You’re on a studio’s website. You have five minutes before your next meeting. How do you tell whether their work is good — really good, not just well-photographed-on-a-portfolio-page good?
This framework is what we use when reviewing studios for our directory. It works as fast as you can scroll.
1. Read three pieces, end to end
Don’t skim. Pick three pieces from their portfolio, read every word, follow every chart. The studios doing strong work have writing that holds up under reading. Studios doing weak work have pieces that fall apart when you actually try to follow the argument.
Watch for: charts where the axis is unlabeled or truncated; statistics with no source citation; section headings that don’t follow from the piece’s overall argument; visual decoration with no informational role.
2. Look for repeat clients
Studios that retain clients across multiple projects are doing something right. Studios whose portfolios are exclusively single-engagement clients (one piece for Brand A, one for Brand B, one for Brand C) may be either young, growing fast, or chronically delivering work that doesn’t earn the second commission.
Repeat clients are usually visible in the portfolio if you look at credits — “produced for X” appearing across multiple pieces is a good sign. If unclear, ask in the first call.
3. Check what’s published, not just what’s pretty
Some studios populate portfolios with concept work or speculative pieces that look great but never shipped. Look for pieces that exist in the wild — “as published in [trade press / client website / report]” — not just hero shots posed on a Behance background.
If most of the portfolio is concept work, the studio may be design-talented but light on production-process discipline. Both matter, but a studio that’s never shipped under client revision rounds is a different bet from one that has.
4. Check the dates
What’s the most recent piece? If the latest portfolio update is from 18 months ago, the studio may be in a quiet patch (which can happen to good studios), winding down, or quietly understaffed. Worth asking.
Conversely, a portfolio updated weekly with new pieces suggests a studio with throughput — but check whether the work quality is consistent. A factory pumping out mediocre pieces fast is not the same as a studio shipping consistently strong work.
5. Look for one piece in your industry
Cross-industry talent exists, but a studio that’s done one piece in your specific category will have a much shorter ramp-up than one that’s never seen your audience or compliance environment. For pharma, look for HCP work. For finance, look for FT-quality charting. For SaaS, look for product workflow visualisations.
Five-minute red flags
- The portfolio leads with logos of major clients but doesn’t show specific work for them — meaning the studio may have done a small piece for a brand, or worked through a sub-contracting chain, but the headline relationship is overstated.
- Heavy use of stock illustration in pieces presented as bespoke work.
- Generic case-study writeups (“we worked with X to deliver an engaging visual experience that exceeded expectations”) with no concrete detail about brief, scope, or outcome.
- Charts that don’t pass first-look scrutiny — pie charts with too many slices, bar charts with no zero baseline, time series with awkward intervals.
- Pricing pages that say “every project is unique, contact us for a quote.” Studios confident in their pricing share rough bands publicly.
Skip the search — use a vetted directory
Or skip this exercise entirely: every studio in our vetted directory has been through this evaluation, including reference checks. Brief at /get-matched/ for matched intros.