Regardless of the company size, outsourcing services seems to be the way to go. It’s a practice wherein tasks commonly done in-house is performed by a third party. You can outsource various services including back office, manufacturing, and customer support. And in recent years, there are several companies that outsource design requirements. 

If you are still hesitant to practice outsourcing, this post will help you understand the concept further. We have high hopes that you will appreciate it and at the same time, consider it as a viable option for your brand.

Just to give you an idea, even a brand as established as Krispy Kreme outsources some of their design needs to other companies. That’s how effective this business model is. 

 

Why You Should Outsource Design 

It was 1989 when outsourcing was recognized as a business strategy. And during the 90s more and more companies and corporations started to practice it considering its benefits. Enterprises that require designs would rather have experts do the heavy lifting. 

Probably you are still trying to figure out the other benefits of outsourcing design requirements, and we took the liberty of listing it down below:

 

Helps You Grow Your Business Faster 

First of all, the main reason why you have to outsource design is that it allows you to focus on your core business. Let’s just say you are selling custom t-shirts. Instead of conceptualizing new designs, you can focus more on building your brand. You can reach out to potential customers, build partnerships, or tap influencers that can widen your market. 

For the academe and other educational institutions, you can start organizing events without worrying about your visuals. In turn, you can get more students interested to enroll in your programs.  

SUNY at Buffalo uses a third-party design team to work on their newsletter. And according to their reviews, they are very much pleased with the output. 

 

Gives You More Time

As an entrepreneur, we understand that it takes a lot of effort and time to build a new business. But that doesn’t mean you should not reward yourself with little luxuries. We all deserve it. These small breaks are also beneficial so you can have the energy to work on more responsibilities.

Spend your spare time pampering yourself, doing what you love, or with your families and friends. Remember, our lives are not just about business and making money. You also have to create balance, and outsourcing services is one way to do it.  

 

Fresh and Unique Ideas are Generated 

Admit it or not our ideas are limited to our experience and expertise. And with the constant design requirements your business needs, you might run out of creative juices. In addition, you might be biased on your own design preferences, forgetting that graphic design for business should be targeted for your market. 

But with outsourcing designs, you can avoid these. Professional designers have years of experience in different industries. This helps them create brand new design ideas suitable for your brand. 

 

Guaranteed Quality Design Output

If you must know, a bad design can affect your brand’s overall image. When we say bad, it includes the color, layout, fonts, texture, whitespace, icons, images, and all elements included. Let’s not forget the size of your graphic design which should match depending on the channel’s requirement. 

For example, you cannot use the specifications intended for social media images if you plan to put it up in a billboard. Chances are, it will be pixelated. This is just one thing and there are still a lot of mishaps that could happen if you don’t entrust the work to a professional.  

Graphic design is a technical skill on its own. It’s not just about randomly putting elements together. 

The Film Festival of Columbus also asked a third-party design team to work on their event collaterals. This task would be otherwise daunting for a non-expert. 

 

Avoid Tedious Hiring Process

Ask any HR manager and they will say that the hiring process is not exactly a walk in the park. There are a lot of tasks involved, documents to fulfill, and training sessions to be conducted. Again, imagine the time and effort you need to exert to hire one designer. It is more logical to just outsource the service and let the design team worry about these administrative tasks.    

 

Cost-Effective

And lastly, outsourcing can save you a lot of bucks. According to studies, you can save as much as 70% on labor costs. When you hire an in-house designer, you will have to pay them the same amount regardless of the work required – this excludes the government-mandated benefits. For start-up companies, this could eat up a chunk from your operating expenses. And then you also need to allocate funds for design tools and software, which by the way are not cheap. 

Least to say, building your in-house team is like starting a business from scratch. It is not ideal if designing is not a core part of your operations. 

 

Price Comparison

Speaking of cost, here’s a quick comparison of the cost implication when hiring an in-house designer, a freelancer, or an online design team. Below is a table wherein we estimated the rate per hour for each option.  

In- house designer	Freelancer	Online Design Services (based on Design Doctor’s Enterprise Package)
$24/ hour	$30/ hour	$6/hour

On average, an in-house designer earns around $24 per hour regardless if you have on-going projects or not. 

Freelancers might seem more expensive but outsourcing designs to them means you only pay for the hours they work. Just be careful when selecting a freelancer and make sure you have a contract in place to protect both parties. 

Lastly, we have online design services that offer unlimited graphic designs for a fixed fee every month. In this specific example, we have Design Doctor and used their highest tiered package for comparison. Imagine only spending $6/ hour! You can request as many designs as you want and get quality output every single time. 

 

When to Outsource Designs

Looking at all the benefits, you should outsource design whenever you have requirements. Given that we are in the digital age and most businesses have an online presence, it is a must that you have a website,  regular images for social media posting, and other marketing materials that will keep your audience engaged and interested. 

Likewise, marketing agencies can also benefit from outsourcing their design needs. By doing so, you can accept more projects and be able to manage them properly. 

 

Final Thoughts 

We see no reason why you will not consider outsourcing your design needs. It is your solution whether you want to be efficient, save cost, or get designs that are professionally made. However, you must be careful in choosing the right team or freelancers. Not having high standards could mean that your project will end up unsatisfactory, unfinished, or undelivered. Thus, you must only trust your design projects to a credible service provider such as the Design Doctor. 

The Design Doctor team has years of experience working with different industries. We make sure that our designers are highly-skilled and trained to do the job. And as we’ve mentioned, we offer unlimited design projects for a fixed amount every month. You can check out our portfolio and see our diverse styles that fit all brand types.