Hiring a Designer vs. Envato Elements: A Real-World Cost & Quality Story

Hiring a Designer vs. Envato Elements A Real-World Cost & Quality Story.

Every small business, blogger, and creator hits a crucial crossroads in their journey: the moment you realize you need professional-quality graphics to grow. Your brand needs a logo, your social media needs to look sharp, and your presentations need to impress. This leads to one of the most common and difficult questions: "Should I hire a graphic designer, or should I try a DIY solution?"

A few months ago, we faced this exact dilemma for a major project. We needed a complete set of branding and marketing materials. To find the best path forward, we decided to turn it into a real-world experiment. We would commission a freelance designer for the project and simultaneously try to create the same assets ourselves using Envato Elements.

This is the unfiltered story of that experience, comparing the cost, the process, and the final quality of both options.

The Project Brief: What We Needed

Our goal was to create a full brand package for a hypothetical "Wanderlust Coffee Co." This included:

• A professional logo.

• A business card design.

• A set of social media templates for Instagram.

• A flyer for a promotional event.

Path #1: Hiring a Freelance Graphic Designer

We started by posting our project on a popular freelance platform. After vetting several portfolios, we hired a designer with great reviews for a total project cost of $450.

The Process:

The process took about three weeks from start to finish. It involved writing a detailed creative brief, several back-and-forth feedback sessions on the logo concepts, and another round of revisions for the social media templates. The designer was professional and talented, but the communication and revision cycles naturally added time to the project.

The Quality:

The final results were excellent. We received a unique, custom-made logo and a cohesive set of assets that perfectly matched our brief. It was a professional job, and we were happy with the outcome.

Path #2: Using the Envato Elements Subscription

Next, we tackled the same project brief ourselves with our Envato Elements subscription, which costs a flat monthly fee.

The Process:

This process was drastically different. Instead of waiting for concepts, we dove straight into the vast library of Envato Elements.

• Logo: We searched for "coffee logo templates" and found dozens of high-quality, editable options. We chose one, customized the text and colors in Adobe Illustrator, and had a finished logo in about 30 minutes.

• Business Card & Flyer: We found matching print templates, dropped in our new logo, changed the contact details, and they were ready in another 45 minutes.

• Social Media: The selection of Instagram templates was massive. We downloaded a stylish pack that fit our brand, and within an hour, we had customized 15 different posts.

The entire project was completed in a single afternoon. The total time spent was roughly 3 hours.

The Quality:

This is the part that surprised us. The templates on Envato Elements are created by a global community of professional designers. The quality was outstanding. While our logo wasn't 100% unique in concept (it was based on a template, after all), the final brand package looked just as professional and cohesive as the one from the freelancer. For most business applications, the difference would be indistinguishable to a customer.

The Final Breakdown: A Head-to-Head Comparison

Factor	Hiring a Designer	Using Envato Elements
Cost	$450 (for one project)	~$16.50/month (for unlimited projects)
Time	3 Weeks	~3 Hours
Uniqueness	100% Custom	High (customizable templates)
Control	Collaborative	Full creative control
Volume	Limited to project scope	Unlimited downloads of millions of assets

The Verdict: Which Story is Right for You?

So, should you hire a designer or use Envato Elements? Our story reveals that the answer depends entirely on your needs.

• Hire a Designer If: You need a truly unique, competition-proof logo for a large corporation, or if you have a complex branding vision that requires a deep strategic partnership. It's an investment for a very specific, custom outcome.

• Choose Envato Elements If: You are a small business, blogger, freelancer, or marketer who needs a high volume of professional-quality graphics fast and on a budget. The value is simply unbeatable. The ability to create stunning assets on-demand without the high cost or long timelines is a game-changer. For 95% of day-to-day business needs, Envato Elements provides a solution that is not just cheaper, but also dramatically faster.

For us, the experiment was a massive success. It proved that for the vast majority of our projects, a subscription to Envato Elements is the smartest, most efficient choice.

Ready to take control of your brand's design? [Click Here to Explore Envato Elements and Get Unlimited Downloads]