services · design team extension
Design team extension for startups that want to be remembered
Senior product design embedded with your team on a monthly retainer — for companies that need design every week but not a full-time hire yet.
When you need this
- You ship weekly and design is the bottleneck.
- You have one designer and need a second brain and a second pair of hands.
- You want senior work without a $150k hire and a three-month search.
What's included
- A senior designer (and specialists when needed) in your Slack and your sprints
- Weekly planning, daily async updates, a live review in your time zone
- Product, brand and web work as the roadmap needs
- Design system upkeep so velocity doesn't decay
- Monthly, pause or stop with two weeks' notice
How it runs
Fixed scope, fixed price, paid in milestones. Weekly cycles: you see real work in week one and every week after. A daily async update and one live review a week in your time zone. The people on the first call do the work.
Pricing
Design team extension engagements run $8,000–$15,000. Across all services our average engagement is around $20,000. How we price →
Questions
How is this different from a design subscription?
Subscriptions queue requests one at a time and are built for marketing assets. This is a designer embedded in your product team, in your planning, with judgement — not a request queue.
What does it cost?
$8,000–$15,000 a month depending on days per week. Compare: a US senior product designer costs $110–160k base plus 25–40% on-costs, and takes 2–4 months to hire.
Is there a minimum term?
Two months to start; monthly after that with two weeks' notice.
Who do we get?
A senior designer you meet before you sign, plus brand, motion or illustration specialists pulled in as needed.
What hours do you work?
IST, with a daily overlap window in your time zone — full European day, US East Coast morning, or Australian afternoon.
Can it turn into a project?
Yes, and often does the other way round: a project first, then a retainer.
Do you do research and testing?
Yes, as part of the work, not as a separate line item.
How do we measure it?
We agree on two or three metrics up front — activation, conversion, a support-ticket category — and report against them monthly.
What tools?
Figma, your issue tracker, your Slack. We adapt to you.
Is this good for a startup without a designer?
It's built for that. See the list of studios for startups without a designer for alternatives too.
Talk to us
Building something people should remember?
non boring.gg is a product and brand design studio in Bangalore, India, working with startups and tech companies across the US, Europe and Australia. Average engagement around $20,000. atul@nonboring.gg