 40–60% — while maintaining or increasing output volume and quality.
Design spend is one of the most poorly managed line items in most business budgets. Costs arrive unpredictably — a large agency invoice one month, a rush freelancer fee the next, a licensing charge for stock imagery, a revision bill when a brief was misinterpreted. Finance teams cannot forecast it, and marketing teams cannot control it.
Agency relationships are particularly costly. A typical creative agency in Australia charges $150–$300 per hour for design work, applies project management markup, and charges for every round of revisions beyond the initial scope. A campaign that was quoted at $8,000 routinely lands at $14,000 once revisions, scope changes, and rush fees are factored in. There is no ceiling.
In-house teams look like a solution but carry their own cost structure: salary, superannuation, leave entitlements, equipment, software licences, training, and the management overhead of an employment relationship. A small in-house team of two designers costs $180,000–$220,000 per year before any of those additional costs are accounted for — and still cannot cover all design disciplines.
TDS replaces every unpredictable design cost with a single flat monthly fee — no hourly rates, no revision charges, no scope creep, no surprise invoices.
Everything is included in your subscription — design work, revisions, Creative Director oversight, Slack support, and file delivery. Your finance team knows exactly what design costs every month.
Revisions are unlimited and included in your subscription. Unlike agencies that charge per round of feedback, TDS iterates until the output meets your brief — at no additional cost.
No super, no leave entitlements, no equipment, no software licences, no HR management. TDS is a service, not an employment relationship — all overhead stays on our side of the ledger.
Replace your agency, your freelancers, and your stock imagery spend with a single subscription. One invoice, one point of contact, one brief format — dramatically reduced administrative cost.
Busy quarter? Upgrade your tier. Quieter period? Pause or downgrade. TDS's flexible subscription means your design spend scales with your actual business needs — not a fixed headcount.
Month-to-month subscriptions only. No retainer lock-in, no 12-month agency commitments, no termination fees. Your design spend is fully flexible from day one.
The financial impact of switching to TDS is measurable within the first billing cycle. These are the outcomes clients consistently report.
Cost reduction does not mean output reduction. Most TDS clients simultaneously reduce spend and increase creative volume — because the subscription model incentivises usage rather than rationing requests to control costs. When design has no per-unit cost, your team briefs more, iterates more, and produces better work.
Reducing your design costs with TDS takes three steps. The first step costs nothing — and most clients identify significant savings in the discovery call itself.
In a 30-minute discovery call, a TDS strategist will map your current design costs — agency retainers, freelancer spend, in-house salaries, and hidden costs like revision fees and brief rework. Most clients discover their actual design spend is significantly higher than their nominal budget suggests.
TDS offers two tiers — Growth at $3,500/mo and Scale at $7,000/mo. We'll recommend the right tier based on your volume requirements and existing spend. In most cases, the subscription cost is substantially lower than what you're currently paying for equivalent or lesser output.
Once TDS is onboarded and producing at pace, terminate your agency retainers and freelancer arrangements. Most clients consolidate within 30 days and see immediate savings reflected in their next monthly statement.
A direct comparison of typical annual design spend across different models for a mid-size Australian marketing team.
| Model | Annual Cost (Est.) | Revision Charges | Multi-Discipline | Predictable? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creative Agency (Retainer) | $96,000–$180,000 | Yes | Partial | No |
| In-House Team (2 designers) | $180,000–$220,000 | N/A | Limited | Mostly |
| Freelancers (ad hoc) | $40,000–$120,000 | Often | No | No |
| TDS Growth Subscription | $42,000/yr | Never | Full | Yes |
Book a cost audit call. We'll map your current design spend, identify where you're overpaying, and show you exactly how much you could save with TDS — with no obligation to proceed.