Design Studio vs Freelancer and Full Timer: Your Choice?

When embarking on a significant project, you’ll almost certainly want some outside aid; it appears to be a simple option between three superheroes: Freelancer, Full-Timer, or Design Studio.

They do differ so dramatically that it is easy to tell one from the rest. They all differ in size and skill. As a result, if you’re searching for help with your next big game changer, consider the following:

• What is the budget for your project?
• How big is your project?
• Do you anticipate a lot of attention and contact?
• Are your project’s scope and overarching strategy defined?

All of these urgent questions, among others, will have a direct influence on which would be most helpful to you. But before I even begin to tell you which one is ideal, let’s take a look at these three major drivers, each of which is superbly developed to assist (super)power your project.

The Freelancer

This person is really talented. Their specialty might be narrow, and they may thrive at it. Competencies are what make freelancers popular. This is particularly true for web design, copywriting, and graphic design.

Because they are focused on their art, they may perceive everything through the lens of their endeavor rather than the larger picture. This is not a terrible thing, but it is something to consider. You can hire them on a project-by-project basis.

Advantages

Freelancers are often less expensive, with the potential of negotiating. Depending on the specialty, there may be a lot of competition among freelancers vying for the same assignment, so you may have some negotiating power.

This means lower overhead costs. While some bigger organizations may charge for unanticipated expenditures, hiring a freelancer eliminates the responsibilities of health insurance, mandatory payments to pension schemes, and the like.

Contact is also quick and straightforward. Dealing with a specific problem entails making a direct call, and identifying, determining, and resolving problems without the use of middlemen. Projects may be completed with breakneck speed in this circumstance.

Freelancers are extremely dedicated. When all is said and done, they require your income. As a result, reputable freelancers are motivated to finish work on time. And, unless otherwise agreed in pre-project conversations, they should have no restrictions on working hours.

Disadvantages

An excellent freelancer can and will be dependable. However, others may not be, which may be discouraging. Without adequate authentication, freelancers might become unexpectedly ‘unavailable.’ They might be more difficult to locate because they do not have a fixed company location.

Putting the destiny of a critical project area in the hands of a single individual can be dangerous, especially if you can’t check them. But then, why aren’t you doing it? Always check comments and client evaluations before hiring a freelancer.

Additionally, freelancers may lack knowledge of certain companies and sectors. Any such person who is well-versed in automotive, medical imaging, data processing, and zoology would be a rare find.

However, they are unlikely to exist. In fact, they may need to understand everything they can about your brand and history. As a result, you should allow plenty of time before expecting good outcomes.

The Full-Timer

A Full-Time UI UX Designer is responsible for all elements of the creation of a product, including design, usability, function, and even branding and marketing.

Their job encompasses the complete end-to-end journey of a user’s contact with a product, as well as the identification of new potential for the product and business.

Given their broad scope, it’s not surprising that UI UX Designers do a wide range of work, depending on the company and project.

Advantages

When you engage an in-house UI UX designer, they will exclusively work on your product and application on a daily basis. This will familiarise them with your product, audience, and end customers.

Although a freelancer or agency may accomplish the same thing, an in-house designer is more likely to become acquainted with your specifications.

Because UI UX design is a long-term process, you must make modifications and offer improvements on a regular basis. Hiring an in-house designer provides you with long-term knowledge to work on your UI UX as needed.

Disadvantages

One disadvantage of employing an in-house UI UX designer is their restricted skill set. Even though they excel at user research, or creating landing pages, however, making a copy for landing pages is not their strong suit — because there might be some people who may have the best of both worlds.

Alternatively, they may be skilled at interactive design and prototyping but not at content planning.

In cases like this, you have a void in your squad, which puts you in a difficult position.

Hiring an in-house employee always includes some sort of accountability. Employees, at the very least, rely on their employers for a steady source of income.

As a result, you should only consider employing a dedicated designer if you are certain of a consistent workload.

The Design Studio

Consider a group of brilliant people working together to achieve a certain objective. This is one approach to describing a UI UX Design Studio. They are specialized in branding, site design, and achieving SEO utopia.

These self-starters commit to a fundamental ability. However, because they deal in specifics, they frequently subcontract some of the more minor project parts, such as photography. This is the preferred solution for small businesses. Hire them on a per-project or retainer basis.

Advantages

What could be more powerful than a group of committed individuals working together to fill a void? Design firms just thrive at delivering on their core skill.

• Do you want to know what true SEO is?
• Do you need the finest color schemes for your new product launch? A studio is an excellent choice.
• Do you want good web design? You know who to contact.

Design studios are extremely dedicated and will go to great lengths to guarantee that your project succeeds. Because of the convergence of forces, specific niches are now in the hands of motivated specialists.

You could expect it to be more expensive with more individuals. That makes sense, although studios do provide services for small projects at reasonable pricing.

How simple is it to verify a studio? Simple. A large name is no longer the sole qualification of a group of professionals in this day and age. Look into any review site or newspaper for information on the best studios. As a general rule, if they want you to hire them, they should be easy to locate.

Disadvantages

Despite their brilliance, they may fall short in other areas. Studios excel at providing certain expertise. However, once they leave their core skill, they might need to consult with an outside expert. Yes, they can be concerned about locating the individual — no issue, right?

But who or what might that be? When that person fails to demonstrate their worth, the sourcing process may take a bit longer. Smaller studios may not have as many resources, but with time and patience, they will locate the ideal contractor.

The Perfect Match for your Business?

Budget will always be an issue. However, it is not always about the money. Sometimes your ideal mate has a degree of competence that matches yours.

Your criteria may be flexible, which means you’re willing to hire a professional copywriter on a freelance basis. For any SEO optimization project, you may need all hands on deck at times.

In other circumstances, you’re going all-in on a tantalizing campaign that can only be accomplished with a huge in-house staff.

There are three pathways to choose from, each going to an unfamiliar town.

Freelancers’ work quality differs from one freelancer to another. You probably need to manage them from your end. They may prove to be unreliable because of little experience, or past work with local clients.

And given how they’re ‘freelancers’, you need to hire, filter and interview new freelancers for every project, where unexpected prices can be difficult to deal with.

A full-time designer is inspired only by the commitment and cannot be replaced easily, they require hand-holding and continued mentorship. The hiring process can take months, and they usually only have experience of working in 1–2 industries only.

In recent years, a few innovative design studios have broken preconceptions of just ‘advantages’ or ‘disadvantages’ and offer more than you can imagine for your buck. Do you want to know who they are? Allow me to assist you.

Confetti Design Studio

Confetti is a UI/UX design studio based In Gurgaon, India.

What sets them apart from the crowd of emerging design studios in India is that they’ve been helping businesses and startups with the philosophy of “Every idea can be further improved”.

Confetti is also the exact opposite of your full-time/freelance/contract-based studio and they take pride in not doing only what they are told but in hand-holding and walking through businesses and budding startups in designing user-friendly mobile apps, websites, and branding solutions.

They focus on:

• Knowing that UX is not (only) UI
• Understanding the audience
• Testing with real users
• Designing even for the shortest of attention spans
• Making sure our process is set in stone
• Keeping things simple and consistent
• Preventing errors more than fixing them

According to Confetti, they understand that most startups fail because they try to solve a problem that does not need solving. And they also understand that creating an excellent product is essentially difficult.

Their Highlights?

• Helped create products in the entertainment, blockchain, and fintech area and garnered more than 10 million+ app downloads
• Even better is when they helped different early-stage startups like TrueFan, Cryptograd, Unlisted Assets, Chipn raise more than 15 million in funding.
• And of course, this means that they’ve been featured in major publications such as Forbes, Markets Insider, Yahoo!, Yourstory, Financial Express, and Dailyhunt.

More on Portfolio?

• TrueFan’s UI/UX Design Get Featured, Read’n, PetFriends, mycaptain, Chipn, Unlisted, and Cryptograd are a few examples.
• Brand identity work for Cryptograd, Killjoy, Strapp, and The Gamble Kingdom, as well as social media design for The Gamble Kingdom.
• Special recognition for developing an AR idea for Rap Duo Seedhe Maut’s new album, as well as a smartwatch app UI UX design concept for Bumble.

Have a look at their work here.

YellowChalk

Yellowchalk is a well-regarded boutique UI/UX design firm with offices in Bangalore and Singapore.

With various satisfied clients worldwide, the firm has worked with leading multinationals such as EY, Intel, Changi Airport, Titan, Vidal Health, and others, as well as significant start-ups such as Goalwise, HackerRank, Appachhi, and many others.

Yellowchalk’s competence includes:

• User Interface (UI)
• User Experience (UX)
• Brand Identity Design
• Development.

The firm believes in being seamless extensions of creative minds in order to produce effective, responsive, and dynamic solutions that deliver a world-class experience to its consumers.

Check out some of their work right here.

Userfacet

Userfacet is a UX design and digital product engineering partner for various niche innovative companies and has delivered over 200 business applications.

They believe in a three-in-a-box operating model which seamlessly binds UX strategists, designers, and product architects to deliver world-class experiences.

The firm is based in Bangalore and offers services such as:

• UX Strategy
• Enterprise UX
• User Experience
• Digital Product Engineering
• Innovation Lab
• Experimental Marketing Applications

Check their work right here.