Image: Pexels
Sydney is a fair rival to Melbourne when it comes to Australia’s graphic design scene. The bustling and vibrant cosmopolitan capital city has one major advantage though, its status as the mecca for Australia’s startup scene.
As a result, the need for talented and creative graphic designers is crucial for the emerging businesses here especially if they hope to stand out to conquer the market share.
According to Academy X's statistics, there is a projected 21.7% increase in graphic design employment from 2021 to 2026, estimated to create 13,900 new jobs. This surge is expected to elevate the total number of graphic designers to over 78,000 by the end of 2026.
It is expected that the demand for graphic designers will only continue to grow. Image: Unsplash
On top of that, the rise of Sydney's startup scene is attributed to a confluence of factors, including a supportive government policy environment, access to funding and investment opportunities, and a rich talent pool. The city's proximity to leading universities and design schools further bolsters the availability of qualified graphic designers, catering to the growing demand from startups.
Graphic designers play a crucial role in the success of startups by creating visually appealing and impactful designs that capture the essence of the brand and resonate with the target audience.
From crafting logos and websites to designing marketing materials and user interfaces, graphic designers are the visual storytellers who help startups establish a strong and recognisable brand identity.
Now this begs the question, who should you hire?
In today’s graphic design scene, businesses can leverage the numerous options of service providers and select the ones that can best deliver high-quality designs within a budget and timeline.
But is that all to consider? In this article, we help provide you with some insights between hiring in-house, and an agency, and even propose a concept that might give you the best out of all the options.
Hiring in-house graphic designers in Sydney, Australia
This section covers the pros and cons of in-house hiring graphic designers. Image: Unsplash
One of the traditional notions when upscaling a business is to hire in-house as the business grows. Hiring in-house graphic designers means going through a recruitment process of filtering resumes, interviews and training an employee which you will pay compensation monthly.
The designer will be part of an existing in-house design team within your in-person, virtual or hybrid work environment. An in-house teammate can be hired full-time, part-time or even contractually.
Although there are some merits to hiring an in-house designer, there are also some drawbacks to consider. Let’s take a deep dive so you can best plan the proper resources to incorporate into your operations.
Advantages of hiring in-house
- Hiring an in-house team can help protect your company's intellectual property and confidential information. When you hire employees to work on your behalf, you have more control over who has access to your sensitive data. You can also train your employees on your company's security policies and procedures to help ensure that they are handling your data responsibly.
- Having a dedicated employee can provide assurances such as timely deliveries and minimal margin of error as the in-house designer does not have a split focus.
- In-house designers are immersed in the company’s culture to deliver consistent and aligned visual designs. The more familiar they are with the brand and business goals, their design output will be a reflection of that.
- While there are recruitment, payroll and training costs to consider, if an in-house employee works long-term, this can be cost-effective for the business.
- When a graphic designer is working exclusively for your company, this also means having a dedicated resource to address any design revisions in record time and without additional costs.
- One of the most important reasons to consider hiring in-house is the collaboration between other teams in your organisation and your in-house design team. A cohesive team that has a successful cross-team collaboration that brings together sales, marketing and product development can help streamline your processes and create impactful results.
Disadvantages of hiring in-house
- While hiring in-house is an exciting prospect, at the end of the day, if you are just planning to hire one human being for the job, then it’s inevitable for them to face burnout, which may lead to high turnover rates. According to Truelist Graphic Design Statistics in 2023, there is a global epidemic of graphic design turnover rate of 24% of designers in their first year.
- The probability of employee burnout and quiet quitting is higher if you have a small graphic design team. When the workload is higher (that’s good news for us but not for your team), this can cause stress to your team. This leads to a variety of issues for your company, namely the unjustified ROI (return on investment) as you spend thousands in hiring costs and yet the employee barely stays long enough to break even.
- An issue that may arise with hiring in-house is the creative block as they are too focused on all that is happening with the organisation that they aren’t inspired to create unique designs to help elevate your company to the next level.
- Back to ROIs: If you hire in-house but are experiencing a lack of requests for visual designs, this can result in overhead wastages that could be better allocated for other scaling strategies within your organisation.
Hiring agencies in Sydney, Australia
Agencies can be too costly to partner with, especially if you’re a startup. Image: Unsplash
International organisations often outsource their design needs to agencies to access a wider pool of talent, specialised expertise, and cost-effective solutions. These agencies act as intermediaries, connecting businesses with skilled designers with the expertise required to meet the organisation's specific needs and objectives.
There are three primary methods for collaborating with design agencies:
- On-contract basis: This approach involves entering into a contract with the agency, typically with a monthly retainer fee. This arrangement provides ongoing access to the agency's design resources and expertise for a predictable monthly cost.
- Project basis: When specific design projects arise, organisations can engage an agency on a project-by-project basis. This method offers flexibility and allows organisations to tailor their design needs to each project's scope and requirements.
- Project tender: For larger or more complex projects, organisations may issue a project tender, inviting multiple agencies to submit proposals outlining their approach, methodology, and pricing. This competitive process helps organisations select the most suitable agency for their needs.
Advantages of hiring agencies
- Agencies have access to a vast network of designers with diverse expertise, skills, and experience. This allows organisations to tap into a broader range of talent than they could maintain in-house.
- Agencies often specialise in specific areas of design, such as branding, web design, user experience (UX) design, and graphic design. This specialisation ensures that organisations can access in-depth knowledge and experience tailored to their specific design requirements.
- Agencies provide project management expertise, overseeing the planning, execution, and completion of design projects. This frees up valuable time for organisations to focus on their core operations.
- While the initial cost of hiring a design agency may seem higher than employing an in-house designer, agencies can often provide cost savings in the long run. This is because they can handle multiple projects simultaneously, leveraging their economies of scale and expertise to deliver high-quality results efficiently.
- As an organisation's design needs evolve, agencies can adapt and scale their services accordingly. This flexibility ensures that organisations have access to the design support they need throughout their growth journey.
Considerations before hiring a design agency
- Agency experience and portfolio: Review the agency's experience and portfolio to assess their expertise in the specific area of design needed.
- Communication and collaboration: Ensure that the agency's communication style and collaborative approach align with the organisation's culture and workflow.
- Understanding of business goals: Evaluate the agency's ability to understand and translate the organisation's business goals into effective design solutions.
- Project management capabilities: Assess the agency's project management processes and track record of delivering projects on time and within budget.
- Cost transparency and value proposition: Compare the agency's pricing structure and value proposition with other potential partners to ensure a sound investment.
But why settle, when you can have it all?
These are some of the benefits of partnering with Brandripe. Image: Brandripe
As you can see, it can be too much of a hassle for you to consider too many things when all you need is good designs in a timely manner.
That’s why Brandripe exists.
As industry veterans, we have seen first-hand the cost for businesses that take up these options and end up disappointed and a big bill weighing on them. Brandripe is an on-demand graphic design subscription that costs phenomenally lower than any of the options we have described here.
Think about it, the average salary in Sydney for a graphic designer (not yet considering the recruitment cost & training cost), is AUD 55,000 per year which comes to close to AUD 4,500 monthly.
On the other hand, hiring an agency for your design needs is broken down by deliverables starting from AUD 500 for a logo design.
Here is the breakdown of the average costs for different types of graphic design services:
Logo design: $500-$1,500
Website design: $2,000-$10,000
Brochure design: $500-$1,500
Social media graphics: $50-$100 per post
Illustration: $100-$200 per hour
These prices exclude revision costs, ownership and other hidden costs that might creep up in your monthly invoice.
Brandripe plans are simple yet packed with all the options that are important for growing businesses such as unlimited requests, unlimited revision and ownership rights at a mere AUD699 monthly. Plus, you can select the different subscription models based on your business needs!
Now isn’t it just a smart business choice to go with the transparent model that gives you everything you need for a fraction of the cost of hiring in-house?
If you think so, let’s set up a Demo Call so we can show you what we can accomplish for you!
