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How CaaS (Creative-as-a-Service) Can Cut Your Design Costs By 45%. The Secret Sauce for Bootstrapped Founders

Design costs, finding and briefing designers, giving feedback, and the last 10% rule that separates good from great products

Shahrouz Varshabi · Designity

Published September 6, 2024
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Topics covered: Just a little bit about myself I'm originally from…; Social media and website and video anymore because it's…; Creative director who has about 10 years of experience….

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Just a little bit about myself I'm originally from…

“um just a little bit about myself uh I'm originally from Iran I came to the us about 10 years ago rent Parson the newest school to get my masters and that was the time that they realized how our educational system is broken uh this basically designer students coming out of the college with no experience they struggle to get a job and we decided to start a platform so that Designer students can gain Real World experience and that's how designed got started”
Watch at 00:04

Social media and website and video anymore because it's…

“social media and website and video anymore because it's just very specialized so you're going to be limited unless you could hire a team of designers and it still requires supervision and it takes between one to three months to hire the right person and the last Avenue is working with one of those uh big agencies let's say one of those Madison Avenue agencies the quality is there but it's expensive um and uh there's not much transparency in terms of where is the project who is working on it if t”
Watch at 03:57

Creative director who has about 10 years of experience…

“creative director who has about 10 years of experience they would be your main point of contact and they would be responsible to a strategize the the projects create timeline and assign the right creatives to the team as needed so that you could actually just leave your creative Works to to to hand of a team of professionals that can that can help you with um another fact is that uh we only work with the top 3% of uspas”
Watch at 07:46

Difference and lastly you need to also be honest…

“difference and lastly you need to also be honest with yourself and Define it from the beginning that how much do you want to be involved like if this project is something that you want to be involved in the in every single steps or do you just want to be somehow involved or like fully involved because that's going to change the the turnaround time it's going to change the the dynamic of the collaboration and also how much do you want the team seem to really uh dive”
Watch at 11:33

The last 10 percent rule

“The Last 10% Rule It defines the difference between a good and great product The difference between a good and great product is the last 10%. Everyone has the same 90%…the same core features and similar pricing and a similar story. But that last 10% is the real differentiator. It is the part that separates you from your competitors. It’s the blood, sweat, and tears of detail. And it might take 50% of your time. But time is not what you’re measuring…you’re measuring the difference between good and great.”
Read slide 4

Finding good designers

“How to Find Good Designers A comprehensive overview of the solutions 1 2 3 The Traditional Design Solutions. Why use CaaS (Creative-as-a-service)? The CaaS as Solution and alternatives.”
Read slide 6

Creative-as-a-Service for marketers

“Creative-as-a-Service – Built for Marketers Overcome the Limitations of Traditional Models with CaaS”
Read slide 8

Start slow to move fast

“Start slow to move strong and fast Otherwise, it will cost you a fortune.”
Read slide 18

Six tips for constructive feedback

“6 tips for providing feedback Know how to communicate with designers. 1. Be Specific & Clear Avoid Vague Feedback: Comments like “I don’t like it” or “This isn’t working” aren’t helpful. Instead, pinpoint exactly what you think isn’t working (e.g., “The color scheme feels too dark for our brand”). 2. Focus on the Objective Tie Feedback to Goals: Keep the project’s objectives in mind. If the goal is to attract a young audience, comment on whether the design achieves that, e.g., “This feels too formal for our younger target audience.” 3. Provide Feedback Early Don’t Wait Until the End: Offer feedback at key stages, such as during wireframes, mockups, and first drafts. This prevents major reworks later in the process so the team can iterate quickly and maintain momentum.”
Read slide 23

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  • How CaaS (Creative-as-a-Service) Can Cut Your Design Costs By 45%. The Secret Sauce for Bootstrapped Founders - Slide Deck

About the speaker
Shahrouz Varshabi

Shahrouz Varshabi

Founder and CEO · Designity

LinkedIn

CEO of Designity, a design platform providing on-demand creative services through a network of freelance designers.

Company revenue
$5M

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Each slide with a short explanation of what it shows. Open the slide text for its exact wording.

28 passages

Designity and CaaS

  1. Slide 1Open deck
    Slide text

    SaaSOpen, September 2024 How CaaS (Creative-as-a-Service) Can Cut Your Design Costs By 45% Shahrouz Varshabi Founder & CEO, Designity The Secret Sauce for Bootstrapped Founders

  2. Slide 2Open deck

    Agenda: good design, finding designers, collaborating

    The 20-minute talk has three parts: why good design matters, how to find good designers, and how to collaborate with them. The first covers good versus bad design examples, the second compares traditional options with CaaS, and the third covers project briefs, feedback and an FAQ.

    Slide text

    Over the next 20 minutes I’m going to show you The importance of good design What is good design?! Example of good/bad design How good design can cover up bad product Finding good designers Collaborating with designers Traditional design solutions Why use CaaS (Creative-as-a-service) CaaS solutions and differences Comprehensive project brief Constructive and timely feedback FAQ

Why the last 10 percent matters

  1. Slide 3Open deck

    Ketchup market shows the value of focus

    Great products are framed as focused on a single problem. A chart of 2020 US ketchup users puts Heinz at 197.92m, ahead of Hunt's at 84.22m and store brand at 39.74m. A photo contrasts designing the product with designing the experience through two Heinz bottles.

    Slide text

    Great products are focused on a single problem

  2. Slide 4Open deck

    The last 10% separates good from great

    Most products share the same 90%: core features, similar pricing and a similar story. The last 10% is what sets you apart from competitors. It might take 50% of your time, and the slide says the measure is the gap between good and great, not time spent.

    Slide text

    The Last 10% Rule It defines the difference between a good and great product The difference between a good and great product is the last 10%. Everyone has the same 90%…the same core features and similar pricing and a similar story. But that last 10% is the real differentiator. It is the part that separates you from your competitors. It’s the blood, sweat, and tears of detail. And it might take 50% of your time. But time is not what you’re measuring…you’re measuring the difference between good and great.

  3. Slide 5Open deck

    Ten principles of good design

    Good design can be judged against a checklist of ten qualities. The grid lists innovative, makes a product useful, aesthetic, makes a product understandable, unobtrusive, honest, long-lasting, thorough, environmentally friendly, and as little design as possible.

    Slide text

    The Top Principle of Good Design Foundational guidelines for creating effective design across various fields.

Choosing a design model

  1. Slide 6Open deck

    Three steps to finding good designers

    This section on finding designers has three parts: traditional design solutions, why to use CaaS, and CaaS as a solution along with alternatives. It sets up the comparison of hiring routes that follows.

    Slide text

    How to Find Good Designers A comprehensive overview of the solutions 1 2 3 The Traditional Design Solutions. Why use CaaS (Creative-as-a-service)? The CaaS as Solution and alternatives.

  2. Slide 7Open deck

    Each traditional design option has a catch

    Varshabi's September 2024 presentation compares freelance marketplaces, in-house teams and agencies. It positions them around cost, reliability and quality, while listing tradeoffs in sourcing, supervision, skills, hiring time and transparency.

    Slide text

    Traditional Design Solutions The Pros & Cons of

  3. Slide 8Open deck

    Marketers face capacity and burnout pressure

    The presentation argues that creative demand can outgrow traditional staffing models. It groups the pressures into capacity, higher content volume, difficulty finding skilled creatives and burnout.

    Slide text

    Creative-as-a-Service – Built for Marketers Overcome the Limitations of Traditional Models with CaaS

  4. Slide 9Open deck

    CaaS means subscription access to vetted creatives

    Creative-as-a-Service is defined as a scalable solution with subscription-based pricing. It gives businesses on-demand access to vetted creative talent so they can manage and improve their marketing efforts.

  5. Slide 10Open deck

    CaaS blends in-house, agency and marketplace strengths

    CaaS is pitched as a smoothie with the right mix of three strengths. A layered drink maps reliability to in-house teams, high quality to agencies, and cost-effectiveness to marketplaces.

  6. Slide 11Open deck

    Designity's 2024 feature comparison

    In Varshabi's September 2024 comparison, Designity is presented with checks across all listed features, while other providers have fewer. The rows compare team location, billing, hiring, trials, creative direction, revisions and communication.

    Slide text

    Alternatives to Traditional Solutions Scalable, flexible, and cost effective

  7. Slide 12Open deck

    A creative director manages the work

    The September 2024 presentation describes a designated creative director as the client contact. The role combines project strategy, briefs, timelines, assigning creatives and quality assurance.

  8. Slide 13Open deck

    A vetted pool covers creative specialties

    The September 2024 presentation describes a vetted pool of US-based creatives, grouped into emerging, senior and pro levels. The diagram combines copywriting, illustration, web design, animation and other specialties into an interchangeable team.

  9. Slide 14Open deck

    Managed timelines assign each phase to a specialist

    A managed process is meant to protect deadlines, with a timeline chart assigning phases to copywriters, graphic designers and video editors across working days. It also lists project timelines, a weekly feedback loop with a 90-day performance report, and a collaborative dashboard for requests, progress and source files.

  10. Slide 15Open deck

    Customer testimonials provide social proof

    The presentation uses a ratings screenshot and customer testimonials as social proof for Designity. It places review excerpts beside attributed client statements.

  11. Slide 16Open deck

    A director leads an on-demand creative team

    The homepage screenshot in this September 2024 presentation positions a creative director alongside graphic, video and web specialists. It shows a demo invitation, a trial offer and client logos.

Collaborating with designers

  1. Slide 17Open deck

    Section 3: collaborating with designers

    The final section covers how to work with designers well. It has three parts: writing a comprehensive project brief, giving constructive and timely feedback, and an FAQ.

    Slide text

    Let’s jump into Section 3 How to collaborate with designers 1 2 Comprehensive project brief 3 Constructive and timely feedback FAQ

  2. Slide 18Open deck

    Slow, careful starts avoid costly rework later

    The slide argues that a careful start lets projects move strong and fast, and warns that otherwise it will cost you a fortune. A sprinter breaking through a finish ribbon illustrates the idea.

    Slide text

    Start slow to move strong and fast Otherwise, it will cost you a fortune.

  3. Slide 19Open deck

    Brief form asks for goal and why

    A project brief form starts with a required field for project description, main goal and the why behind it. It also asks for inspiration links, such as competitors, trends or brands, and for red flags to avoid on the project.

  4. Slide 20Open deck

    Brief form captures tone and call to action

    A video brief form asks for the content tone of voice and the video context and intended application, both required. Optional fields cover content approach, location setting and the call to action you want viewers to take next.

  5. Slide 21Open deck

    Brief form scopes deliverables, length and tone

    A video project scope checklist lets you select every deliverable you need, from a 60-minute strategy session and scriptwriting to voiceover, editing and post-production. Selected items become deliverables on the timeline. The form also asks for video duration, tone of voice and intended use.

  6. Slide 22Open deck

    Choose your involvement and what to optimize for

    The brief lets clients set how involved they want to be: review each step, review only big decisions, or let the creative director take ownership after 24 hours without a response. It also asks whether to optimize for production, speed with 2-3 concepts, or creativity with 5-6 concepts.

  7. Slide 23Open deck

    Make feedback specific, relevant and early

    Good feedback is specific, linked to the project's objective and given early. Vague comments are unhelpful, so name what is not working. Tie comments to goals such as a younger audience, and give input at wireframe, mockup and first-draft stages to prevent major rework.

    Slide text

    6 tips for providing feedback Know how to communicate with designers. 1. Be Specific & Clear Avoid Vague Feedback: Comments like “I don’t like it” or “This isn’t working” aren’t helpful. Instead, pinpoint exactly what you think isn’t working (e.g., “The color scheme feels too dark for our brand”). 2. Focus on the Objective Tie Feedback to Goals: Keep the project’s objectives in mind. If the goal is to attract a young audience, comment on whether the design achieves that, e.g., “This feels too formal for our younger target audience.” 3. Provide Feedback Early Don’t Wait Until the End: Offer feedback at key stages, such as during wireframes, mockups, and first drafts. This prevents major reworks later in the process so the team can iterate quickly and maintain momentum.

  8. Slide 24Open deck

    Consolidate feedback and explain the reasoning

    Feedback works better when consolidated, visual and reasoned. Gather stakeholder comments before sending them to the design team to avoid conflicting input and extra revisions. Use visual references or annotations, and explain the reasoning behind each requested change.

    Slide text

    Tips for providing constructive feedback It defines the difference between a good and great product 4. Group Feedback Consolidate Feedback: Gather all feedback from stakeholders before presenting it to the design team. This prevents conflicting comments and reduces back-and-forth revisions. 5. Use Visual Examples Show, Don’t Just Tell: Use visual references or annotations on mockups to clarify your points. Provide Design Inspiration: Share examples of designs you like and explain what you like about them. 6. Provide Reasoning Explain Why: When asking for changes, explain the reasoning behind the feedback. For example, “The red color feels too aggressive for our brand, which is focused on calm and relaxation.”

  9. Slide 25Open deck

    Joke merchandise mocks vague client feedback

    Tote bags and a t-shirt print lines labeled as coming from a client, such as asking to move something a little more to the left, too much white space, and can you make it pop. The humor illustrates the vague feedback the previous tips warn against.

  10. Slide 26Open deck

    More joke merchandise on unhelpful client requests

    More merchandise carries client lines: you're the designer, figure it out; can you make the logo bigger; and can we see it in a different color, with a note that 10+ million colors exist. They continue the joke about vague feedback.

  11. Slide 27Open deck

    Tote bag: good design is like turkey

    A final merchandise image shows a tote bag reading, good design is like making a turkey. The slide gives no further explanation of the line.

Closing offer

  1. Slide 28Open deck

    The presentation closes with a trial offer

    The September 2024 closing slide offers a 3-week Designity trial with no upfront fee or commitment. It directs attendees to pricing information and provides ways to contact the speaker.

    Slide text

    SaaSOpen, September 2024 Claim Your 3-Week Trial Email me at [redacted email] Social media handle; svarshabi Shahrouz Varshabi Founder & CEO, Designity Designity.com/pricing No upfront fee or commitment is required