Creative Retainers
A monthly retainer for teams that need consistent creative without hiring in-house.
A creative retainer is a monthly agreement that reserves a set amount of studio time for your work at a flat fee. Requests move into a scheduled queue instead of being scoped and quoted one at a time, and the same people handle them every month.
Most creative problems are not one project. They are a steady stream of work with nobody senior watching whether it holds together. A deck here, a campaign there, a landing page from whoever was available, and eighteen months later the brand has quietly drifted in four directions.
The thing you are actually missing is usually not a designer. It is someone senior deciding what gets made and checking it before it goes out.
Hiring for that is expensive and slow. A mid-level designer is a salary, benefits, software, and a manager who knows enough to direct them. A retainer is a fraction of that, and it comes with the direction attached. We wrote about the difference.
What it looks like in practice: you send work as it comes up, it goes into the queue rather than into a new quote, and we plan the month together on a call. Capacity is confirmed before anything is committed, so the timeline you agree to is one the studio can actually hold. Nothing reaches you before it has been reviewed here.
When a month needs something outside the studio, a photographer, a video crew, a copywriter, we bring in people from the network and direct them. You never manage a vendor. Specialist costs are quoted separately before anyone is booked.
What a Retainer Includes
- Creative direction and account management
- Reserved monthly studio capacity
- Monthly planning and review calls
- Priority scheduling ahead of project work
- Brand governance and review before delivery
- One point of contact
How Retainers Are Structured
Three Tiers
Studio Support
Consistent design and content execution
Brand Growth
Expanding reach or launching new initiatives
Full Creative Partnership
A creative lead running strategy and execution year-round
Tiers scale with how much capacity you need and how much direction sits with us. The right one comes out of a short conversation.
Who This Is For
- Marketing teams without in-house creative
- Organizations with steady volume and no headcount to hire for it
- Teams whose brand drifts between vendors
- Anyone tired of getting a new quote for every request
Every project is scoped individually. See how scoping works. Not sure a studio is the right fit? Compare it against an agency, a freelancer, and a full-time hire.
Quick Answers
What is a creative retainer?
A creative retainer is a monthly agreement that reserves a set amount of studio capacity for your work at a flat monthly fee, so requests move into a scheduled queue instead of being scoped and quoted one at a time.
How is this different from hiring a freelancer?
A freelancer is one person delivering assets. A retainer gives you a studio: senior direction, additional specialists brought in when the work calls for it, and review owned by the creative lead before anything reaches you.
Is there a minimum commitment?
Yes. Retainers start at a three-month minimum, and larger tiers run longer, because the value compounds once we know your brand well enough to stop asking. The specific term is set with the tier when you sign.
What happens if we do not use the full month?
Capacity does not roll over, because the time was held for you whether or not it got used. What we do instead is shift it: a light month can go toward planning, brand governance, or getting ahead on something that was coming anyway. If your needs change for more than a month or two, we move you to a different tier rather than letting you pay for capacity you are not using.
What if our volume changes month to month?
Capacity is reviewed as part of the monthly planning call, and tiers can move up or down between terms. Most clients settle into a level within the first two months.
What if we need photography or video that month?
Specialists come in from the studio's network and we direct them, so your time can shift toward direction and coordination that month. Specialist fees are quoted separately before anyone is booked.
How does retainer pricing work?
Retainers are a flat monthly fee, quoted after a short conversation about the volume and the kind of work involved. It is not billed by the hour, and it is not a new quote every time you send something over.
Other Services
Brand Identity Design
Logo systems, color, type, and the guidelines that keep it all holding together.
Website Design & Development
Sites that load fast, are accessible to everyone, and are built for search and answer engines.
Graphic Design & Marketing Materials
Campaign creative, collateral, and the day-to-day work that has to stay on brand.
Illustration & Custom Lettering
Original illustration and hand lettering, drawn rather than licensed.
Event Branding & Environmental Design
Identity, environmental graphics, and collateral for conferences and fundraisers.
Motion & Video Design
Brand animation, character work, and motion systems built from your identity.
Stop Quoting The Same Work Every Month.
Send over the details and we will take it from there. The form takes a few minutes, and you can pick a time to talk.