The Value Of Investing In A Professional Designer

Regardless of your specialty, the one thing that creatives will never stop hearing is “I can find someone online for half the price, why are you charging so much?” 

With Upwork, Fiverr, Freelancer, and all of the other platforms out there, you can find someone to do anything for you at almost any price you are willing to pay (or not pay). Sounds great, right? Not always. 

These platforms seem great in theory for businesses that are looking to cut costs by outsourcing to overseas freelancers, but with the extremely low prices, it makes you question quality. If you are looking for a quick design for an internal business presentation, then sure, a quick and cheap solution may be fine, but for a logo or something at the core of your business, you should never skip on the investment for a great designer. Branding means a lot more to your business, your customers and the value of your products than many people know. 

I’m not saying there are no great designers on Upwork and other freelancing platforms because that’s not true – some of the best designers utilise these websites to find clients. The difference is when businesses spend $50 for a logo on these platforms because it looks like a great deal, without realising that the design lacks the quality that comes from a professional designer. This is just the reality – a professional designer won’t charge you $50 for a logo. These things cost a lot more time and money than $50 is worth to business. 

Why Should You Invest In A Professional Designer Though?

• A professional designer will cater the design to your target audience, while tying it all together to meet your brand image and desired direction. A logo is more than just a random image, icon or text.
• A professional designer will prepare the final files for you in a format that is ready for application. Whether it is print files, digital files, or a package of all files you could ever need, a professional designer will provide these for you.
• A professional designer will create something unique to your business to compete in your industry.
• A professional designer will take pride in their work and will want you to be happy with the work, so quality is at the forefront. You pay for what you get, so a low-cost project will typically have a designer that doesn’t care too much about the quality of their work. They just want to get it done in as little time as possible to make the most of their low-cost project.
• If it’s an option, you should always try to support your local economy. Investing in the Australian creative industry should always be the first choice before outsourcing to an overseas freelancer to save costs.
• Think of the value of your business and the expected business improvement from your professional design needs. Are you branding a business that needs a facelift to gain new customers and expand operations? Well consider how much of an increase in sales that you will get, then you will instantly see the value in the investment for your brand.
• This one is obvious, but design is visual – consumers will always see it, so why would you skimp on the investment of that design? It’s not something you can hide away and it’s often the first thing a customer will see. You may have a great quality product but low quality collateral to promote that product, so how is anybody going to take that high quality product seriously? It’s likely that the product will never even get into their hands if the collateral doesn’t provide a positive first impression.

I could go on and add many more points to this list, but I think you get the idea. Quality means a lot when it comes to design work, and although cheap work from an overseas freelancer may sound like a great idea, you’re likely missing out on all of the quality that is going to lead to actual value for your business’ future growth. 

If you would like to discuss your graphic design or brand development needs, we would be happy to start the conversion around how we can assist. Please feel free to get in touch today.