Meet Illustria, the ‘Netflix for design’

Illustria is a design company that began when founder and CEO Katherine Long was faced with a simple need. Long was working on another startup idea when she realized that, as a small business, she didn’t have access to the kind of design work she both wanted and needed.
“It was a difficult situation because I found that freelancers were unreliable, yet I didn’t have the resources or connections to go to a traditional design agency. This type of friction in the market shouldn’t exist — there had to be a better way to solve this problem,” Long said.
Illustria grew to fill this niche — accessible, affordable and on-demand design, based on a membership model. The “Netflix for design,” if you will.
Illustria works with members ranging from small startups to big brands — everything from the D.C.-based startup Contactually to Alaska Air. Often, companies come to Illustria because they can’t afford to work with a big design firm. But according to head of sales Matt Sturm, many also sign on because they don’t like the design firm model. The defining feature of companies that work with Illustria, Sturm says, is that they like to be hands on.
Illustria’s membership model works like this: Companies chose a level depending on how much work they need done, but can change their level every month as needs change and new projects come up. Member companies have a dedicated art director, and the designs are hosted on the cloud to allow easy access and transparency. The company currently has 123 open memberships.
The team at Illustria seems to really enjoy working closely with their members. When it comes to doing design for early-stage startups, “it’s great to see the companies that we work with grow up,” Sturm said.
Long is similarly invested in what member companies do moving forward. The best part of working at Illustria, she said, “is seeing how our work empowers our members to do their work better. Whether it’s turning their idea to life at the conception stage or redesigning an experience from the ground up, it’s amazing to see how great design makes a difference.”
Now two and a half years old, the Bethesda-based Illustria is looking to continue its growth. “Already, we serve members from California to China, from London to Los Angeles. We want to continue scaling and expanding our reach of making design accessible,” Long said.

Recent Graphic Design grad? Start your career as a Design Apprentice at Illustria! http://t.co/edcqxms6Sm pic.twitter.com/Tql30ZWSzG

— Illustria (@illustriadesign) October 7, 2015