Graphic Design Outsourcing

Graphic Design
Graphic Design Outsourcing
Article by Jelena Relić
Last Updated: March 22, 2023

Outsourcing is in trend today. Outsourcing makes it possible for organizations and brands to efficiently serve their clients by delegating the tasks to people and agencies that can do them better.

It is not just the big companies and enterprises that outsource. Small and medium-sized businesses, including non-profits, also choose outsourcing, often saving them considerable costs.

Graphic design outsourcing can be an easy and effective way of achieving a goal for most businesses.

This article will discuss what graphic design outsourcing is; its need and importance and the outsourcing options that brands can consider.

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What Is Graphic Design Outsourcing?

Graphic design is a crucial and integral part of the business. From marketing design to branding, creating professional visual elements help in building the brand image while also advertising the business and profits.

Outsourcing graphic design can turn out to be one of best taken business decisions. Organizations often consider hiring full-time graphic designers to work in-house. This can be a sound investment but this can also involve administrative costs, which drains your budget.

Also, outsourcing can be a great option if you don’t need designs done on a regular basis. Let us now look into the importance of graphic design in detail along with the considerations in choosing a design service-provider.

Reasons Why Graphic Design Outsourcing is Important

There is no doubt that outsourcing graphic design is of utmost importance. Here are some of the solid reasons explained for you to make an informed decision.

Leverage Specialization

You might be a great digital marketing agency with an excellent reputation. But, that does not mean that you can understand all of your clients’ businesses with equal efficiency.

By choosing to outsource graphic design services from a designer who focuses on a specific niche, you can get a finished product that accurately suite your client’s needs. Niches are not just particular industries.

For instance, you need to work with a graphic designer with a background in CAD if you are working with clients who demand technical-looking graphics.

In most cases, it is specialization and not time that drives an organization to outsource its graphic design. In-house designers often lack the experience of working on different types of graphic design for different industries. So, instead of settling with something that is good enough, it is best to go for someone who can knock it out of the park.

Go Out of the Box

Outsourcing is a proven way of enabling your company to expand into a new niche and offer services outside the typical ones. Let’s understand with an example. Say, you have experience in web design but you want to venture into print work.

Working with an outsourcing freelancer or agency with a strong background in print design can help you bridge the gap. With a fruitful partnership, you will be able to deliver work that exceeds the client’s expectations.

Outsourcing your graphic design work is also an effective way of working with fresh, innovative ideas. Bringing in a service-provider implies bringing in outside creativity for inspiration too. They will approach your project from a different perspective and bring new concepts to your company’s designs.

When it comes to finding such outsourcing experts, one good way is to utilize the platforms where you can hold a design contest. Freelancers will enter this contest and you can choose whose work will best fit your design requirements. With these platforms, you also have the option to curate the bids and make choices based on their drafts.

Adapt to the Varying Workflow Needs

Any company or agency has both busy times and slow times. Sometimes, the work inflow is more and it becomes difficult to manage with your in-house team. Overburdening your employees with work will make them compromise the quality and this is not desirable, especially for creative work like graphic design.

With outsourcing, you can slow down or speed up the process of work entirely based on your needs. You can increase the number of freelancers or the hours of work as determined in your contract with an agency. This is easier than going through the long and elaborate process of hiring and on boarding new employees just as the work load increases.

Sometimes, there might be some less glamorous design tasks that outsourcing providers can deal with extreme efficiency.

Considerations to Make While Outsourcing Graphic Design

Graphic design outsourcing is a great option but, you need to consider your requirements before hiring a freelance graphic designer or an agency. Following is a list of the points to keep in mind:

The foremost point is the graphic design budget. You need to determine what and how much you can afford to spend on graphic design and whether this cost is affordable.

The next point of consideration is who is going to manage the graphic designer, whether there is an in-house team or person to look into the matter.

You also need to consider whether you are going to tell your clients that the designs have been outsourced. There is no right way of doing things and you might decide on what suits your profile the best. But it is important to ensure that the freelancer or agency you are working with is comfortable with white label designs. Setting up an NDA with them is also a must.

How you plan to have the designer work is also a matter of consideration. Do they work remotely or work from your office? You can make the relationship purely remote if both parties are comfortable with the set up.

With outsourcing, conflicts and misunderstandings can be rather common. So, it is important to have an idea of how you will handle conflicts with the designer, if and when they arise?

That is why; it is important to have a contract or agreement in place which clearly states all the criteria of work. This enforceable contract should be drafted and checked by an experienced employment lawyer. You need to fully understand the difference between an independent contractor and an employee and what they mean for you, before you outsource the graphic design work.

Which Outsourcing Graphic Design Options to Choose?

As far as the outsourcing options are concerned, you have quite a few choices. It is unlikely that you will ever need just one design. But, adding some outside help to your in-house team is going to deliver the best-possible ratio of quality and affordability.

Rather than expecting polished designs right away, it is ideal to take it as a brainstorming step first. However, for businesses requiring designs regularly for various platforms and purposes, the sensible option is hiring a full-time graphic design service provider.

An agency will offer you with unlimited services, which will often include researching the web design trends in order to come up with unique, innovative designs for your brand.

If you have a small local business, hiring a single designer is also a feasible option. He/she will be a bit more expensive and might not have the required skills for all the different types of projects. But the good part is that they will have an in-depth understanding of your brand.

Finally, if you want to handle a really big project, like a complete website design or a global rebranding, then hiring a proper agency is worth the investment.

Graphic Design Outsourcing Takeaway

Now that you are aware of everything related to graphic design outsourcing, it is time to reconsider your design needs and choose a provider that can best serve your purpose.

Make sure that the agency you choose is aware of the best graphic design software and tools and that the design experts are able to understand your requirements perfectly.

Keep all the other factors such as budget, types of designs and so on in mind so as to leverage the most out of the graphic design outsourcing solutions.

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