HIRE A CREATIVE DESIGNER

Creativity sells. Consider a print ad for Heinz featuring a bottle made from fresh tomatoes, or KFC’s empty box, implying that the food is so tasty, nothing is left. These ads are legendary because they work.

Creative designers are the magic makers behind the scenes, turning everyday marketing materials into unforgettable works of art that stick with you. Whether it’s a vibrant brochure, an eye-catching ad, or a sleek digital asset, creative designers ensure that what you see doesn’t just pass by—it stays with you. That’s the real power of great design in business.

By embracing creative design, you too can transform your brand’s identity, enhance customer engagement, and drive sales. But first, you need to hire a creative designer, and this article will help you do so.

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What does a creative designer do?

To start understanding what a creative designer does, let’s first clarify what the job title means. If you search online, you won’t find a single definition. Different articles describe a creative designer in various ways, and some even contradict each other.

So, what is a creative designer? To get a clear understanding, we interviewed one of the talents from the Awesomic community, Paul Sidash. Paul shared his insights on what it means to be a creative designer.

All in all, it turns out that a creative designer isn’t just a professional with an original vision. Rather, it’s a person that uses this vision for creating and editing marketing materials. It includes branding, identity, templates for graphic elements, and emails. 

Creative designer VS. Graphic designer

The first piece of the puzzle is solved. Now, let's address a common misconception about a creative designer's role. Many people think that because creative designers work with visual elements, they are the same as graphic designers. But is that really the case? 

While both roles involve working with visual elements, a graphic designer focuses on specific tasks like creating logos, brochures, and other marketing materials aimed at clear communication. They specialize in the aesthetics of a brand, handling typography, color, and layout to convey messages effectively.

In contrast, a creative designer takes on a broader role. They not only handle visual design but also contribute to the overall creative strategy and vision of a project. Creative designers are responsible for conceptualizing and executing ideas that extend beyond traditional design, shaping brand identity and creating memorable experiences.

In essence, graphic designers are specialists in visual design, while creative designers blend branding and design services with strategic thinking to influence a brand’s entire creative direction.

Main responsibilities of a creative designer 

A professional creative designer plays a pivotal role in shaping a brand's visual and strategic identity. Their responsibilities extend beyond just designing graphics to include a range of creative and strategic tasks:

1. Conceptualizing creative ideas: Creative designers are responsible for generating innovative ideas that align with the brand's vision. This involves brainstorming and developing concepts for various projects, from marketing campaigns to product designs.
2. Designing visual content: While similar to graphic designers, creative designers create key visuals, including banners, websites, social media graphics, and more. Their designs are often the cornerstone of a brand's marketing strategy.
3. Collaborating with teams: Creative designers work closely with marketing teams, art directors, and clients to ensure that all visual elements align with the overall brand strategy. They gather feedback, make revisions, and refine their designs to meet the project goals.
4. Ensuring brand consistency: A critical responsibility is maintaining consistency across all visual content, ensuring that all designs reflect the brand's identity and messaging.
5. Strategic planning: Beyond visual creation, creative designer services include strategic planning of campaigns, helping to define the creative direction that will best achieve the brand's objectives.

And what’s the result of a creative designer’s work? Let’s take a real example. How would you like a 20% sales growth in just one season? Sounds too good to be true, but it’s fairly possible.

Creative Director Timothy Rose developed an idea of a Thanksgiving football rivalry for a Turkey Bowl between families. This concept promoted a solution ― Nike’s playbook for the ultimate Turkey Bowl that was sold specifically at Dick’s Sporting Goods. As a result, Dick’s holiday sales had a 20% increase alongside a rise in engagement and Nike’s brand promotion.

To summarize Paul’s quote, we can say that the responsibilities of a creative designer differ from company to company. But you can see a standard set of such requirements:

• Communicate with customers to understand their design needs
• Ensure that designs meet the needs and requirements of branding guidelines and UX practices 
• Use digital tools like Adobe Creative Suite and Figma to draw illustration concepts
• Make visual concepts for marketing materials, websites, advertisements, publications, and television
• Collaborate with graphic, marketing, and website designers

Where to hire creative designer?

Usually, there are three main places to hire the best creative designers online: professional social networks, freelance websites, and design subscription services. Each platform has its pros and cons, making them suitable for different types of employers. Which one is the best fit for you? Let’s explore.

Social media networks

Finding a creative designer on platforms like LinkedIn remains straightforward, but identifying top-tier talent can be challenging. As of the latest data, LinkedIn now displays millions of profiles under the "creative designer" search, but this broad category includes a variety of roles such as graphic designers, UI/UX designers, and visual artists, making it harder to pinpoint true creative designers. 

While LinkedIn offers an extensive talent pool, this can quickly become overwhelming as you sift through thousands of profiles. Although the platform provides detailed career histories, it often lacks immediate access to portfolios, which are crucial for assessing a designer's real-world experience and capabilities. This means you'll need to spend additional time requesting portfolios or following external links to review their work.

In summary, while LinkedIn is a valuable resource, finding a highly qualified creative designer requires patience and a strategic approach to filtering and evaluating potential candidates.

Freelance platforms

Looking for a freelancer? You might think freelance sites like Upwork and Fiverr are the best places to start. However, the talent pool on Fiverr can be misleading. A search for "creative designer" yields thousands of results, but most are specialized designers for logos, websites, or T-shirts, not professionals with a broad creative vision.

Upwork offers more relevant results, with filters for location and budget, but finding a truly professional creative designer can still be challenging. Our research shows that only about 24% of Upwork's talent pool fits the creative designer profile, making it a time-consuming process to sift through unqualified candidates.

Talent marketplaces by subscription

If you're looking for a more streamlined and efficient way to work with top-tier creative designers, talent marketplaces like Awesomic offer a superior alternative to traditional freelance platforms like Upwork or Fiverr. Here are the key benefits:

• Top 1% vetted talents: No need to search through countless profiles; Awesomic has already done the vetting for you.
• Quick match via AI algorithm: Get started on your project with the right designer in as few as 24 hours.
• Daily task updates: Stay on top of your project with daily progress reports, ensuring rapid advancement.
• Flexible subscription plans: Choose to work with talents on a part-time or full-time basis, depending on your needs.

This combination of high-quality talent, fast onboarding, and flexible engagement options makes Awesomic an excellent choice for businesses seeking efficient and reliable creative design solutions.

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Cost of a creative designer

The cost of hiring a creative designer varies significantly based on the platform you choose. Below, we explore real examples from popular platforms.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn offers a vast pool of creative designer profiles, but pricing information is often difficult to obtain. To find out how much it costs to hire a creative talent, you typically need to contact candidates directly through private messages or email.

Another method is to browse job postings, where companies sometimes list compensation details for remote or full-time roles. However, pricing information for creative design solutions is rarely included. Our analysis of over 200 job postings found only two with specific salary figures.

For example, full-time creative designers in Singapore earn between $2,000 - $3,000 per month, while in the USA, the range is $61,000 - $135,000 per year. These variations highlight the significant impact of location on a creative designer’s salary, which is an important factor to consider, especially when hiring remote workers.

Upwork

Upwork offers clear pricing for creative designer services, with hourly rates ranging from $5/hr for juniors to $60/hr for mid-level designers, and up to $150/hr for senior designers. However, the actual cost of your project can be higher than expected due to Upwork's 23% service fee. For example, a project priced at $1,000 will actually cost you $1,230 after fees.

Additionally, since designers are paid by the hour, there's a potential for the project to take longer than necessary, leading to higher costs and extended timelines for business owners.

To illustrate, if you hire a creative designer to create a logo, and it takes 20 hours at an average rate of $60/hr, the base cost would be $1,200. Adding the 23% fee brings the total to $1,476. This is for a relatively simple project like a logo; more complex projects will cost significantly more.

Don't forget to factor in the time you'll spend screening and selecting the right designer, which adds to the overall cost and effort involved.

Awesomic

Awesomic offers a flat-rate subscription model tailored to the services you need. There are three plans available for hiring a creative or graphic designer:

• Light (part-time) – $699/month: Includes social media creatives, banners and ads, packaging and merchandise design, email design, books and eBooks, brochures and flyers, and photo editing.
• Pro (part-time) – $1,995/month: Includes everything from the Light plan, plus no-code development, UI/UX design, logo and brand identity, motion design, custom illustration, and presentation design.
• 1to1 Talent – Offers dedicated talent, unlimited tasks, advanced UX research, mastery of UI design, product design improvements, and strong visual brand identity development.

A key advantage of Awesomic is its transparency—there are no hidden fees. Unlike freelance platforms that act as intermediaries, Awesomic offers vetted talents who can immediately start working on your projects. You can also switch between plans as your product and its design needs grow.

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Wrapping up

Hiring a creative designer is key to taking your brand’s visual and strategic identity to the next level. We’ve covered what creative designers do, how they differ from graphic designers, and their main responsibilities, like bringing creative visions to life and ensuring brand consistency.

When it comes to finding the right designer, you’ve got options—LinkedIn, freelance platforms like Upwork, or subscription services like Awesomic. Traditional hiring can be costly with hidden expenses (like recruitment fees, benefits, office space, and equipment), while freelance platforms might leave you unsure about the quality of talent. Awesomic, on the other hand, offers a transparent subscription model with vetted designers ready to dive into your projects right away.

In short, understanding the role and choosing the best hiring platform will help ensure your brand’s visual identity is both strong and cohesive.