find-design-agency
Overview
Drive the ServiceGraph API (https://api.servicegraph.co) to find,
shortlist, and enrich US design and creative agencies via the
pro_services dataset. The catalog tags firms with
industry:design_creative and a ~13-tag service sub-taxonomy spanning
graphic design, UX/UI, product design, brand identity, packaging,
illustration, motion, and creative direction.
Always pin industry:design_creative. Sub-disciplines are
typically structured service_provided tags (graphic-design,
ui-ux-design, product-design, branding, etc.). Two known drifts:
the UX/UI tag is ui-ux-design, not ux-ui-design; and there is
no industrial-design tag — use product-design plus a hardware
keyword. Confirm exact names via
/v1/datasets/pro_services/fields?include_values=1.
Any HTTP client works (curl, fetch, requests). Examples below use curl.
Sibling skills — defer when scope is different
- Marketing-led engagements where design is one of several services (PR + content + paid + design) →
find-marketing-agency. This skill is for design-led engagements where the design work IS the primary deliverable.
- Build-the-website work (coded marketing site, ecommerce, custom CMS) →
find-web-developer. Design agencies often partner with web devs; if the user wants the built artifact, fire web-developer.
- Custom software with design needs (SaaS app, internal tool) →
find-software-developer when the deliverable is software. Pure design (Figma files, brand systems, print collateral) stays here.
When NOT to use this skill
- Consumer/personal design — weddings, hobby projects, Etsy side projects, custom holiday cards, personal portfolio sites. Catalog is B2B procurement only.
- DIY — "design me a logo", "make me a hero illustration", "redesign my app's onboarding flow".
- In-house designer hires (Lead Designer, UX Researcher, Brand Designer).
- Design-software product comparisons (Figma vs Sketch vs Adobe XD, Webflow vs Framer).
- Knowledge questions ("explain the difference between UX and UI").
- Non-US firms / individual freelance designers.
Prerequisites
- ServiceGraph access, either:
- the ServiceGraph MCP server (
https://mcp.servicegraph.co) loaded in
your harness — this plugin's .mcp.json wires it up; OAuth 2.1 + PKCE
keeps credentials in the harness sandbox — or
- a ServiceGraph API key (
vk_…, minted at
https://servicegraph.co/profile/api-keys) available as
SERVICEGRAPH_API_KEY in the environment or .env.local for the REST
path (setup steps under Auth below).
- An HTTP client for the REST path — the examples use
curl.
Instructions
The loop is free-first: discovery, validation, search, and brief reads cost
nothing; only unlock after the user confirms the spend.
- Pick the call path — the ServiceGraph MCP tools if loaded, otherwise the
REST flow (MCP server and Auth sections below).
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/fields?include_values=1 — confirm the
fields and values you plan to filter on exist.- Build the filter (Filter DSL below) and validate it with
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/check — or draft it from plain English via
POST /v1/datasets/pro_services/translate-intent.
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search — present the free brief cards and
let the user pick.- Quote the unlock cost (10 credits per row, 30-day TTL) and get an explicit
go-ahead.
POST /v1/datasets/pro_services/unlocks with the chosen apexes; report the
revealed detail.GET /v1/me/credits to report the remaining balance when asked.
MCP server (preferred for authed calls)
If your harness has the ServiceGraph MCP server loaded (tools
containing servicegraph), prefer those — OAuth 2.1 + PKCE keeps the
token in the harness sandbox. Otherwise use the REST flow below.
API surface (dataset id: pro_services)
Every endpoint requires the bearer (Authorization: Bearer vk_…).
No anonymous tier.
| Endpoint | Cost | Use it for |
|---|
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/fields[?include_values=1] | free | Confirm design_creative industry value and sub-tag names. |
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/check?filter=… | free | Validate filter. |
POST /v1/datasets/pro_services/translate-intent | free | {intent} → DSL filter + sanity count. |
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=…&limit= | free | Brief firm cards + per-row unlock hint + total. |
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/:apex | free | One row brief; detail only if unlocked. |
POST /v1/datasets/pro_services/unlocks | 10 credits / firm | {apexes:[...]} ≤100; atomic; 30-day TTL on detail. |
GET /v1/me/credits | free | Balance. |
Cost model. Discovery / validation / search / brief reads are
free. Detail (url, phone, email, social, address, full platforms
map) costs 10 credits per firm and lasts 30 days.
Auth
vk_* API keys minted in the dashboard. Keep the token out of the
LLM context — never read .env* into your context; dispatch via
shell.
-
Try the call first through a shell wrapper that sources .env.local:
( set -a; [ -f .env.local ] && . ./.env.local; set +a;
curl -sS -H "Authorization: Bearer $SERVICEGRAPH_API_KEY" \
'https://api.servicegraph.co/v1/datasets/pro_services/fields' )
-
On 401 prompt the user:
"Open https://servicegraph.co/profile/api-keys, create a
key, and add SERVICEGRAPH_API_KEY=vk_… to .env.local here
(or export it). Tell me when done. Please don't paste the key
into chat."
-
Retry after the user signals ready.
Filter DSL
GitHub-search-style.
filter := orExpr
orExpr := andExpr ("OR" andExpr)*
andExpr := notExpr (("AND")? notExpr)* # whitespace = implicit AND
notExpr := ("NOT" | "-") notExpr | atom
atom := "(" filter ")" | predicate
predicate:= IDENT op valueOrList | bareword
op := ":" | "=" | ">=" | "<=" | ">" | "<"
valueOrList := value ("," value)*
value := IDENT | NUMBER | tagAtEvidence
tagAtEvidence := IDENT "@" ("low"|"medium"|"high")
bareword := IDENT | NUMBER # → keyword:<bareword>
Four rules that bite: AND binds tighter than OR (use parens);
comma list = OR within one predicate; negation is -x or NOT x;
bareword = keyword search (quote multi-word phrases).
Design-flavored examples (validate yours with /check):
industry:design_creative service_provided:ui-ux-design saas
industry:design_creative service_provided:branding state:NY
industry:design_creative service_provided:packaging-design cpg
industry:design_creative service_provided:product-design hardware
industry:design_creative service_provided:graphic-design "annual report"
industry:design_creative motion animation
industry:design_creative service_provided:branding@high rating>=4 has:clutch
industry:design_creative service_provided:ui-ux-design@high fortune
Sub-discipline → tag mapping (verify exact names via /fields):
| User asks for | Use |
|---|
| Graphic design (logos, print, layouts) | service_provided:graphic-design |
| Logo design specifically | service_provided:logo-design |
| UX/UI design (digital products) | service_provided:ui-ux-design (note the ui-ux-, not ux-ui-) |
| Product design (digital + research) | service_provided:product-design |
| Brand identity / visual identity | service_provided:branding |
| Packaging design | service_provided:packaging-design |
| Print design / collateral | service_provided:print-design |
| Web design (visual) | service_provided:web-design (distinct from web-development) |
| Interior design | service_provided:interior-design |
| Illustration / motion design / creative direction | no structured tag — keyword-only (illustration, motion, animation, "creative direction") |
| Industrial design (physical products) | no structured tag — closest is service_provided:product-design plus keyword hardware / industrial |
Verticals (SaaS, fintech, healthcare-tech, CPG, hospitality) and
credentials (AIGA, Awwwards) are keyword-only.
Identifying firms — apex
Firms are identified by their apex domain (ideo.com, not
www.ideo.com/about).
Output
All responses are JSON.
- Search returns free brief firm cards —
apex, name, location, and
rating signals — plus a per-row unlock hint and the match total. Briefs
never include url, phone_primary, email_primary, legal_name,
address_full, or the full platforms map.
- Unlock (
POST …/unlocks) returns each unlocked firm's detail block —
contact fields, address, socials, the platforms map — plus per-item
billing; detail stays readable for 30 days.
- Errors arrive as a JSON envelope
{"error": {"code": "…", "message": "…"}} — see Errors below.
Examples
A. UX/UI for a SaaS product
User: "UX/UI design agency for our SaaS product."
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:design_creative+service_provided:ui-ux-design+saas&limit=10
# Present, get pick of 3. "Unlocking 3 = 30 credits, 30-day TTL."
POST /v1/datasets/pro_services/unlocks
{ "apexes": ["firm-a.com", "firm-b.com", "firm-c.com"] }
B. Brand-identity studio in a state
User: "Three brand-identity studios in NY for our rebrand."
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:design_creative+service_provided:branding+state:NY+-company_size_signal:large_50plus&limit=10
-large_50plus keeps the shortlist to studio-size shops. Note: a
rating gate (rating>=4) collapses the boutique-branding pool
sharply — these firms are vetted by portfolio, not Clutch/Google,
so prefer @high evidence + non-solo as the quality proxy.
C. Packaging for CPG
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:design_creative+service_provided:packaging-design+(cpg OR consumer)&limit=10
D. Product design with hardware experience
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:design_creative+service_provided:product-design+hardware+industrial&limit=10
E. Indirect intent — "design our visual identity and packaging"
User: "We need someone to design the visual identity and packaging for our new line of beverages."
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:design_creative+service_provided:branding+service_provided:packaging-design+(beverage OR cpg)&limit=10
Or use the intent translator:
POST /v1/datasets/pro_services/translate-intent
{ "intent": "design firm for visual identity and packaging for a new beverage line" }
If the list is thin, drop packaging-design — many brand-identity
studios deliver packaging as part of the system.
F. Graphic design for corporate use cases
User: "Graphic design firms experienced with annual reports and investor decks."
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:design_creative+service_provided:graphic-design+(annual OR investor OR corporate)&limit=10
G. Quality threshold + Fortune 500 clients
User: "Three UX/UI agencies with at least 4-star ratings and Fortune 500 clients."
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:design_creative+service_provided:ui-ux-design@high+rating>=4+fortune&limit=10
H. Brand-system overhaul
User: "Creative agency for a brand system overhaul — logo, typography, color, voice."
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:design_creative+service_provided:branding@high&limit=10
If the user mentions "voice" / copywriting, the line with
find-marketing-agency blurs — stay here unless they explicitly ask
for strategy/campaigns.
I. BYO apex list — enrich domains
User pastes 8–20 design firm domains:
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/:apex per domain — free brief
(404 = not in catalog, no charge).- User picks N to fully enrich.
POST /unlocks = 10×N credits,
atomic, detail returned.
- Re-runs within 30-day TTL are free.
A 404 often means the firm is tagged under industry:marketing_agency
instead — design/marketing overlap is heavy.
Gotchas
- Always pin
industry:design_creative. Without it, design keywords (branding, ui-ux-design) appear in marketing_agency rows too.
- Tag drift: it's
ui-ux-design, not ux-ui-design. There is no industrial-design tag — use product-design plus a hardware keyword.
- Defer to
find-marketing-agency for marketing-led engagements. If the user wants brand + content + paid + social as one engagement, that's marketing-agency territory.
- Defer to
find-web-developer for the build phase. Design agencies make Figma files; web devs ship code.
- Refuse consumer-personal design. Weddings, custom holiday cards, hobby Etsy logos — not in catalog.
- DIY asks ("design me a logo", "make a hero image") are NOT procurement.
- Design-software comparisons (Figma vs Sketch) are NOT procurement.
- Rating gates on boutique studios are sparse.
rating>=4 on a branding@high non-solo pool collapses sharply — boutique design shops are vetted by portfolio, not Clutch reviews. Prefer @high evidence + non-solo + state as the quality proxy.
- Briefs DO include
apex, name, location, ratings. They DON'T include url, phone_primary, email_primary, legal_name, address_full, full platforms — those require an unlock.
not_found / not_in_dataset 404 = not in pro_services. Skip; not charged.- Unlock is atomic. N apexes either all charge (up to 10×N credits) or none on 402.
- Within-TTL re-views are free (
was_cached:true).
Errors
JSON envelope: {"error": {"code": "...", "message": "..."}}.
| Status | Code | What to do |
|---|
| 400 | filter_parse_error | position included; fix and re-validate with /check. |
| 400 | kind_in_filter | Strip any kind: from filter. |
| 400 | field_not_in_dataset | Drop the disallowed field. |
| 400 | invalid_apex | Re-normalize. |
| 401 | unauthorized / invalid_audience | Re-prompt for fresh vk_…. |
| 402 | insufficient_credits | needed and balance; nothing charged. |
| 404 | not_found / not_in_dataset | Skip; not charged. |
| 429 | rate_limited | Honor Retry-After. |
End-to-end example
User: "Three UX/UI design agencies for our SaaS product, ideally with
4-star ratings and healthcare-tech experience."
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/fields?include_values=1
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/check?filter=industry:design_creative+service_provided:ui-ux-design@high+saas+healthcare+rating>=4
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=...&limit=10
# Present briefs. "Unlocking 3 = 30 credits, 30-day TTL."
POST /v1/datasets/pro_services/unlocks
{ "apexes": ["firm-a.com", "firm-b.com", "firm-c.com"] }
GET /v1/me/credits
Resources
