Who to contact for design: freelancers, design studios, branding agencies

How to choose a performer on the budget and tasks? We tell the difference between freelancers, design studios and branding agencies.

Freelancers

They work individually and often do everything at once - draw logos and corporate identity, impose sites, and do not specialize in one thing. Usually just follow the instructions of the customer - listen to the wishes and make the design.

Most often, freelancers design is cheaper than studios. But there are exceptions - some professional designers with extensive experience are asking for the order about the same as the studio. Depending on your budget and needs, you can contact a newcomer or a professional freelancer.
')
Newbies

They know how to use the programs and freelance to build their portfolio. They take a little for work, but only simple tasks are capable of high quality.

We are ready for a flexible schedule, but the timing of the work, due to lack of experience, for beginners varies from order to order.

Usually they work without a formal contract, so it’s impossible to submit financial statements when working with a newcomer. If the freelancer does not do the job on time or if you are not satisfied with the result, you are unlikely to return the money.

In which case it fits: if you need to make a clear and simple design work with a small budget.

Budget: 0-5000 rubles.

It is easiest to search for newbies through freelancing exchanges. For example, Illustrators , FL.ru and Weblancer .

+

• low price
• flexible schedule

-

• little experience
• no guarantee
• may be busy
• no clear dates and prices

Designer Andrey Nasuto

Professionals

Designers with extensive experience who decided to work for themselves and switched to freelancing. Develop a full-fledged design - logo, corporate identity or website.

Usually professionals work well in one direction. Therefore, if a designer who specializes in character creation has booked lettering, he may not cope with this task as well as you would like.

In this sense, such freelancers lose to studios, where several designers work at once who specialize in different directions.

Many professional freelancers - IP, work under the contract. The schedule of such designers is flexible, but they are more often newbies are busy, because they have more customers, and orders are more complicated. Therefore, the timing of the work will have to be negotiated in person.

In fact, such designers work as mini-studios. The main difference from the studio is that only one person works on the project, so the result depends on his individual vision, which may not coincide with yours.

In which case it fits: if you need to make a design with high quality, but cheaper than in a studio.

Budget: 20000-30000 rubles.


designer Yuri Akulin

+

• low price compared to design studios
• legal guarantees
• reputation

-

• experience in one particular direction
• lack of a side view
• may be busy
• may be a good designer, but not good at managing tasks

Design studios

Full-fledged studios where several professional designers work at once. The cost of services they have is higher than that of freelancers. The design studio answers clients' questions only during working hours, unlike freelancers who can write on Saturday night.

Depending on the specialization, studios can only be engaged in design or provide other services - for example, the development of mobile applications or printing printing.

Studios without office

Studios that either have no office or only managers work there, and designers perform orders remotely.

Typically, these studios combine several freelancers and transfer orders to them. Some do not even cooperate with the designers all the time, but upload orders to the freelance exchanges. At the expense of studio mark-up, the work is more expensive than if you ordered it directly from a freelancer.

The specialization of such a studio can be quite broad, if it works with different freelancers - designers, website developers, and copywriters.

In which case it works: if you need to quickly solve several tasks at once with a small or medium budget, and you don’t have time to look for freelancers on the exchanges.

Budget: 10 000-80 000 rubles.

+

• the ability to perform multiple tasks
• legal guarantees
• communication with managers, not with designers
• in such a studio there may be an art director who controls the quality

-

• quality as a freelancer, but the price is higher

Studio advertising agencies or printing studios

Studios of a wide profile which not only do design, but also print booklets, packaging and another.

Design in such studios is not necessarily the main activity, so designers with little experience or low qualification can work there.

To whom will suit: to projects with the average budget for which the design is not so much important as the solution of several turnkey problems.

Budget: 20 000-100 000 rubles.

+

• the ability to perform multiple tasks
• legal guarantees
• work package

-

• design is not the main profile

studio typography Aedus Design

Profile Design Studios

They specialize only in design, often even in certain areas.

These studios value their name, so they closely monitor the quality of work and the qualifications of designers. Several designers can work on one project at a time, so the development takes more time than from freelancers - from two weeks to six months. Intermediate design options are viewed by an art director.

The cost of design from profile studios is higher than that of printing studios or studios without an office, but the quality of the product is better. The more famous the studio, the more its work will cost.

In which case it fits: if you need a high-quality design and there is enough time and money for its development.

Budget: 50 000 - 500 000 rubles.

+

• quality design
• several designers are working on the product
• legal guarantees
• reputation

-

• design development can be time consuming

corporate identity for heisenbug

Branding Agencies

They develop not only design, but also marketing strategies. Conduct research, analyze market trends. Can create a product promotion strategy or help rebrand.

Professional designers and other marketing experts, PR specialists, business analysts, consultants work together in branding agencies.

As a rule, such agencies do not do separate design, without analyzing the brand, and their work costs more than the services of design studios.

In which case it fits: if you have a large budget and you need not only design, but also a full-fledged strategy of brand development and promotion.

Budget: from 100,000 rubles.

+

• quality design
• opportunity to develop a marketing strategy
• legal guarantees
• reputation

-

• high price
• usually you can not order only the design

branding agency Plenum

Table to quickly understand who will suit you:



Good luck to you and your projects!

The text was prepared by Alexandra Urman.