Hire a graphic designer or an agency for your ads?
Hire an in-house graphic designer when you need daily brand work across your site, emails and packaging and someone already owns the ad strategy. Choose an ad creative agency when what you need is a steady flow of new ad concepts, static and video, without recruiting or managing anyone.
Compare
Agency, in-house designer or freelancer
What each option covers when the job is ad creative.
| Criteria | Ad creative agency | In-house designer | Freelance designer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Writes the angles and ad copy | Depends | Rarely | |
| Static and video ads | Rarely | Depends | |
| Knows your brand day to day | Partly | Partly | |
| Same-day small edits | Depends | Depends | |
| Recruiting and management | None | Yours | Yours |
| Volume follows your ad spend | Partly | ||
| How you pay | Monthly or per batch | Salary + benefits | Hourly or per project |
What an in-house designer really costs
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median annual wage for graphic designers at $62,960 (May 2025). That figure is the salary only.
On top of it come benefits and payroll taxes, design and AI software, hardware, the weeks spent recruiting, and the time someone on your team spends briefing and reviewing. Most of all, one designer is one person: holidays, sick days and other projects slow the ad pipeline down.
None of this makes hiring wrong. It makes it a good fit for steady, varied brand work, and a costly one if all you need is more ads to test.
When to choose which
An in-house designer
You need daily brand work across site, email, packaging and ads, and a marketer already writes the strategy.
A freelancer
You have a clear brief and need a specific style or a one-off project, with no long commitment.
An ad creative agency
You need new angles, copy, static and video every month, sized to your ad spend.
Our static ads
Hiring a designer: FAQ
Salary, freelancers, agencies: the questions brands ask before they decide.
Book a callHow much does it cost to hire a graphic designer?
In the US, the median annual wage for graphic designers was $62,960 in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is the salary alone: benefits, payroll taxes, software and recruiting come on top. Freelancers bill by the hour or by the project, and agencies by the month or by the batch. For ads, compare the cost per ad you can actually launch, not the hourly rate. Our options are on the pricing page.
Should I hire a graphic designer or outsource?
Hire when the work is daily, varied and tied to your brand: site banners, emails, packaging, sales decks. Outsource when the work is a specific, repeatable output such as ad creative, where an outside team brings angles and volume. Our guide compares the four ways to outsource ad design.
Can one in-house designer handle all our ads?
Often not for long. Meta and TikTok reward many distinct concepts, each in several placements, plus video. One person can cover the brand and a few ads a week, but rarely the angles, the copy, the motion and the volume at the same time.
What should I look for when hiring a designer for ads?
A portfolio of ads rather than logos and branding, knowledge of placements and safe zones (1:1, 4:5, 9:16), the ability to write a headline, speed on variations, and comfort with AI tools for product scenes.
Can an agency work alongside our in-house designer?
Yes, and it is a common setup. The in-house designer keeps the brand, the site and the emails; the agency feeds the ad account with new concepts and hands over source files, so your designer can make quick edits.
Do ad agencies use AI now?
Many do. We use AI to produce product scenes, variations and video, with art directors deciding what gets made. See our static ads and AI video production services.
Keep reading
AI ad generator or agency: who should make your ads?
AI ad generator or a creative agency using AI? What self-serve tools do well, what they leave to you, and when a done-for-you team is worth it for e-commerce.
AI UGC vs. creator UGC: which one for your ads?
AI UGC or creator UGC? Speed, cost per hook, credibility and the FTC rules on testimonials: when each format is the right choice for e-commerce video ads.
Best AI creative agencies for e-commerce brands in 2026
Best AI creative agencies for e-commerce brands in 2026: what each makes, how it sells and who it suits, checked on their own sites. Plus how to choose.
Need more ads, not a new hire?
Book a call with your store URL and what you need. We come with the angles and formats we would test first.
Our team has made creative for 45 brands, including
