Full website re-design required. Cosmetic design only

[businessbecause]

It is indeed that Creative Protege.

Yes, in a way you're right about their system. However:
a) we can change/review the designs as many time as we like mean that we can tell them if we think the stuff we're getting is sub-standard.
b) Some of their designers are more experienced (have done a couple of projects already and do get some form of payment for the work, depending on how much you pay them you can get a more experienced designer on your project. Also we can meet/talk to the graduates if we want.
c) at the end of the day, you can never guarantee the level of quality that you'll get from anyone, designers may only showcase their most successful stuff on their website portfolios. I'm sure it's common for people to do a job that doesn't eventually get used by the client or doesn't make it to their portfolio.
d) by charging us for the whole project they've allowed us the flexibility of asking them to tweak our design. A lot of designers wanted to charge by the hour, which is fine, but for us (a poor start up) it was necessary that we didn't have someone work for 10 hours on something that we're not actually that happy with - better that we feel confident that we can go back and tweak things.
e) the project managers/brief team bring the experience of layouts/briefs they've encountered before and the grads bring the fresh ideas to the table

I can let you know how it goes but I like to think that a graduate who's just studied hard to become a designer who has the right support/management and who has a lot to prove will push themselves hard to provide high quality effective design on one of their first projects.

[SparkCreative]

It is indeed that Creative Protege.

Yes, in a way you're right about their system. However:
a) we can change/review the designs as many time as we like mean that we can tell them if we think the stuff we're getting is sub-standard.
b) Some of their designers are more experienced (have done a couple of projects already and do get some form of payment for the work, depending on how much you pay them you can get a more experienced designer on your project. Also we can meet/talk to the graduates if we want.
c) at the end of the day, you can never guarantee the level of quality that you'll get from anyone, designers may only showcase their most successful stuff on their website portfolios. I'm sure it's common for people to do a job that doesn't eventually get used by the client or doesn't make it to their portfolio.
d) by charging us for the whole project they've allowed us the flexibility of asking them to tweak our design. A lot of designers wanted to charge by the hour, which is fine, but for us (a poor start up) it was necessary that we didn't have someone work for 10 hours on something that we're not actually that happy with - better that we feel confident that we can go back and tweak things.
e) the project managers/brief team bring the experience of layouts/briefs they've encountered before and the grads bring the fresh ideas to the table

I can let you know how it goes but I like to think that a graduate who's just studied hard to become a designer who has the right support/management and who has a lot to prove will push themselves hard to provide high quality effective design on one of their first projects.

Ok, I guess I understand your reasoning on this. But I'm sure it wouldn't have been that hard to find someone who would quote on a project basis, rather than per hour. And it's usual to allow for amends and client tweaking to the work until the client is happy with it - it would be a very strange agency that didn't allow you to do that.

In terms of quality - yes you're right that agencies only showcase their best work, but that applies to every agency, including Creative Protege. What other people will have that these people won't is experience working on the kind of work you're looking for.

It would be great if you could let us know your experiences working with these guys - it's a new way of doing things and it will be interesting to see how things pan out.