In today’s digital age, graphic design plays a pivotal role in shaping a brand’s identity and communicating its message to the world. Whether you’re a startup, a small business, or a multinational corporation, the need for compelling visual content is an absolute necessity. However, when it comes to fulfilling this need, businesses often face a big decision: outsourcing graphic design or hiring an in-house designer. Both options have their merits and drawbacks, and understanding them is essential for making an informed choice that aligns with your business goals.
Before we delve into the pros and cons of each approach, let me give you my personal background and experience with this. In full disclosure, I own a design agency — depending on where you’re reading this, you may know that already. 🙂 But I’ve been on both sides, even recently, and I recognize there is a lot to think about when making this type of decision. In the past I’ve been an employee of an agency, I’ve been in entry level marketing positions at technology companies, I’ve been the CMO at technology companies, and I’ve been the owner and president of a creative agency. Oddly enough, I’ve even been an in-house CMO for a technology company while simultaneously owning an agency. That’s one you don’t often see. But this unique position gives me a breadth of experience, and personal opinions, on both options. While running marketing teams at technology companies, I’ve had both in-house and agency creative teams separately and simultaneously. And having been in the trenches on both sides, I strongly believe there are pros and cons to both — but companies have to do what’s right for their businesses and often that means trialing it in different ways. I’m committed to helping equip CMOs, entrepreneurs and other heads of marketing to make informed decisions, whatever that might be. At the end of the day it’s all about growth and revenue for everyone, no matter which side of the fence you sit on. I will be honest and say I’ve had the most success outsourcing creative but let’s look take a look at both options:
Outsourcing Graphic Design
Outsourcing graphic design involves partnering with external agencies or freelancers to handle your design needs. Here are some key benefits and considerations associated with this approach:
Benefits:
- Access to Expertise: Through outsourcing, you gain access to a pool of talented designers with diverse skill sets and experiences. This allows you to tap into specialized knowledge and creativity that may not be available in-house with a single design resource.
- Cost-Effectiveness: Outsourcing can be more cost-effective, especially for small businesses or projects with fluctuating design needs. You can avoid the overhead costs associated with hiring full-time employees, such as salaries, benefits, and equipment. If you’re a start-up or solo entrepreneur, leveraging agencies can be invaluable to help you establish your brand and create all the assets needed to launch your brand.
- Scalability and Flexibility: Outsourcing allows you to scale your design resources up or down based on your project requirements. Whether you need a one-time project or ongoing support, you can easily adjust your outsourcing arrangements to suit your needs.
- Time-Saving: Delegating design tasks to external experts frees up your time to focus on core business activities, such as strategy, marketing, operations and growth.
- Avoiding Burnout: Designers are creative and typically thrive on working on a multitude of different applications, projects and brands. Working on the same brand day in and day out can be a bit stagnating to the creative mind. In my personal experience I’ve found this to be very true.
Considerations:
- Communication Challenges: Working with external designers may pose communication challenges, particularly if they are located in different time zones or speak different languages. Clear communication and project briefs are essential to ensure alignment and avoid misunderstandings.
- Lack of Direct Control: Outsourcing means relinquishing direct control over the design process. While you will always provide input and feedback, the agency’s designers are not your full time employees where you have complete control over what they do and when they do it. Oftentimes, this lack of direct control can turn into a positive too: you get other perspectives and expertise, and you free up your valuable time when you relinquish some control of certain tasks and projects.
- Dependency on External Partners: Relying on external parties for design services entails a degree of dependency. Delays or issues on the part of the outsourcing partner/agency could impact your project timelines and deliverables.
Hiring a Designer In-House
Hiring a full-time or part-time designer to work within your organization offers a different set of advantages and challenges:
Benefits:
- Direct Oversight: With an in-house designer, you have direct oversight over the design process, ensuring that your brand vision and guidelines are consistently upheld. Side note: any agency worth their weight should always adhere to your brand standards!
- Integration with Company Culture: An in-house designer becomes an integral part of your team, immersed in your company culture, values, and goals.
- Faster Turnaround Times: In-house designers are readily available to work on projects as needed, potentially leading to faster turnaround times compared to outsourcing.
Considerations:
- Higher Costs: Hiring an in-house designer involves higher upfront costs, including salary, benefits, training, and equipment expenses. This may be prohibitive for small businesses or startups with limited budgets. Depending on the volume and scope of your projects, you may even need more than one designer, as well as a web developer. This raises the cost significantly.
- Limited Skill Set: While an in-house designer offers exclusivity and familiarity with your brand, they may have a narrower skill set compared to external agencies or freelancers who specialize in various design disciplines.
- Workload Variability: In-house designers may face periods of underutilization or overload, depending on the volume and nature of projects. Managing their workload efficiently is essential to maintain productivity and creativity.
Choosing between outsourcing graphic design and hiring a designer(s) in-house depends on various factors, including budget, project complexity, scalability requirements, and the importance of brand alignment. Ultimately, the decision should be guided by your specific business needs, goals, and resources. Whether you opt for outsourcing or in-house hiring, investing in quality graphic design and creative application is critical for establishing a strong visual presence and connecting with your target audience.
~ Jaclyn Kramer, President/CEO, The Grove Creative
Looking to outsource your creative? We’d love to chat!