ManyPixels launched with a bang a few years ago on ProductHunt. You may still see some older reviews that don't reflect the quality of this company today.
I've been a customer of ManyPixels for over 5 years, and I've stuck with them because they are a great blend of value, quality, price, and customer service.
ManyPixels is the best value outsourced graphic design company period.
They're not the cheapest, not the most high-end, but also not the most expensive. They are a great, balanced design subscription, especially for marketing agencies. They are a home-run for reliable production design.
Don't Use ManyPixels if You Can't Art Direct
If you want to use a high-value, lower cost design subscription service, you can't expect them to fully internalize the vision for your company or clients, and you can't expect them to art direct.
The problem:
Most business owners and marketers with no design background don't have an eye for design and can't communicate what they need.
If you have no time for design direction and don't have a good eye for design, your best bet is to pay the going wage for a designer in your home country.
Why? Communication.
Typically you'll have a piece of content – such as a landing page or blog post – that you'll want designs for. Let's say it's 1,500 words and has a bunch of stats. It's your job to pull out exactly the stats you want and communicate your vision for the piece. The designers are not well-versed in your industry to be analysts, that's not their job.
The Solution:
BUT if you can spend a bit of time communicating your vision and explaining exactly what you want and even sketching it out on a napkin, then you can save TONS of money on graphic design with an outsourced solution like ManyPixels.
Can you fully provide them with your brand guidelines?
Can you give them really good copy and direction?
Can you provide lots of examples?
Can you let them know when you want them to be creative, and when you want them to strictly follow guidelines?
If you can provide it, they can execute on it.
Pros of ManyPixels
- Highest quality designers at this price point
- Fast turnaround times
- Polite, nice, friendly designers and project managers
- Dedicated project manager
- Responsive CEO
- Easily scale up and down design talent
- Generous starting discount of $100 off
Cons of ManyPixels
- Like all designers, they can't read your mind, so you have to take time to explain what you want. Over time they'll get familiar with your brand.
- They take one business day to turn around designs. If you need instant designs, hire a freelancer nearby or hire a full-timer.
- They are not good with data visualization and complex topics. You have to lay it all out for them.
- If you need high-end art direction and senior designers, probably not the best fit.
- There is variation in quality depending the designer(s) you're paired with, so try to test out a few talents for different projects before settling into your assigned ones.
Example Designs from ManyPixels
This very site has a few graphics that were designed by the ManyPixels team! Here are some of my favorites:
I think they're pretty great! For production graphics, and even mid-level intepretations, ManyPixels is solid.
They are not your art director
Big note: they are not going to be your art director or senior designer. Yes they can do branding and identity, but you still can't outsource that without a ton of input from your marketing team. You wouldn't expect a full-time junior designer at your company to be a complete art director at the same level of a 15-year design veteran working at Spotify. So set your expectations to reality!
This was an initial review, let me know if you'd like me to go more into detail on my experience!
Get $100 off of ManyPixels here
Updates
- March 5, 2024: Reviewed editorial, updated $100 discount code, light edits throughout, verified details
- 2021: Initially published
Last Updated on March 5, 2024 by Joe