While seeking graphical essentials, marketers often become confused about which should be their target destination – design contests, freelancers, or professional agencies. Indeed, are you dwelling on the same concern? Surprisingly, the solution to your concern resides in just two aspects.
Before commencing a
graphic design work, you have to reckon with your financial plan and your fundamental objective. However, it is also possible that you can create your own graphics.
However, hiring professional designers is a relatively better idea. Not only because they make something more unique and engrossing, but hiring a team also assists you with more time and effort that you can put into another side of your business.
Now the question is, which one would be fruitful for your business? Here we have a detailed analysis for you.
1. Cost factor:
Cost is something that always matters. Isn't it? While researching this topic, we have discovered that hiring a freelancer typically costs around $75-$100/hr on average. This can range from as low as $25 per hour to as high as $300/hr.
Now, if you desire to launch a contest, then it would add a little more to your budget.
However, if you outsource your project to online graphic design services, it will likely make a dent in your wallet. It may be as low as $10,000 or as high as $50,000 or more.
Regardless of your preference, the cost will vary depending on the intensity of your project.
2. Options:
Are you looking for an ocean of options? In this case, consider opting for a design contest. This process is initiated by launching a contest on DesignCrowd,
99designs, CrowdSpring or any other website that you prefer the most. This will provide you with a diverse range of options and multiple perspectives to fulfil your single desire. However, confusions act as a bonus in this approach.
Launching a contest may be a great idea, but you may fail to reap the benefits if your project involves multiple components. We believe, on this account, that freelancers or a branding and web design agency are the best and offer perfection.
Let us sort this out with an example.
Say you need to create a brand image, i.e a logo, some infographics, brochures, and business cards for your business. No doubt, you can launch a design contest for each item. However, this will be time-consuming and also costly. To avoid these pitfalls, it is always better to prefer a
freelancer or a graphic design agency and outsource such a project.
3. Timeline:
In the battle between
99designs and freelancers, a freelancer typically takes a few weeks or a few months to create your design. Whereas, if you are running a contest, you will hardly get 7 days to choose the winner and a maximum of 12-15 days to get your final files. This timeline, of course, varies for different contest segments.
On the contrary, if you hire a company to perform your task, you will have to work with them for months. Otherwise, you may choose to pay more to expedite your work.
4. Efficiency:
Have you jotted down all your requisites? It's essential to know what exactly you want. If you can respond to your question, then freelancers can assist you in developing an effective business solution. However, this doesn't mean that graphic design agencies or design contests are worthless. In comparison, freelancers take the lead in this regard.
Additionally, working with freelancers offers more pros than other variations. Because you can make direct contact with the designer, nothing can be better than having direct communication, especially when you are seeking something crucial like graphic design. This allows you to explain your needs to them in detail, track your project, identify mistakes while it's in progress, and make improvements whenever and wherever needed. However, if you are likely to do the same with the contest participants or the design agency, you will have to encounter multiple intermediaries.
In any case, every methodology is associated with at least one disadvantage.
Freelancers –
Since you are directly connected with a freelancer, you have to be efficient and smart enough to choose a perfect freelancer from the ocean of designers.
Design Contests –
According to the above analysis, launching a design contest is a time-consuming process. You may not get the coveted outcome at one glance, but you should not lose patience or fail to submit your feedback to the potential participant. An active participation from both sides is mandatory in this case.
Agency –
Hiring a branding and design agency can be pretty expensive compared to previous approaches. However, if you are not overly concerned about your budget and want something truly compelling, then hiring an agency should be your choice, rather than an alternative.
So, have you decided which one to prefer for your project?
We recommend investing in a design agency that will not only serve you as a client but also assist you in developing and branding your business. A wealth of graphic designers is accessible both online and offline. Yet reaching the one associated with a branding agency will serve you exactly what you need.
