Our 101 Guide: How to Set Up an In-house Design Team?

If you're wondering how to set up an in-house design team, this article is made for you.

In a context where consumers see advertising from different brands 24/7, the possibility of your visual identity standing out from the rest is difficult but not impossible. If you haven't noticed, your visual identity will often be the first impression you make on your potential customers.

This identity embraces landing pages, flyers, newsletters, branded documents, emails, brochures… All these elements must be designed by someone!

Most importantly, if you identify a constant flow of these elements, you must need exceptional designing skills in your team. That's where setting up a great in-house design team comes into play.

After reading this article, you can share with everyone how to build a design department successfully! Let's see what we've prepared for you:

custom presentation design service - 24Slides

First things first: What is an In-house Design Team?

An in-house design team is a group of designers hired mainly full-time to tackle your organization's design tasks. Unlike freelancers, who are paid by project or by the hour, an in-house design team is a group of professionals 100% dedicated to your organization.

Design work plays a critical role in every single type of business. It enables the creation of crucial visual content for marketing, social media, public relations (PR), and even internal communication as part of your organizational culture.

As you can imagine, in-house design teams will support the rest of your departments by creating the design work they need, which includes: social media visuals, images for email marketing, whitepaper designs, posters, office signage, merchandising designs, and more.

In house Design Team in Indonesia - 24Slides
Part of our In-house Design Team in Indonesia

How do you set up your own In-house Design Team?

If you have decided that your company needs to set up an in-house design team, then it's time to plan the execution. Of course, building a whole design team takes time and effort, and above all, a meticulous hiring process.

In our experience as a presentation design company with customers worldwide, there are four vital points to take into consideration when setting up an efficient in-house design team:

1. Define the scope of your In-house Design Team

Scoping your internal design team means defining how your team's work will look like: Who will they cater to? What kinds of tasks will they tackle? How much work are they expected to cover?

This step is vital because it allows you to determine how big your team should be and what skills to consider when hiring. That way, you can project not only your needs, but also the potential final cost of working alongside an in-house design team.

Projecting how much your investment will be in building your in-house design team is essential to determine if it is the best option for your organization or, otherwise, opt for outsourcing your design work.

As you may know, design work is often deeply intertwined with the needs of the majority of your departments, so it's important to think about how your workflow will look like (at least a preliminary idea).

2. Define the structure of your In-house Design Team

Defining the structure of your in-house design team will help you to determine which job positions your design operations require to stay manageable and deliver quality work.

For example, for a medium-sized centralized design team, you'll most likely need a Head of Design, and for larger teams, Managers who can oversee specific projects and teams.

When your team structure is established, you will have a more clear understanding of the profile of your dream team and how much experience they should have.

3. Prepare your In-house Design Team for the future and scale it up

If you project that your company continues to grow and the design work is a fundamental part of that path, then it's very likely that your internal design team will need to grow as well.

That's why it's crucial to plan your in-house design team for the future. But, how to scale a design team without failing? Is it really simple that you only need to hire more staff and keep them working on tasks?

A scalable team of internal designers needs to be able to adapt to new demands and trends, which means investing in their professional growth and care about their wellness. Louise, Global Head of Operations at 24Slides, highlights the following idea:

“In my experience, an in-house design team is scalable, when it remains flexible and easily adapts to workload spikes and changes in complexity on their deliverables. As we are delivering creative output for humans, created by humans, what seems simple on the surface is actually highly complex and requires constant growth and innovation.”

In case you're clear that working with an in-house design team is for you, then ensuring that your internal design team is scalable from the beginning can make all the difference in the long run.

4. Consider the best working model to meet your demand

Your design workload will not always be the same, so you should be aware of the "seasonal spikes." In these cases, you can pay overtime to your internal graphic designers or choose an outsourcing service to support you.

To cover those seasonal spikes, hybrid teams have become very popular nowadays, but what is a hybrid model in the design area?

A hybrid (or contractual) model means hiring an external design team, which will streamline your design projects or any project that requires a designer approach. This model will also be worth it if you need a new strategic point of view for your design operations.

Many B2B companies offer dedicated design teams with highly skilled specialists. For instance, dedicated teams can focus on developing and modernizing your web design, providing social media content and illustrations, or, in the case of 24Slides, designing high-impact custom presentations.

If you want to explain how to set up an in-house design team to a friend or colleague, here is a summary of everything we've been talking about:

How do you set up an in house design team? Step by step
Summary: How to set up an In-house Design Team?

Pros and Cons: Is setting up an In-house Design Team worth it?

Even the best in-house design team has room for improvement. If we have learned anything in these 10 years of experience leading creative teams is that no work model is perfect.

So, is setting up an in-house design team worth it? The quick answer is that it will depend on your company's needs and the characteristics of your core business.

Based on our experience, we want to share with you an overview of the Pros and Cons of setting up in-house design teams:

Pros of setting up an In-house Design Team

Let's start with the positive part of betting on internal design teams:

  • More control over design costs. By having a full-time designer payroll, you are more clear about your monthly costs and the approximate value of hiring one more person, which allows you to follow your budget.
  • Clear workflow and reception of feedback. In-house designers adapt to a relatively stable workflow, which is support on feedback. By always working with the same team, an enviable synergy is generated.
  • Constant communication with stakeholders. Collaboration between departments is more efficient with an in-house design team, since they learn the interests and way of working of each area.
  • Better performance in each delivery. Being 100% dedicated to your company, internal designers focus all their efforts on you. Naturally, your team will be much more motivated based on the non-salary benefits your company offers.
  • Confidentiality guarantee. Hiring an external design service doesn't promise you complete confidentiality, while your full-time design team does have a reason to guard your business secrets.
  • Knowledge of your team's limitations. Having an in-house design team implies a greater human connection than outsourcing said service to a freelance or agency. Therefore, it will be easier for you to recognize their limitations.
  • Your design team becomes a guardian of your brand. By working full-time in your company, it is very likely that your in-house team acknowledges your guidelines inside and out. This is an advantage that allows you to be consistent in each communication channel.

Cons of setting up an In-House Design Team

Now we continue with the cons of setting an in-house design department:

  • High hiring and training costs. If we compare a full-time designer with a freelance or agency designer, the latter generally cost less. This is not only due to the monetary aspect, but also due to the time factor.
  • Difficulty in finding specialists (and retaining them). Talent retention is one of the most difficult parts when building an in-house design team. Keep in mind that a good designer can be required by many companies, so you must think carefully about the benefits you offer.
  • Monotony in the internal working day. An office job can become monotonous, which can be a reason for an in-house designer to opt for the freelance path or not last long in your company.
  • Not enough capacity to meet your company's needs. Demand spikes are often difficult to handle if your company is not prepared. This scenario can be a disadvantage that can lead to resignations from one day to another.

As you saw, there are a lot of advantages to building an in-house design team, but in order to have better results, you must balance the pros and cons with your team. This process can take some time, but it is better to go step by step than improvise.

We want to support you in making a conscious decision, so we've created a table of the pros and cons of the most common design services in the market. We encourage you to review it thoroughly!

Freelance vs Agency vs In house team
Pros and Cons: In-house vs. Freelance vs. Agency

Final Review: Do you really need an In-house Design Team?

So far, we can tell you that not every company needs an in-house design team. For non-recurring tasks, freelancers or an agency can cover your company's needs without hiring full-time in-house designers.

However, an in-house design team has advantages that you should consider. They can give you more control over your projects and the costs in the long term. Also, you can approach a better design performance, and, for sure, they will keep your business secrets locked up.

On the other hand, in-house design teams demand long-term training and scaling processes. Not to mention the additional expenses you must cover, such as health insurance and bonuses. These last factors will require more resources from your company.

"Warning signs" that working with an In-house Design Team is a match for you

If you were looking for signs to bet on an in-house design team, here you have them:

  • You understand the importance of good design as part of the development of your product or service.
  • Your commercial metrics are closely linked to the performance of your in-house design team.
  • You have recurring processes or projects that depend on a creative design team.
  • You want more control of your internal operations, including design operations.
  • Your organizational culture is based on human development, and you believe that team synergy is important.

It's essential to lay your design needs on the table and have a long talk with your team about whether working with internal designers is worth it. Remember that nothing is set in stone and that you can adopt a hybrid model anytime!

Learn more about how 24Slides can help your organization, or try us for just $1. It will be the best one-dollar investment of your life!

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