If you’re debating between hiring a graphic/web design freelancer vs. hiring a graphic web/design agency, you’re not alone. Is one better than the other? Is one more reliable or dependable? What about the thing everyone dreads most about any service — the dreaded invoice. Imagine it with us (or maybe you don’t have to imagine. Maybe this is your life right now). You’re starting a business. Costs are adding up. You’re trying to decide where you can save, downsize, or consolidate your (possibly limited) resources. You’ve already come to the realization that doing your own graphic/web design isn’t a good fit for you. You need to hire a professional. But who do you hire? The Complexities of Each Project Before deciding between a graphic/web design freelancer and a graphic/web design agency, you need to understand what goes into each type of project. Your average web design project requires: Project Management

You’ll see a ton of marketing touting the benefits of building your own websites vs. hiring a professional website designer. These marketing campaigns are brilliant in pointing out all the reasons to build your own website using a website builder such as Wix or Squarespace. Just based on the ads, even we, a professional design agency, can see the draw for consumers. However, these ads also studiously leave out the cons to not having a professional do it. Not only that, but even when doing your research on the site or speaking to a sales rep, they still won’t tell you the cons so you jump into it without knowing all of the nitty gritty details. A long, uncomfortable consultation with a client is actually what prompted this blog post, in hopes of improving the informed consent of individuals before they put all of their eggs into the Wix basket.

You may find yourself asking: can you use Canva for business? Maybe you’re pursuing a fresh business idea but costs keep adding up and you’re trying to save money. Or maybe you just have faith in your design abilities (or a lack of faith in anyone else’s to bring your dream to life). It could just be that you don’t see the value in hiring a designer if you could “just do it yourself.” Here’s the thing. You could use Canva. No one is stopping you. If you’re talented, no one may even notice, especially if you’re largely social media or internet based. If you’re using Canva for social media posts or it’s just not in the budget to spend $75/hr* for a flier, more power to you. However, we have several reasons why we don’t suggest Canva for business needs such as logos, T-shirt designs, business cards or letterhead,

We could honestly spend hours discussing whether hiring a graphic designer is worth it. In fact, we will probably have several blog posts exploring the different facets of this question in the future. As graphic/web designers with formal education, plenty of self-taught skills, and over 30 years combined experience, we’re naturally inclined to say that of course we’re worth ‘it.’ But whether or not anything is ‘worth it’ to someone else is somewhat subjective. What is ‘It?’ First, you need to figure out what exactly you’re asking. What is ‘it?’ When you ask if hiring a graphic designer is worth it, do you mean worth the money? Are you asking if it’s worth the time investment? Are you asking if it’s necessary, or if graphic designers really have any expertise to offer? (Spoiler: a professionally done brand produced by a graphic designer is objectively better than one done in Canva.