Should I work for a design firm, in-house, or freelance? What are the differences between the three?

This depends on your personal preferences and needs. Some people want the security of a regular paycheck and benefits possibly at the expense of less interesting work. Others thrive on the independence of running your own business. Follows is a brief description of the three types of working environments:

In-house: This will probably pay more than a design firm and have better benefits as far as health insurance, holiday and sick time, and retirement plans. The work, however, is apt to be very repetitious and narrow in scope as you will be doing the same type of projects over and over, always adhering to the corporate graphic standards originally set up for the firm. You will more or less have regular hours and will have to be located in an office environment 40-60 hours a week.

Design Firm: Working for a design firm or ad agency is highly competitive, long hours, high stress, and tight deadlines. However, there is more creativity and variety involved. It varies, but the pay could be lower than in-house, though some people are able to make very good money at ad agencies if they are good. The benefits will probably be there, but may not be as strong as working in-house.

Freelance: It’s all up to you. It’s highly advisable that before you do freelance, you get several years experience working for a design firm or in-house. There is so much you need to know. Working in a corporate setting will familiarize you with doing design in the “real” world, get you up to speed and experience, and give you some idea of what your strengths and weaknesses on. Once you freelance, you will be adding the jobs of marketing and accounting to your lists of hats to wear. There will be slow times and frantic times. It won’t be steady. You will need to be marketing yourself all the time; not just during slow periods. And, you will need to set up your own health insurance and retirement plans.

Alina Hagen | Visual Communication Designer
Alina Design | Creative Latitude | BoDo Author | Alina’s In-sights

(Where Should I Work? first appeared on Creative Latitude’s Holy Grail )