Untangle a comparison between Deer Designer vs 55 Knots

My late grandmother was an awesome cook. If she had wanted, she could have opened an heirloom restaurant in her hometown and had long lines of customers waiting to sample her cuisine.

Unlike many housewives, she simply prepared one dish every day rather than one or two for each meal. She nevertheless poured her heart into making this one dish, which would be more than enough to feed the whole family.

We always ate enthusiastically with her, and a lot of the time I saw her just watching us eat happily.

I asked Grandma, “Why aren’t you eating?” Every time, I received a different response.

“I’m full, you can keep eating.”

“Oh, I already know what that tastes like.”

“I already ate while I was cooking.”

I’m sure many angels have put on weight over the years now that she’s up in heaven, cooking to her heart’s content.

You can’t have your cake and eat it too

Cooking is an art form. It needs to be built from scratch by someone. Somebody who created something from nothing by chopping, dicing, grating, sautéing, boiling, or seasoning cannot possibly thoroughly appreciate the meal they created.

You are either the creator or the consumer.

You will see the finished product differently as my grandmother did before, during, and after creation. If the strategy and the design were created by the same individual or team, it is difficult to remain objective.

Each component of an advertising campaign is handled by a different team at large advertising agencies. Planning for the strategy, branding, and design is usually done by separate teams.

Small businesses have the option of hiring a generalist freelancer instead of paying the high costs of ad agencies. 

However, a freelancer’s abilities are so scattered that the company owner will only end up doing things themself in order to fulfill all the deliverables.

What do 55 Knots offer?

55 Knots (claiming to be one of Australia’s top advertising firms), offers a membership for on-demand creatives. They employ designers who specialize in compelling motion graphics, brand enhancement, and digital advertising.

They operate similarly to a full-service marketing and design firm. They can build and handle digital ads for sole proprietors, business owners, and small to big businesses. They also offer design packages and marketing strategy calls.

You can leave all of the planning and designing to them because they are a one-stop shop. Your campaigns will be planned, made, written, and edited by them.  But like I mentioned, there is the risk of being biased towards the designs.

Pure strategy can’t be outsourced

If I were the CEO or founder of a company, I want to get my hands dirty with strategy because that is my purpose. 

I don’t have to be a great copywriter or an excellent designer, but I should be a superb visionary who knows how to expand my business.

Outsourcing the strategy is a bad idea. It slowly strips the power away from the brand owner. Sure, you can seek advice from consultants and trustworthy specialists but the choice is yours.

Out of convenience, 55 Knots also offers marketing and content strategy on top of their design packages. While this may be tempting because it looks easy, remember that strategy is priceless and must come from the owner with the purest intentions for the company.

In Deer Designer, we fully engage you to be part of the design process because we will create your designs from your own ideas and vision. Everything is yours to be proud of.

An agency wearing too many hats

Agencies that try to be everything for their clients end up accomplishing substandard deliverables for them. They have no choice but to spread their manpower, skills and attention too thin while trying to do everything for the client.

The costs of working with a digital design agency are way far too high when you only need to accomplish a single task. If you only need to get design work done, it’s better to use an on-demand design service that’s an expert on what you need.

A price-per-design isn’t worth it

55 Knots offers weekly payment choices as well as the opportunity to pay for a single design at a time.

On the other hand, Deer Designer provides straightforward pricing for an on-demand design service that enables you to request as many designs and as many revisions as you need.

Because a company’s design requirements are ongoing and evolving, we provide this.

You want to look as professional and impressive as you can, even if your business is still growing as it will help in promoting your name. For that, you need a full-fledged, consistent marketing or advertising campaign, not just a one-off project.

To make the comparison easier, here’s a table to help decide if Deer Designer is better than 55 Knots

You can count on Deer Designer for quality designs

Deer Designer’s mission is to make small and medium-sized businesses look big, and we are happy that many of our clients value our service.

For founders and CEOs with a clear vision for the designs they need, our design processes work really well. They are usually happy to send us feedback saying that our ideas are far better than what they had in mind.

Just like my grandma, Deer Designers give their best in creating designs that the clients need and that communicate well with their target market. Strategy is for the big bosses but they can confidently leave the design work to us.