Time for design?
The hidden time founders, freelancers and small teams spend on design - and when another approach makes more sense.
Insights Report launching 2nd March
⬆️ The full report will be emailed to you on launch day.
If you’re a founder, freelancer or part of a small team, there’s a good chance design has become part of your everyday work - whether or not that’s what you were originally trained to do.
In the past month alone, you may have created social graphics, adjusted a presentation, formatted a PDF, updated a website page or tried to make something “look a bit more polished”. Design tasks are no longer reserved for specialists. They sit alongside client work, operations, strategy and marketing, often squeezed into the gaps.
Over time, that adds up.
Why I carried out this research
Over the past year, I’ve repeatedly seen people feeling stuck when it comes to design. Not because they don’t value it - but because it takes longer than expected, feels harder than it should, or quietly competes with more urgent priorities.
I wanted to explore that more deeply.
How much time are business owners and professionals really spending on design tasks? Where are the biggest frustrations showing up? And when does doing it yourself make sense - compared to bringing in specialist support?
To answer those questions, this report brings together:
A week-long snapshot survey of 70 business owners and professionals
In-depth interviews with people who have experienced both DIY design and outsourcing
Analysis of outputs from 36 real Design Days delivered over the past year
Practical templates and worksheets to help you respond to the insights
70 business owners surveyed
36 real Design Days analysed
Interviews with business owners
The result is a research-led but practical guide designed to help you approach design more intentionally - whether you continue doing it yourself or choose to outsource some of it.
Who this report is for
This report is for you if design is part of your role, but not your core role.
It may resonate if you’ve found yourself:
Fitting design tasks around other business-critical work
Spending longer than expected tweaking layouts, fonts or formatting
Wanting a more polished result but feeling unsure how to achieve it efficiently
Wondering whether outsourcing would genuinely save time - or simply create more work
This isn’t about suggesting that everyone should outsource their design. It’s about helping you understand the trade-offs, so you can decide what works best for your business.
What you’ll gain from reading it
Inside the report, you’ll find clear insight into:
How much time non-designers are spending on design tasks each month
The aspects of design that most commonly slow people down
The link between specialist support and overall satisfaction
What’s holding people back from outsourcing
What can realistically be achieved in a focused day of design
How to decide what to batch, streamline, outsource or pause
Throughout, you’ll also find structured worksheets and reflection prompts designed to save you time in the short, medium and long term.
You don’t need to read it from start to finish to benefit. You can dip into the sections that feel most relevant and return to the practical tools as needed.
Be the first to receive it
The full “Time for Design?” Insights Report launches on 2nd March.
If you’d like a copy sent directly to you when it goes live, add your details below and I’ll make sure it lands in your inbox.