Graphic design is the cornerstone of a brand. There’s so much riding on your visual outlook that you cannot afford to be cavalier about it. This is why you need good designers. However, in-house designers and agencies can be quite expensive. That’s why a good remote graphic designer is a good option.
While choosing a remote graphic designer can be a good option there are many things to consider. Remember that there are risks associated with picking the wrong remote graphic designer. So let us map out the process and the considerations and help you navigate choosing remote designers.
First, let’s discuss the criteria for picking a good graphic designer.
Remote or not, some general criteria need to be considered when picking a graphic designer.
Look for designers with substantial industry experience, as this often translates to a better understanding of design trends and client needs.
Review their portfolio to assess the quality, creativity, and relevance of their previous work to your brand’s vision.
Check testimonials and reviews from past clients to gauge the designer’s reliability, professionalism, and ability to deliver satisfactory results.
Consider their billing rate to ensure it aligns with your budget while also reflecting the designer’s skill level and experience.
Now remember when you’re hiring a remote graphic designer these same criteria need to be considered.
Next, let’s check the good and the bad when it comes to hiring a remote graphic designer.
This segment will provide you with an overview of what it means to hire a remote graphic designer. Pay attention to each of the pros and cons as the final decision depends on which of these pros and cons affect your unique needs.
Hiring a remote graphic designer is often more affordable than hiring in-house staff or contracting with a local agency. Additionally, you save on overhead costs such as office space, equipment, and benefits.
When choosing a remote graphic designer you can choose from a diverse range of designers across the globe with various skills and styles. This provides you with the opportunity to find specialized expertise that may not be available locally.
Remote designers often offer flexible working hours, which can be beneficial for urgent projects or different time zones. It’s often also easier to scale up or down based on project needs without long-term commitments.
Graphic design is a creative process that demands a free mind and a calm environment for creative juices to flow. Luckily, remote designers often work in environments where they are most comfortable, potentially leading to higher productivity and creativity. They have reduced distractions compared to a traditional office setting where it can get too busy and too loud.
If there are no rigid setups for communication rounds, there is a potential for misunderstandings due to a lack of face-to-face interaction.
Hiring and using a remote graphic designer properly requires effective project management tools and processes to ensure deadlines and quality standards are met.
In some cases, there is difficulty in assessing the reliability and work ethic of remote designers.
Remote designers are often isolated from the core team, affecting collaboration and cohesion.
Take your time to digest these pros and cons of hiring a remote graphic designer as listed above.
Because, next up we will discuss where you can find remote designers. As we go through each platform or service you can use the criterion and the pros and cons we listed as the metrics for judging those platforms and services.
There are so many places to hire remote designers. Our list aims to cover the best places to look for such remote designers. We will discuss the processes, pricing range, reviews, examples of designs, and anything else that might help you make a decision.
Without further delay let’s jump right into the list.
Upwork founded in 2013 is one of the oldest platforms to hire remote freelance designers.
There are 2 ways to find and hire talent on Upwork. You can post the specifics of your job and wait for proposals by candidates or you can browse from the Project Catalog and find designers based on the design type.
You can also use Upwork to communicate, share files, and track the progress of projects right within the app.
The pricing varies and is solely dependent on the scope of your project.
But according to Upwork, a remote graphic designer will charge around $15-$150 an hour with $25 being the average rate per hour. But some charge per project so expect the pricing range to fluctuate if you’re using Upwork to hire a remote graphic designer.
Payments are directed to the particular designer and they are charged 10% of their earnings by Upwork.
Here are some of the reviews featured on their website:
Most reviews are positive but it’s best to check the reviews of the particular designer you hope to work with for a more accurate evaluation.
For a full list of their design services visit here.
Here’s a look at some of the work done by Upwork graphic designers:
We recommend going through individual designer portfolios to get a better overview.
Your experience with Upwork is subjective upon finding the right remote graphic designer. And with the sheer volume of designers, it’s not an easy process. Also. Upwork does not vet or screen its talent so there’s no sure way to know if someone is an experienced designer. A good place to start is to screen top-rated designers.
Dribbble is much like Upwork and is a digital platform to showcase designer portfolios. It’s a great place to hire a remote graphic designer.
One way you can find a remote designer for a project is by using their search option. The advanced filtration system lets you browse by design type, keyword, work type, experience level, and hourly rate.
The other way is to post a job on the Job Board or the Hiring Suite. And once your job passes the verification process candidates will see your job. And those who want to work on it will start sending messages.
With Dribbble searching for designers is free and the price varies on the designer you choose. It can range anywhere from between $50-$300 per hour.
With the job posting option however, besides the cost for the designer you have to pay a listing fee of $5/day (billed monthly) for the Job Board and $10/day (billed monthly) for the Hiring Suite. You can visit their hiring page for more info on this.
Here is a review featured on Dribbble by OneSignal:
For a better evaluation of Dribbble’s designers, it’s best to look at individual reviews of the designers you like.
Here’s a look at some of the work done by Dribbble designers:
Again, it’s best to go through individual portfolios of designers for a better overview.
Dribbble features designers who are exceptionally talented as you can see in their portfolios. But to hire a remote designer here, you still have to pay a subscription fee if you’re listing a job. And that’s without the cost of hiring a designer.
Design Pickle is a great place to find a remote graphic designer. They’re a remote design agency employing full-time graphic designers and offer subscription-based services.
The hiring process is much different from the ones that we looked at before. To access a remote graphic designer via Design Pickle you have to choose between the various plans they offer.
The good news is that instead of just a remote graphic designer they offer an entire dedicated design team on all of their plans.
You will also have access to a project management platform where all design requests are processed. It also comes with other additional perks like unlimited designs and revisions that you wouldn’t get with freelancers working remotely.
Since Design Pickle belongs to the service category of productized services they only charge a flat fee for the services they offer. Their pricing ranges from $649-$1,949/month.
Design Pickle also offers a 14-day money-back guarantee for quarterly and annually paid subscriptions.
Here are some of the reviews of clients featured on their website:
As you can see the reviews are quite positive on how Design Pickle has helped them in their design journey.
Here’s a look at some of the work they’ve done in the past:
For more designs visit their portfolio.
Don’t let the price throw you off. You would end up paying the same to a remote graphic designer on a freelance platform for just one project. Whereas with these kinds of flat fee services, you can get multiple projects and revisions a month at a fixed price.
For more information on Design Pickle, we recommend this read.
KIMP is an unlimited design service where you can hire a remote graphic designer. They too provide graphic design services at a flat rate making them a great choice for you.
KIMP has a similar process of hiring a remote graphic designer like Design Pickle. Just pick the plan that works for you and start with their 7-day free trial to test their services. After the trial, you can proceed to pay for the subscription you chose if you’re happy.
With KIMP you get a dedicated design team inclusive of a project manager, all working remotely for you.
You get access to their KIMP360 project management platform to make and manage requests and communicate with your design team.
They offer 5 plans including 2 plans exclusively for Canva designs. The pricing ranges from $699- $1195/month.
Here are some of the reviews featured on their website:
Many of the reviews show that those who use KIMP’s services are thoroughly happy with them.
Visit their graphic design services page to get a full list.
Here’s a look at some of the work they have done for clients:
Visit their portfolio for more samples.
One other perk of using a subscription-based service like KIMP is that you don’t have to worry about vetting and screening designers. That’s already done by the company that hired the remote graphic designer. So the bottom line is that most of the pros we covered earlier are achieved at KIMP and the cons are easily avoided.
For more information on KIMP, please give this review a read.
No Limit Creatives is another on-demand graphic design service like Design Pickle and KIMP. They too offer unlimited design services.
With No Limit Creatives, you simply go through the plans they offer and pick what works for you. Once you pay you’re good to begin. They will provide access to the project management platforms and there you can make and manage requests and communicate with your remote graphic designer.
You get a 14-day satisfaction guarantee upon signing up.
They offer 3 plans for graphic design services and those plans range from $599-$1499/month.
We couldn’t find reviews featured on their website but here are some from Trustpilot:
Overall, those who use No Limit Creatives are extremely happy with their design services.
Visit here to view more of what they can do.
Here’s a look at some of the work they’ve done for clients:
Visit their portfolio page to view more samples by category.
Besides some of the benefits of these flat fee services we looked at another one is that you don’t have to sign contracts and you have the option to cancel anytime. That’s a great pro when it comes to hiring a remote graphic designer through these companies.
To learn more about No Limit Creatives, we recommend reading this review.
So there you have it, how and where to find and hire a remote graphic designer in 2024. We hope that this helped you understand the things you need to look out for when hiring a graphic designer, the pros and cons of hiring a remote graphic designer, and where to find one.
Going through the list of where to find designers should help you understand what is better. Regardless of the option you go for, just remember that your brand needs good visuals!
Statistics show that 4 out of 5 businesses use some form of graphic design. That goes to show how well-aware most organizations are about the importance of graphic design. That’s why you don’t want to miss the mark here.
So go ahead and find a remote graphic designer who can transform your graphic design game!
