Kimp vs Design Pickle — who I picked and why

As somebody running a business, getting my content done without having to worry about missing deadlines and the quality of it is super important. After trying out many ways of accomplishing this feat, I decided to give unlimited graphic design services a try. It worked! So today, to help out all of you, who might be possibly in the same conundrum that I was, I’m comparing two of the services that I tried out. I will be taking you through some of the most important areas in their services that I considered when I was picking them and explain why I chose each as well. But first, in case you are a complete rookie to unlimited graphic design services, I wanted to take you through what all this means.

What is an unlimited graphic design service?

For most of us, (myself included), the unlimited part was at first a little uncertain. You wonder whether you really can get unlimited services, and lucky for us, we can! Although in the case of Design Pickle, they actually have a cap on the services even though they go as unlimited, Kimp does not. With Kimp the services offered are really unlimited.

To delve a little deeper into this area, an unlimited graphic design service is one where you can submit any number of design requests for the month. After you have submitted your tasks, the team that has been assigned to your brand will start work. The other advantage here is that especially with Kimp, I was also able to ask them for any number of revisions based on the completed designs that they were sending across to me. I only approved the designs after I was completely happy with them and I was then able to download all the source files as well with complete ownership.

The majority of unlimited graphic design services also operate on a very simple month to month contract format. This means that you do not have to sign up and enter into complicated contracts that hold you liable. With unlimited graphic design services, you cancel the contract at any point that you want to and you also can scale the contract up or down across the pricing plans that they offer, according to the demands of your business. The process is very simple and fast and you don’t have to go through so many questions and the likes to get it all set up. In addition, these services also have a fixed or flat monthly fee. This, to me was a huge plus because it essentially meant that I did not have to worry about having a bill that is heftier than what I agreed to initially pay.

A quick summary

Before we launch into the longer and more elaborate detailed bits and pieces, I am going to tell you about the service that I finally decided to go ahead with — Kimp. Why? Because I felt that they offer me more value for my money and also because of the variety of services that they offer. Now that that’s clear, let’s examine each of these services a little more in-depth.

Weighing the odds

Let’s also quickly figure out what the pros and cons for each of these services are.

I noticed that revisions also were being counted as new requests. So if you are picky like me, the amount of revisions you need done will mean that your monthly deliveries will be lower

Their custom illustrations may take about 2–4 days to come through and the same apples for their video services

Their basic plan is quite restrictive. They don’t include logo design, website design, motion design or infographics on it.

A quick comparison between key features

Now, I’m going to compare each of the key features that are offered by both the services. At the end of each comparison, I am also going to recommend one service and explain why I picked that one. Let’s get started.

How easy is it to use?

When you register for Kimp, you will have to wait for a bit until they sort out your access to Trello. After that, for me, all my communications and collaborations happened on Trello. Even the file exchanges were via that platform. The graphic designs that they completed were sent to me via Google Drive links. You can also use email for collaborations, but I personally preferred the Trello way forward, because it streamlined and consolidated all the information that was being exchanged.

When I tried out Design Pickle, there was no third party software that they used. They maintain the collaboration process through their website itself. They have a dedicated platform for us and all the exchanges happen there. In fact, if you are not sure of what to expect, the good part here is that you can take up a small demo on the homepage of Design Pickle. Through that demo, I was able to find out what would happen and what the process would be like.

The processes in both cases are very similar. You need to submit your design requests with as many details and information as possible. This means that you should even consider uploading a brand style guideline, if you have one. The teams of both Kimp and Design Pickle will also ask you questions so that they get all the key details needed to do a stellar quality design with minimal revisions which is always a good thing. The teams that are assigned to you will work on the design requests that you send in and they will keep you in the loop throughout the process. As they start to send in the completed work, like I mentioned earlier, you can ask for as many revisions as you need. You should only approve the design and download it, after you are completely happy with it.

Conclusion — When it comes to ease of use, I’d say that Design Pickle for me scored higher than Kimp simply because of the fact that they have their own platform. That said, Kimp certainly does have an unlimited service whereas Design Pickle is capped, that was a definite turn off for me while trying them out.

However I do have to mention that in the reviews, some customers have mentioned that the website was a little slow in performance with Design Pickle and that they felt that the user interface was somewhat problematic. I did not have either of these issues, but I thought it would be worthwhile mentioning, in the interest of transparency.

Design quality

The quality of designs is often quite subjective. The styles that I like may not be what you prefer but still, I felt that Kimp did a great job with the design requests that I submitted to them. The fact that they have a large variety of services also helped because I was able to choose quite freely. If you go to the website of Kimp, you will be able to see a rather extensive portfolio of what they have done so far. I am also attaching a little snippet of it here for your benefit. For example they have everything from logo designs, custom illustrations, ebooks, brochures, website designs, packaging and billboard designs and social media ads as well as infographics just to name a few. What’s more? They also have video design which is a jackpot because Design Pickle does not offer that service.

Design Pickle’s website also has a good portfolio and I have included a snippet here as well. They too cater to a few different styles. It is important to keep in mind that they have been in the field for quite some time now and therefore, have amassed a large amount of clientele. Just like Kimp, they too have ads, infographics, logo designs, custom illustrations and more. But in terms of variety, they are behind Kimp and they have no video design services.

Conclusion — Kimp for me takes the cake here because I was able to get access to a lot of high quality and diverse designs through them. The amount that I was paying, even if I take the video design services is still very reasonable considered that they do not cut corners on the work that they do and that they are pretty much a one stop shop — which is to say that no matter what kind of design you want done, they can help you out, all under one roof.

Turnaround time

I can’t really pick a winner in this case because they both deliver on time. If there is a delay you will be updated of course and you will not be left hanging. The general turnaround time for both Kimp and Design Pickle is 1–2 working days. As I mentioned in the summary above, with complicated custom illustrations and video designs, Kimp can take anywhere from 2–4 days to give you the completed work, but that is well within reason because of how high quality the work was.

I did not have any issues with deadlines being missed and me not being informed that that could happen. So I must say that both service providers have kept their word. However, do keep in mind that if you ask for an unrealistic number of designs such as say 50 designs to be delivered in 24 hours that is not possible. Be sure to prioritize the designs that you need done on a time sensitive basis and give them also time to be creative.

Conclusion — It is a tie between Kimp and Design Pickle, but I still prefer the work I got done from Kimp. I think I prefer it because mostly, I had the chance to explore so much more variety with Kimp and the fact that they did not disappoint on even one of the designs that I needed them to do. Both parties were quite aware and mindful of the style guidelines that I sent across and always asked me enough questions to ensure that they had all the information that they needed.

Customer support and automation

This is a feature where both services come in at a draw again. Kimp uses Trello for the better part of their communication while email is also included. And Design Pickle uses their Live Chat option. But both services are quite efficient and for me, they were both on the ball at all times. You do know that you are speaking to actual people and that you are not being given some kind of algorithm automated answer by a bot.

I have not had any technical issues or sudden queries where I had to contact the team and ask them for help per se, but whenever I needed anything sorted or clarified, both Kimp and Design Pickle were very helpful and efficient.

Conclusion — it’s a draw for me between Kimp and Design Pickle on this one as well. I must say that both service providers knew my brand needs very well and that they were also quite receptive to what I had to say in terms of feedback.

Services offered.

I am attaching some screenshots here for both services, simply because they do offer a lot (especially Kimp). But in comparison I truly do feel that Kimp wins here because they offer services that Design Pickle does not and they do a great job of keeping their quality high with all of their services.

Now, as I mentioned a few times before, Kimp definitely wins when it comes to the number and variety of services that they offer. They also seem to have a team of designers who are actually skilled at each of the services that they offer. Therefore, even though I was admittedly a little skeptical in the beginning when I wondered whether or not they would deliver all the services, they really did come through. You can also see all of the services available on their website and under each one of their pricing plans they have a specific set of services that they offer.

The services offered by Kimp are, in a nutshell;

The services offered by Design Pickle are as in the image below. Please note that this is the same as their pricing images I have included, because this is where I was able to get a concise list of what they offer in the most concise way. As you can see, they do have a healthy range of graphic design options, but they do not offer any video design services. Their price range however, is higher than that of Kimp’s. That was one of the main areas where I personally felt that Kimp offers more value for money.

Conclusion — Kimp wins hands down on this one and I think it is clear why. The diversity of the services that they offer and the scope of each of them is actually rather impressive.

Unlimited design requests and unlimited revisions

Kimp for me is a clear winner here because true to their word, I was able to send them in unlimited design requests and ask for unlimited revisions according to the plan that I chose, which was the basic one. So, naturally I assume that if the basic plan is so good, the higher pricing plans would be even better. They really had no cap on their services and allowed me to send in unlimited design requests for the month (according to the plan that I had chosen). When requesting for revisions, there was again no cap on.

With Design Pickle, I was in a bit of a pickle so to speak, because I noticed that my revision requests were also being counted as new requests. This significantly lowers the amount of new deliveries that you can get completed. They also do not offer video graphics. Another problem that I faced was the communication with the team on the basic plan. The customer support, as I mentioned earlier was available, but unless you are on the Pro Plan, your access to the team feels somewhat limited. I am unsure whether this was an independent experience that I faced, but it certainly was not very convenient.

Conclusion — I must admit that I did not appreciate the fact that Design Pickle had capped their services. I also felt that counting revisions as new designs was disadvantageous to the customer because it inevitably slowed down the deliveries and the process. Therefore, needless to say, Kimp wins this one without any doubt.

Pricing plans

With pricing plans, I must say that both of them provide some solid options. But I still prefer the prices that I get from Kimp because they are very affordable and come with a lot of different services even at the basic level. They also offer video services that I could not get from Design Pickle. Here is a quick look at what Kimp’s pricing plans look like.

To give a quick once all, Kimp has three different pricing plans. They offer one with just graphics, one with just videos and one that is a combo of both of these. They also mention on their website that you can get a discount for the very first month after selecting a payment plan. You will only be billed on a monthly level although you can also ask for quarterly options if you want to, in which case they say, you will save a bit more.

And here is a capture of the pricing options that Design Pickle offers.

Design Pickle also offers three pricing plans. But even at a glance you can tell that even the basic plan from Kimp comes with way more features and services as compared to Design Pickle. These guts also do not have any video services and instead they have a package that offers custom illustrations. In a way to me, that does not make complete sense either because as a business, simply getting custom illustrations alone was definitely not adequate.

Conclusion — Kimp wins again here. I think that this was money very well invested on my end with Kimp. they gave me pretty much all of the services that I anticipated and they did so at an amazingly affordable amount per month.

Testing period

Kimp offers a 7 day free trial. So I did not have to pay anything for 7 days while I got a test run of what their work and what working them will feel like. They have all the information mentioned on their website about what is allowed and what is restricted during the trial period. After the trial time was up, I chose to go ahead with their basic plan and that is when I needed to pay. Also it is useful to remember that during the trial period all the designs that I received from Kimp came as concepts with their watermark on them. Once I started my pricing plan of course the watermark was not there. The trial period is only meant for you to see if the service is a good fit for your business, so it is reasonable that they take such steps to make sure that the trial is not misused.

Design Pickle offers you a 30 day money back guarantee. I was able to test them out for 30 days and at the end of it, because I was not willing to continue, I was able to get my money back without any hassle, which I appreciate. They did refund the money as they promise and that is something I will give them bonus points for.

Conclusion — this one is a draw for me again. However, because of the fact that Design Pickle allowed for 30 days you can test them out for longer. Even then, I did prefer the free trial approach that Kimp offered.

Contracts

Both Kimp and Design Pickle offered me easy monthly roll on contracts for the flat rates of the pricing plans. This definitely allows me to either scale up or down or even cancel according to what I need, without having to be put through the mill.

Kimp very clearly says on their website that if you would like to scale up or down on the pricing plans you can do so. They also say that if you want more of a daily output, they suggest that you take up a few subscriptions on your account. This makes sense because obviously you will be then able to get access to more resources on their end.

Conclusion — This is another tie for both parties. They are both quite flexible when it comes to their contracts.

Who do I recommend?

I think the answer is pretty obvious here. I recommend Kimp. I really felt that compared to Design Pickle, they offered me real value for my money and I was very appreciative of their work ethics and the quality of their designs. I also genuinely feel that they offer a big range of services which is great for a business like mine. Ultimately the decision of what suits your business is up to you, but for me, it was definitely Kimp.

Note to reader : There are affiliate links included in this article. I have recommended the above services based on my experience with them and not on the affiliate credit that I will earn, should you choose to use the links in the blog. Please note that while I have recommended these services, the decision to follow my recommendations is entirely yours.