Design Pickle established itself as one of the original unlimited design services, building a substantial client base including Yahoo!, Amazon, McGraw Hill, and 7-Eleven. As the industry has matured, different providers have developed varying approaches to pricing, service delivery, and client management.
This review examines Design Pickle’s current offerings objectively while comparing them to alternative approaches in the market. Understanding these differences helps businesses choose the right unlimited design service for their specific needs and budget considerations.
What is Design Pickle?
Design Pickle is a Scottsdale, Arizona-based unlimited design service that has served thousands of clients since its founding. The company operates on a subscription model where clients pay for reserved daily hours from dedicated design teams rather than traditional project-based pricing.
Their platform combines human designers with AI tools to handle design requests, project tracking, and file delivery. The service focuses primarily on graphic design, custom illustrations, presentation design, and motion graphics for businesses ranging from startups to large enterprises.
Design Pickle Service Model
Design Pickle operates on a daily hours system where clients purchase reserved time from dedicated design teams. Their base offering includes 2 hours of daily work from professional designers, with options to scale up to 12 hours per day for larger organizations.
The service uses an AI-powered platform for project submissions and communications, with designers working through requests in queue order. Projects include brand identity work, marketing materials, presentations, digital graphics, and motion design depending on the subscription tier.
Design Pickle Pricing
Design Pickle’s pricing starts at $1,918 per month for their base package, which includes platform access ($119) and 2 hours of daily creative services ($1,799). This model focuses on consistent daily output rather than unlimited concurrent projects.
Higher tiers increase daily hours rather than adding different service types. The 2-hour base plan typically produces around 9 presentation slides, 1 sales sheet, and 1 flyer per week, or 1 trademarked logo, 1 animated logo, and 2 email signatures, depending on project complexity.
Additional features like Slack communication and dedicated customer success managers are available on higher-tier plans. The service also offers “Power Plans” above their standard offerings, with pricing available upon request for enterprise needs.
Delivery and Communication
Design Pickle targets 24-hour first drafts for most projects, with delivery times varying based on project complexity and current queue length. Their platform handles all project communication, though Slack integration is available on premium plans.
The service assigns dedicated design teams to each client rather than individual project assignments. This approach aims to provide consistency in brand understanding and communication style across multiple projects over time.
How Reel Unlimited Differs
Reel Unlimited takes a different approach to unlimited design services, focusing on concurrent project limits rather than daily hour allocations. Founded in 2021 by Santhiaroo, the company serves clients including SquareDash, Walnut Insurance, Pattern, and Outmin across multiple time zones.
Service Options and Flexibility
Unlike Design Pickle’s hours-based model, Reel Unlimited offers both monthly subscriptions and 30-day design services with defined concurrent project limits. The 30-day design services provide unlimited design access for exactly 30 calendar days with no recurring billing, making it ideal for businesses with specific campaign deadlines or seasonal design needs.
Monthly subscriptions include additional features like white-label capabilities for agencies, allowing brand invisibility for client work. This flexibility accommodates different business patterns without requiring ongoing monthly commitments for sporadic design work.
Geographic Team Structure and Delivery
Reel Unlimited assigns clients to design teams based on geographic time zones for better communication alignment. Teams operate during standard business hours in US/Canada (9am-5pm EST), EU/UK (12pm-7pm GMT), and Asia/Australia/Pacific (2pm-9pm AEST).
This geographic alignment means clients communicate with teams during overlapping business hours rather than dealing with significant time zone delays. Graphics projects typically deliver in 48 hours, while website projects take 3-5 days for completion.
Reel Unlimited Service Scope and Capabilities
Reel Unlimited offers three integrated service areas that work together to support modern business needs. All work is done by human designers without AI assistance, focusing on quality and personalized attention to each project.
Website Design & Development Beautiful websites and landing pages built on Webflow. The service handles everything from design in Figma to full development, plus converts existing designs into working websites. This includes responsive design, custom interactions, content management setup, and SEO optimization for functional business websites.
Graphic Design & Branding Eye-catching marketing assets including logos, branding, presentations, social media graphics, illustrations, email designs, packaging, and print materials. The scope covers all visual content businesses need for marketing campaigns and brand consistency.
Video Editing & Motion Graphics Engaging video editing and animated graphics for social media content, product demos, and promotional campaigns, including logo animations and explainer videos. This service transforms raw footage into polished content and creates motion graphics for digital marketing.
These services can be accessed individually through Graphics or Websites subscriptions, or combined through the Bundle option for businesses needing both visual content and web development support.
Reel Unlimited Pricing
Reel Unlimited operates differently from Design Pickle’s hours-based model. Instead of daily time allocations, Reel Unlimited offers three clear service options based on what businesses actually need:
Graphics combines graphic design and video editing in one service with 2 concurrent projects. This means businesses get both visual design and video content without choosing between them or paying separately for each service type.
Websites focuses on web design (Figma) and development (Webflow) with 1 concurrent project. Since website projects require more time and technical work, the concurrent limit reflects the complexity involved while providing both design and functional development.
Bundle combines Graphics and Websites services with 3 total concurrent projects, allowing businesses that need both visual content and web development to access everything while saving money compared to separate subscriptions.
Each service option is available as either monthly subscriptions for ongoing needs or 30-day design services for businesses with specific project deadlines or seasonal campaigns. The 30-day design services provide the same unlimited access without recurring billing, letting businesses get intensive design work done for product launches, campaigns, or other time-limited projects.
Reel Unlimited offers a 7-day trial where clients can experience the service quality firsthand before making subscription decisions. The trial provides one project delivery (whichever comes first – 7 days or 1 completed project) with unlimited revisions, allowing businesses to evaluate design quality and communication style.
For businesses with immediate design needs, the 30-day design services provide instant access to unlimited design work without waiting for trial completion. For those considering ongoing partnerships, the trial lets you see actual project delivery and team communication before automatic billing begins at trial end.
Service Comparison
Pricing Models
Design Pickle starts at $1,918 monthly for 2 hours of daily design work, with scaling based on additional daily hours. This model works for businesses that need consistent daily design output and can plan work around reserved time slots.
Reel Unlimited offers monthly subscriptions and 30-day design services with transparent concurrent project limits and pricing that accommodates different usage patterns. The concurrent project model serves businesses with variable design needs or project-based workflows.
Service Coverage
Design Pickle focuses on graphic design, illustrations, presentations, and motion graphics with strong capabilities in these specific areas. Their established processes handle high-volume graphics work efficiently.
Reel Unlimited covers graphics, website design and development, and video content. The Webflow specialization provides end-to-end web solutions beyond just design work.
Delivery Approach
Design Pickle allocates specific daily hours to each client, with output depending on project complexity and time needs. Their 24-hour delivery target applies within their hours-based system.
Reel Unlimited works on concurrent projects simultaneously with clear delivery timelines – 48 hours for graphics and 3-5 days for websites. The queue system handles additional requests as active projects complete.
Communication and Support
Design Pickle provides platform-based communication with Slack integration on higher tiers. Their AI-powered system handles project management and file delivery.
Reel Unlimited offers dashboard, email, and Slack communication options across all plans. Time zone alignment supports better real-time communication timing for international clients.
Special Offer for Design Pickle Customers
If you’re currently using Design Pickle and want to try a different approach, we’re offering 50% off your first month with Reel Unlimited.
To qualify, simply provide a receipt showing payment to Design Pickle within the last 3 months. You can:
- Start your 7-day trial and mention the discount during signup
- Contact us via live chat with your receipt
- Email us with your payment proof
Our team will provide a unique discount code for 50% off your first month with any subscription plan. This lets you compare both services directly while saving money during your evaluation period.
Which Service Works Better for Different Needs
Design Pickle works well for businesses with predictable daily design needs who prefer working within allocated time slots. Their established processes and extensive client base demonstrate reliability for consistent graphics production.
The hours-based model particularly benefits businesses that can plan design work around daily time allocations and need steady output for ongoing marketing campaigns or regular content creation.
Reel Unlimited fits businesses that need flexibility between busy and quiet periods, companies needing both design and development work, or agencies needing white-label capabilities. The concurrent project model and 30-day design services particularly benefit businesses with variable design needs or specific project deadlines.
The choice depends on whether your business operates better with daily time allocations or project-based workflows, and whether you need just graphics work or comprehensive design and development services.
Evaluating Your Options
Both services offer ways to assess quality before full commitment. Design Pickle provides their established platform and team assignment process, while Reel Unlimited offers a trial with one completed project.
Start your trial with Reel Unlimited to experience our concurrent project approach and geographic team alignment. The trial includes one project with unlimited revisions, letting you evaluate our work style and delivery process.
For current Design Pickle customers, the 50% first-month discount combined with our trial provides a risk-free way to compare both approaches and determine which model better fits your business workflows and design needs.
