How to Choose Between In-house Designers & Creative Agencies

The first point to note is that there is no universal answer as to the best approach for every business out there. Where one method performs well for one company, it may not necessarily have the same impact on another. As such, it is important to factor in your circumstances, including the existing culture, current processes and future trajectory of your business before making a decision.

Reasons for Using In-house Designers

Keeping design in-house comes with many practical benefits that are outlined below.

Naturally Aligned with Company Culture

Any time you onboard a new employee, you’re likely to have determined that the individual’s personality, goals, values, and approach to their job fits into your overall company culture. This allows in-house designers to place maximum focus on their work and deliver results that make a greater impact on the business as whole.

Deep Understanding of Internal Operations

In-house designers have the advantage of understanding the business much better than any external agency will. By working in the business day in and day out, there are little intricacies, nuances, and insights into products, services or customers that an in-house team will naturally be privy to but may take a design agency some time to get up to speed on.

Long-Term Ownership and Accountability

Since an in-house design team is more of a long-term company asset, they’re likely to be more invested in their work and outcome of projects compared to an external creative agency. When you know something will directly impact you on a daily basis, there’s a higher chance that your attention to detail in terms of performance and quality will be greater than someone working on a one-off project.

Fully Focused on Your Business Objectives

When you have in-house designers, you can rely on a dedicated team that is readily available to work exclusively on internal company projects as and when needed. This can lead to a greater degree of precision and efficiency compared to a web design agency that’ll normally be juggling numerous client projects simultaneously.

Greater Agility in Scheduling and Prioritisation

In recent years, in-house teams have also benefited from collaborative platforms like Figma, Adobe XD, and AI-powered prototyping tools – helping them move faster from concept to execution. With direct access to internal stakeholders and decision-makers, these teams can adapt swiftly to shifting priorities without the need for external coordination or onboarding.

Potentially Lower Long-Term Cost

Sometimes it’s more affordable to build an in-house design team than it is to continuously hire a web designer. Depending on the role and seniority level, you can get a more favourable ROI from an employee working on a fixed rate and can handle a variety of tasks as opposed to an agency that will normally have much higher rates for set engagements only.

Why Should You Hire a Web Design Agency?

Hiring a creative design agency also delivers many advantages, which are explained further below.

High-Calibre Creative Execution

This is definitely subjective but assuming that you partner with a quality design agency, you can expect to receive high-calibre work that either meets or exceeds expectations. You can easily get a feel for whether an agency will be a good fit for your needs by assessing the results of past projects and reviewing clients testimonials for insight on overall experiences.

Access to Fresh Thinking and Innovative Methods

Soliciting the services of a specialist web design company can also bring about new ideas, perspectives, and ways of doing things. At times, internal resources can follow company processes and methods to a fault and at the expense of creative design thinking.

Insights from Diverse Client Backgrounds

There can be an initial learning curve as an agency gets to know the ins and outs of your company. But once the creative team has a full grasp of your business and objectives, they can leverage their extensive experience either from within your industry or other sectors in a way that positively impacts your business.

Broad, Cross-Disciplinary Expertise

Most creative agencies today operate as multi-disciplinary teams that bring together design, branding, user experience, content strategy, and conversion optimisation under one roof. This integrated expertise allows businesses to move from concept to execution with greater clarity and focus – especially when aiming for measurable digital growth.

Flexible and Scalable Engagement Models

The beauty of outsourcing projects to an external website design company is that you can use them on an ad hoc basis. This means, if there is an unforeseen dip in business, you can instantly cut back on the amount of time they spend working for. When you have an in-house team on full-time contracts, you don’t have that same level of flexibility as they need to be paid regardless of current demand.

Dedicated Resources for Faster Turnaround

Oftentimes in-house teams have a longer list of priorities to work through for the company, which can result in certain tasks taking ages to get resolved. Agencies, on the other hand, are hired to carry out specific assignments. They don’t need to worry about getting distracted by other day-to-day tasks that spring up and come with more manpower to boot meaning the job can be completed faster.

Be Sure to Consider the Hybrid Option as Well

Remember that you are not limited to exclusively using in-house designers or only outsourcing work to a digital agency. A hybrid approach using a combination of a full-time internal creative team as well as a specialist agency is a popular strategy that can deliver the best of both worlds.

At Vsourz, we have a successful track record of collaborating with internal teams to ensure the peak outcome for your project and business.

Exploring Flexible Design Engagement Models

Beyond choosing one side or the other, many companies are adopting flexible engagement models that combine the strengths of both in-house and agency teams. Some examples include:

• Embedded agency pods: Specialist design teams who work closely with internal stakeholders, functioning almost like an extension of the in-house team.
• On-demand design partners: Flexible design resources made available when needed, ideal for scaling up capacity without long-term commitment.
• Shared creative ownership: Where strategy remains internal, and execution is supported by a dedicated external team with specialist skills.

These evolving models help organisations maintain brand control while gaining access to fresh thinking, broader capabilities, and additional capacity when needed.

For In-house Designers

Build an in-house design team if:

• Your business is well-versed on the benefits and value that the end-to-end design function delivers.
• Your company wants to onboard staff that can grow with the business and provide key input, which impacts day-to-day performance.
• Your company consistently has a workload that justifies hiring full-time designers internally.

For a Creative Agency

Partner with an external creative agency if:

• Your business is planning to launch a big campaign with lots of moving parts that requires broader expertise.
• Your project needs fresh creative and strategic input that may not be available in-house.
• Your company doesn’t have the capacity internally to meet certain deadlines or there are some design elements that you prefer to retain in-house while there are others you’d rather outsource.

Answer Some Key Questions

Before deciding whether to build an in-house team or hire a web designer, answer the key questions below to help you make the best decision.

• What is the overarching objective for hiring design expertise? Is it to enhance your brand, increase agility, fine-tune creative direction?
• What is more important to your company? Keeping all design tasks in-house for familiarity and availability or receiving high-quality work from professionals who live and breathe creativity day in and day out?
• What are the dealbreakers? Is it price, speed, quality, or convenience?

When it comes to all aspects of web design including branding, UX/ UI development, user journey strategy, and conversion rate optimisation, Vsourz is the trusted choice for companies that want to see results. That’s because:

• We’ve developed a seamless web design process that ensures quality and keeps you updated every step of the way.
• We are a dedicated design team with extensive experience supporting businesses operating in a variety of industries.
• We have a big international team of design experts working around the clock to deliver projects in lightning fast time.
• We have a proven track record of success, through our completion of 1,000s of professionally designed websites.

One of the reasons why Vsourz stands head and shoulders above the competition lies in our ability to propel businesses towards their goals through web design. We achieve this by:

• Thoroughly understanding the vision for your digital presence
• Taking the time to learn as much as possible about your business, products, services and target market
• Gaining insight on the competitive landscape with your industry or niche
• Introducing fresh ideas and structuring concepts
• Developing a detailed roadmap that leads to your objectives
• Paying close attention to the user experience and conversion rate optimisation
• Using ongoing feedback to make continuous improvements

If you’re looking to partner with a web design London team that understands how to deliver creative results with commercial impact, Vsourz is ready to support your vision. We design websites that are distinctive, user-focused, and aligned with your brand identity and business goals.

Whether you’re launching a new site or refreshing an existing one, our expert web design team combines strategic thinking with creative execution to help you stand out and perform online. Speak with us today to see how we can help you achieve measurable success through effective, high-quality web design.