When Design Loses Its Value
The design industry was never meant to be a race to the bottom, yet today it often feels like one. Logos priced at ₹199. Full websites promised for ₹2,000. Not as experiments, not as student work but as professional services. Somewhere along the way, design stopped being treated as a craft and started being treated like a commodity.
This isn’t about freelancers versus agencies. It’s about what happens when pricing becomes the only differentiator. When the conversation shifts from “What problem does this solve?” to Who can do it cheaper? creativity begins to shrink. Strategy disappears. Thought is replaced by templates. And design, which should elevate businesses, starts to dilute them.
From the client’s perspective, the choice is understandable. If two people promise the same output, the lower price feels like the smarter decision. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: the outputs are rarely the same. An agency charging ₹12,000 factors in research, time, revisions, accountability, and long-term brand thinking. A freelancer offering the same project for ₹6,000 may be optimizing for speed, survival, or volume. Both are valid realities—but when prices drop to unsustainable levels, everyone loses.
The bigger issue is perception. Tools have become easier. Templates have become abundant. And suddenly, knowing the tool is mistaken for knowing design. When anyone can produce something visually acceptable in minutes, value quietly shifts away from thinking and toward execution alone. Clients believe they’ve “won” because something was delivered cheaply, without realizing what was never delivered at all.
At some point, even agencies are forced into the same trap—cutting prices, compressing timelines, reducing depth just to stay visible in a crowded market. When that happens, standards erode. Expectations blur. And an entire industry begins to forget why it existed in the first place.
In one meeting, when confronted with extreme underpricing, we made a simple statement if the work is valued at ₹199, we’d rather do it for free. Not as a tactic, but as a principle. Because design that carries meaning, responsibility, and long-term impact cannot be priced like an accessory. If value is removed from the equation, price becomes meaningless anyway.
This is not a call to increase rates blindly. It’s a call to rethink strategy. To shift conversations from cost to clarity. From deliverables to direction. From quick wins to lasting value. The design industry doesn’t need to be louder it needs to be more honest about what design truly does.
If pricing continues to define creativity, creativity will eventually disappear.
But if design reclaims its role as a strategic partner rather than a production service, the industry doesn’t just survive it matures.
At Brahmative, a design and technology driven design agency, we believe pricing should reflect thinking, responsibility, and long-term impact not just deliverables. Based in India and working with brands that value clarity over shortcuts, Brahmative approaches design as a strategic investment rather than a commodity.
Because when design holds meaning, it creates value far beyond the price attached to it.