Should You Employ A Web Designer Or Outsource The Design Work?

One of the most daunting tasks on the list of a business owner or an entrepreneur is about employing a web designer. Everyone wants to know whether it is better to employ a designer on a full-time basis or to outsource the work to a free-lancer or a design studio. There are pros and cons for each of the options and we always want the most cost effective and long-term option for ourselves. This article explains what are the different aspects which you umust consider before employing a designer or outsourcing your design work.

Fresh ideas

When employing a designer to do your work "in-house" you will need to constantly pump him / her with fresh ideas and new perspectives to doing the work. This may not always work out the way you expect it, as an experienced designer may be too rigid to change his / her ways and a novice designer maybe totally overwhelmed with the ideas. After a certain point of time, an employee will get saturated and will stop being able to produce new ides without external influence. He will be unable to see things from an outsider's perspective. This can usually be overcome by getting in multiple people with different levels of expertise, so that they can bounce ideas off each other and also share their knowledge and perspective. If this turns out to be very expensive without yielding the necessary result, you may be better off outsourcing the work to an external ad agency or design firm.

Cost of Resources

You may also want to consider the cost of resources that you are going to bare when employing a designer. This would include all overheads like electricity, telephone, internet access, hardware and software, salary, benefits and even office space. If you cannot afford the overheads or feel that it is better not to bear that headache, then hiring an external agency would be the best option. Do remember that fixed expenses can eat into your business, especially if the designer is not doing productive work or his work is not generating enough sales to sustain his requirement.

Security and Confidentiality

The downside of hiring an external agency to do your work is that you have very little control of the information that you share with them. As their employees leave or change profiles, your information is also going to be passed on and will change hands many times. If you have some confidential information or are concerned about security, it is best to employ a designer and make him do work in house.

Training

Keeping the minds and spirits of your design team sharp is an important aspect of employing them. Sending them for regular refresher courses or trade fairs or event workshops in their subject or a related subject will motivate them and will also keep their knowledge fresh. In house designers usually stagnate after a point of time and are unable to cope up with industry standards, since there may be little or no pressure from within the organization. Since there is not much expectation of anything new or innovative, the designer will also not strive to learn new things or stay abreast of the latest technological advancements.

Scaling Up

When you want to increase the scale of your online operations, it may not be very easy doing it with an in-house team. Recruiting and training up your new recruits may be an uphill task, which you may not have enough time for when you business is booming. A design agency or development team is usually ready for such overnight scale-ups, especially when they have a large team and are well-reputed. This will relieve you of the headache of hiring, training and even building up trust with a new team.