Hire a senior freelancer when
- You need a brand identity or website in weeks, not quarters.
- One or two people make the decisions.
- You want to talk to the designer, not an account manager.
- A junior freelancer or a marketplace already cost you months.
Freelancer vs agency
The same senior designer, without the agency margin
At many agencies, one senior designer does the design and the rest of the fee pays for everything around them. Hire that designer directly and you pay for the work.
With me
$3,000
Brand identity in 1 week
Fixed total, agreed before work starts. You talk to the designer.
Traditional agency
$25k+
Brand identity in 3–9 months
Typically $25k–$100k+. You talk to an account manager.
What you pay for, side by side
Senior freelancer
Traditional Agency
$3,000 per week, flat
$25k–$100k+ per project
Brand identity in 1 week
3–9 months or more
You talk to the designer
You talk to an account manager
One senior designer, start to finish
A senior lead, then juniors
Pay for the design work
Pay for overhead and margin too
Total agreed before work starts
Estimates that grow
Which one fits
When each option is the right call
An agency is not always the wrong choice, and a designer is not always the right one. This is the same advice I give on calls.
Hire an agency when
- Many regions, products, or teams need work at the same time.
- The scope includes packaging, retail, events, and a global rollout.
- Procurement or the board requires a multi-person team on paper.
- You need research at a scale one person cannot run.
Hire neither when
- The real problem is sales, product, or timing, not how you look.
- You are still testing the idea and nobody has to remember the brand yet.
- You cannot say who the customer is. Settle that first.
Hello, I’m Arek
You work with me, start to finish
I’m Arek Dvornechuck, a senior brand designer in New York. I run the strategy, design the identity, animate the logo, and build the website myself. There is no account manager and no handoff to a junior.
Testimonials
What my clients say
"Arek worked with us on the complete redesign of the NextDimension AI visual identity and website. He was thoughtful, responsive, and patient throughout the process, from exploring the logo direction to refining the website’s content, design, and functionality. What stood out most was his ability to clearly explain and defend his creative vision while still listening to our feedback. We are both convinced by the final direction and very happy with the result."
Lakshita Chhikara
Co-Founder, NextDimension AI
"Arek did an outstanding job on our full brand redesign. From understanding our vision, to crafting the direction, to executing with speed, he nailed it from the beginning. We absolutely love all of it. What stood out most was how quickly he understood exactly what we were looking for. He was creative, came back with ideas that felt modern and genuinely good, and landed on something that fit our brand perfectly. He made himself available throughout the process and kept things moving fast without cutting corners on quality. Working with him was easy from start to finish. I’d recommend him to anyone looking for a designer who gets it and delivers. Thanks, Arek."
Karim Zitouni
Co-Founder, Elevate
"Arek is a magic visionary with sharp attention to detail."
Jane de Abreu
Founder, SweetGrass
"Excellent work! Fast, reliable and look and feel matched beyond our expectations."
Lucas Berman
Partner, FOX BERMAN
"We had a terrific experience working with Arek on our logos and pitch deck. Highly recommended!"
Darla Powell
Founder, Wingnut Social
"Arek is a branding expert with extensive experience in graphic design, logos, and web design. We have collaborated with him on several rebranding projects. I highly recommend him."
Chris Nixon
Founder, Airport Executive
"After several failures of using Fiverr and 99designs to handle our rebranding project, we finally found Arek and Ebaq Design who nailed it at first. There was no time wasted, Arek was very organized and methodical about his approach from the start."
Pavel Bulkiewicz
Founder, Medihuanna
"Working with Arek was an awesome experience. He is so creative and fast and talented in so many tech areas. He has great ideas and gave honest feedback to my ideas. Final website was incredible. Very impressive. I will be using him for everything going forward."
James Greaves
CEO, Brand Makers
"I liked the overall approach Arek brings on the table. To the point. Focused on the end result. Detailed workshop, to bring out the desired outcome. And most importantly, he has so much clarity on the subject, and he guided me so well, to reach a conclusion on how the brand should be perceived and portrayed as."
Dhruv Patel
Founder, AMI
"After struggling to build our website on Squarespace and wasting valuable time with underwhelming designers on Upwork, we finally discovered Arek at Ebaqdesign—and what a game-changer that was. From the very start, he understood our vision, took control of the process, and delivered a brand transformation that exceeded all our expectations. The results were beyond anything we could have imagined!"
Alan Rudt
"Arek successfully translated a myriad of different ideas into a cohesive brand image. He was professional, patient and went above and beyond to ensure the project was completed successfully. His work reflects a real passion and dedication for design. Arek worked collaboratively with me and provided just the right guidance and direction I was looking for. After doing a great job on the first project, I quickly hired him for a second, and third! I would happily recommend his services to anyone looking for top quality design work. Feel free to reach out to me with any questions regarding my client experience."
Akshay Ramanathan
Revenue Operations & GTM Systems
FAQs
Freelancer or agency?
Usually by a wide margin. With me, a brand identity is $3,000 in one week and other work is the same flat weekly rate. Traditional agencies typically charge $25k–$100k+ over 3–9 months for comparable identity work.
An agency fee pays for account managers, project managers, sales, an office, and the agency's margin, on top of the design. The design itself is often done by one senior designer, and many agencies bring in senior freelancers for it. Hiring that designer directly, you pay for the design work only.
It depends on the freelancer, which is why seniority matters more than the label. I have designed brand identities for over 20 years for startups, law firms, and real estate teams, and the case studies on this site show the work.
Most brand and website projects need one senior designer who can also build. I cover strategy, identity, motion, web design, and development in Framer, Webflow, and Next.js. For large multi-team rollouts, an agency is the better fit, and I will say so on the call.
Availability. We agree the start date and scope before you pay, and the one-week brand identity timeline is guaranteed.
Book a 15-minute call. We agree the scope, the number of weeks, and a fixed total before any work starts. Once we agree on scope and timing, I send the agreement and invoice. Payment for the booked engagement is due upfront, before work begins.
Find out in 15 minutes
Book a call. Tell me what you need and I’ll tell you honestly whether I’m the right hire or an agency is.