Getting graphic design for your business can sometimes be confusing. A graphic designer freelancer is a creative professional that you hire to produce your company’s visual assets. You pay them based on the output they create, not for the time they work for you.
On the other hand, an on-demand design service is a company that you pay a flat rate to have them produce as many designs in a month. The bottom line is, these two are the most common ways for businesses to get graphic design. Let’s get to know them to help you make an informed decision.
Pros and Cons of Graphic Designer Freelancer
Having a graphic designer freelancer on your team offers many advantages. However, there are also downsides to getting your visual assets this way. We’ve made a list of the pros and cons you need to consider before making the final decision.
The Pros:
Cost of Services
Hiring a graphic designer freelancer is a more viable option for many businesses because of the expenses involved. The cost of services of a freelancer is lower than when you hire an in-house graphic designer. A designer working full-time means paying them a monthly salary that wouldn’t be cost-effective when the workload gets low.
Alternatively, going to a design agency for your graphics can also be an expensive option. Agencies spend on paying for office spaces, utilities, secretaries, and even health insurance and other employee benefits. These, in turn, are expenses that they pass on to their clients.
Flexibility
Hiring a graphic designer freelancer offers flexibility on your part in terms of logistics. Freelancers will do their work according to your design needs as they don’t abide by official working hours. In the event that you need a logo past 5 PM, you’ll get it without having to pay overtime.
A freelance designer will work around the time of your choice, thereby giving you flexibility. You won’t ever have to ask an in-house designer to work beyond office hours. You also won’t have to plead with your agency to create a design late on a weekend night.
Specialized Work
When you hire a graphic designer freelancer, you have the option to find those that specialize in a specific genre of work. If you need to redesign your logo, you can easily find a designer specializing in that field. If what you need is a book illustrator, you can find one particular for that project.
A creative design agency can do this for you as they have a team of designers that have a multitude of skill sets. But, as mentioned above, this route can be an expensive one. Likewise, an in-house designer can only have one specialization, and rarely will you find someone who can do all.
Proficiency
Graphic designer freelancers, especially those with ample experience, are more proficient than in-house designers. This is because they cater to many clients that they get to learn from. They can and must adapt to whatever whims their clients have, thus, making them more versatile and more familiar with the trends.
These graphic designers are exposed to diverse clients, work processes, and marketing strategies compared to those cooped up in an office cubicle. In short, freelance graphic designers offer more than most graphic design partners out there. That is, except one we will discuss later in the article.
The Cons:
Communication
When you hire a freelance graphic designer, communication may not be as accessible as with an agency or an in-house designer. While the two latter options allow you direct contact, a freelancer, especially one who’s overseas, may not. This can result in complications if a misunderstanding comes up due to misread emails or vague job descriptions through chats.
Miscommunication can lead to revisions on the designs. This, in turn, can result in missed deadlines or extra charges for editing and revising. Sure, you can find a designer who’s a good communicator, but the chances of these scenarios happening are higher with them.
Risk
Typically, graphic designer freelancers have more than one client on their roster. So it may be that aside from you, they work for multiple clients. Since they don’t work for you the whole time, they fill their hours with other clients to avoid loss of revenues in downtimes.
This opens you up to risks such as abandonment of work when a higher-paying client takes up most of their time, leaving you with an unfinished job. Or the risk of hiring someone who’s not up to par with what they show you at the interview level.
Hard to Find
When businesses need a graphic design freelancer, they generally turn to the World Wide Web to find one. Doing so entails the long and tedious process of filtering candidates and vetting them. You won’t know how professional they are and what their characteristics are. These are necessities as you would want to build a good working relationship with them.
While almost all creatives have portfolios to show their work and accomplishments, you can never really tell if they’re legit or not through those. Portfolios are never an indication of a candidate’s reliability, dependability, or other traits necessary to have a strong working relationship. So finding the most suitable freelance designers is a hit or miss.
Pros and Cons of On-Demand Graphic Design Services
As with hiring a freelancer, an on-demand graphic service company also has its pros and cons. It has its benefits and advantages, but it also has its drawbacks. Learn what they are to help you compare and know which route to take.
The Pros:
Unlimited Graphic Designs
Yes, you read that right. These companies offer unlimited graphic designs, which means you can request as many as you want in a month. All the logos, email templates, letterheads, social media graphics you need, and more!
Subscription to on-demand graphic design companies is on a month-to-month basis that you can cancel anytime you no longer need their services. Most of them offer free trials that let you try out their services before committing.
Cost-Effective
While a graphic designer freelancer will charge you for every project they work on, on-demand services will charge you a flat monthly rate. Whether you requested ten designs or one, you pay the same rate.
In addition, on-demand design services offer unlimited revisions, making the deal even sweeter. Revisions with other design partners require extra payment, while with on-demand companies, it comes with the subscription fee.
Wide Selection of Talents
For every skill set that you need, you’d have to hire a different graphic designer freelancer for it. With an on-demand graphic design service, you have them all in one team. No need to look for another designer as these services will assign your project to the most suitable talent for the job.
These companies will have a wide selection of talents on their team. Most have logo designers, illustrators, UI/UX designers, or just about anything you’ll ever need for your visual assets. They will save you the time of finding another designer that can do what you need. Plus, in some instances, you can even request a different designer for a certain project if your expected design hasn’t been realized yet.
Recruitment Woes Solved
Finding the right graphic designer freelancer takes time, energy, and effort. With an on-demand graphic design service, these tasks are no longer a concern of yours. They have done the filtering of candidates, the vetting, and even the training. All you will do is submit your job description brief.
Having this luxury means getting more time to do what matters most in handling your business. Plus, these companies guarantee you the quality of their designers’ works. Penji, for one, only hires the top 2% of graphic designers and requires them to undergo rigid training before they become permanent members of our team.
100% Risk-Free
Abandonment of projects is a real struggle among business owners who hire freelance graphic designers. With on-demand graphic design services, this is close to impossible. You won’t end up with an unfinished design as these companies have enough team members to fulfill your requests until their completion.
Also, most of these companies offer free trials or money-back guarantees. These will allow you to try them out and see if it’s something that would prove helpful. That leaves you with no excuse to get an idea of how it is to work with them without cashing out.
Full Ownership of Designs
Many business owners fall into the trap of using online templates and five-dollar services to get designs. Little do they know that this does them no good in terms of originality and differentiation. Penji, an on-demand graphic design service, gives you full ownership of your designs. This frees you from copyright infringements and makes you stand out from your competition.
The Cons:
For Bulk Work Only
Businesses that require a constant supply of graphic design will find these companies beneficial. Otherwise, it’s not worth your money. Having only a few design needs per month may not be economical in the long run. If you only need one logo or one illustration per month, this may not be the service for you.
What makes unlimited graphic design services tick is the ability they give their clients to request as many designs as they can in a month. If you only need a single design, on-demand services will cost you more if you subscribe instead of hiring a graphic designer freelancer specifically for that task.
Limited Communication Channels
Most on-demand graphic design services will communicate with you through email, chat, or workplace communication software. This may turn off people who love speaking their minds over the phone as very few of them offer voice call support.
Also, to send design requests, you need to know how to write clear and concise project descriptions. This will facilitate better designs with fewer revisions. So if you don’t have the patience for writing project briefs, you may have a hard time letting the designers know what you need.
Which is Better?
We don’t want to sound biased here, but as you can see from the comparisons above, the clear winner here is on-demand graphic design services. It is more cost-effective, the process is much simpler, the designs you’ll get will be more varied, and overall a more straightforward approach to design.
You’ll spend less time trying to find the best graphic design freelancer and more time managing your business. Leave the design responsibilities to them and focus on more important things such as product development, marketing and advertising your business, and so much more.
Why Penji?
There are dozens of on-demand graphic design services out there, so the bigger question is, why choose Penji? Penji takes pride in our team of pro graphic designers that are incredibly talented aside from being friendly and accommodating. We also have human support in case you need them. Watch our demo video here to learn more.
Better yet, get started with your graphic designs today by signing up through this link.
