Everyone tells you to "hire a designer." Almost nobody tells you which kind. Here's the honest breakdown — including where I fit and where I don't.
Here's the assumption I want to kill first: that "find a designer" is one decision.
It isn't. It's four.
In-house hire, freelancer, agency, or fractional. They cost different money, move at different speeds, and fail in different ways. Pick the wrong shape and even a brilliant designer will disappoint you — not because they're bad, but because you bought the wrong thing.
So let me walk you through the real options. Plainly. Including mine, which I'll be honest about.
Four shapes. Quick definitions, no fluff.
In-house hire. A full-time designer on your payroll. Maximum continuity, maximum commitment. Also the slowest to land and the most expensive once you add salary, equity, and the months it takes to recruit.
Freelancer. One person, hired for a defined project or a stretch of work. Fast to start, flexible, cheap relative to the others. But you're managing them, and quality swings wildly depending on who you found.
Agency. A team you rent for a scope. Brand, UX, motion, copy — coordinated. Great breadth, real process. Also the priciest per outcome, and you're often a small account in a big queue.
Fractional / broker. A senior designer for a slice of their week, on an ongoing basis. More continuity than a freelancer, less cost than an agency. The model most early teams actually need — and the one almost nobody pitches them.
A fractional designer is a senior designer who gives you part of their week, every week, instead of all of it or just once.
Think one or two days. Ongoing. The same person who learns your product, remembers last month's decisions, and doesn't need re-onboarding every sprint.
It's the middle path people forget exists. A freelancer vanishes when the project ends. A full-time hire takes three months to land and a real salary to keep. Fractional gives you senior judgment, on a retainer you can actually afford, with continuity a one-off gig can't match.
The trade-off is bandwidth. One person, part-time, has a ceiling. If you suddenly need ten screens by Friday, a fractional designer is the wrong tool.
A freelancer vanishes when the project ends. Fractional gives you senior judgment on a retainer — and someone who remembers last month.
Here's how the four shapes stack up. No option wins every row. That's the point.
| Option | Cost | Speed to start | Risk | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| In-house hire | Highest (salary + equity) | Slow — weeks to months | Wrong hire is costly and slow to undo | Design is core and constant |
| Freelancer | Low to mid, per project | Fast — days | Quality varies; you manage them | One defined, bounded job |
| Agency | Highest per project | Mid — onboarding + queue | Overkill; you're a small account | Big, multi-skill scope at once |
| Fractional / broker | Mid, ongoing retainer | Fast — start in days | Bandwidth ceiling of one person | Ongoing product design, one owner |
In-house wins when design is core to the product and the work never stops. If you'll need a designer in the room every single week for years, hire one. Just know it's a long, expensive search.
A freelancer wins when the job is bounded and clear. A landing page. A pitch deck. An app icon. You know exactly what you want, you just need skilled hands. Pay per project, move on.
An agency wins when the scope is big, bounded, and multi-disciplinary at once. A full rebrand. A launch that needs brand, UX, motion, and copy moving together. You're buying coordinated breadth and a team that won't bail mid-project.
Fractional wins when you need ongoing, senior product design but not a full-time salary. Most early-stage teams. You want one consistent owner who improves the product week over week — without committing to a hire you can't yet justify.
This is the part where I'm in the picture, so I'll be straight with you.
I don't do design. I match the right kind of design with your business problem.
Most teams don't have a hiring problem. They have a vetting problem. They post a role, drown in portfolios, can't tell senior from polished, and pick wrong. A broker fixes that. I keep a bench of vetted senior designers, listen to what you're actually trying to solve, and tell you which shape fits — even when the honest answer is "you need a freelancer, not me."
When it is a fit, you get someone managed for quality and deadlines, and you can start in days instead of running a months-long search. No drift, no flaky handoffs.
Not sure which shape you need? Tell me the problem, not the job title. I'll point you to the right one — fractional, freelancer, or agency — and match you fast if it's mine to solve.
Request a designer →Stop asking "freelancer or agency?" Ask "what's the shape of my need?"
One bounded job, clear spec? Freelancer. Big multi-skill push with a deadline? Agency. Constant, core, forever? In-house, eventually. Ongoing product work that needs a senior brain but not a full headcount? Fractional — and that's most of you reading this.
Match the model to the problem, not the other way around. Do that and the designer almost picks themselves.
And if you can't tell which is which — that's literally my job. Design Broker exists for exactly that fork in the road.