Big or Small Jobs for all? ISSUES AND PRACTICES

Animation, interactive media, special effects, title design, moving image and motion graphics all fall under the title multimedia. In companies such as The Mill they have a large number of staff that are set to very specific areas and are employed for a specific use which for some would be a dream job but for not I suppose for designers, for example they will be split into Tv programmes and advertisments and then they will be split off again into modelers and editors even as specific as rigging a character so for keen designers who want there input. On the other hand smaller companies such as We Are Seventeen have a small amount of staff three in all. In comparison to The Mill which have enough staff to have the ability to complete a larger amount of output and work on multiple jobs but the employees will be restricted to only a small part of the process. We Are Seventeen on the other hand are restricted to taking less jobs but by having a small team the advantage there own input is required and I think having more involvement in most aspects of the work, this in turn I would think create better job satisfaction. In comapring the two there would be advantages and disadvantages on both sides for example a smaller company requires a person to have a broader set of skills and have the ability to multi task almost how you are during your studys. This is where i would like to find myself, having multiple skills and not being pinned down to a specific area. I think there would be alot more pressure to deliver in a small company. They also may have to work on there own pitches for jobs. I think the major advantage in my opinion in working in a small company is that your work would feel more your own whereas in a large company having being placed in a very specific area say rigging, you would have little to no input in the final piece although some people would find this appealing as there would be less pressure on the person and there would be the oppotunity to really whone in on certain skills.

The advantages for the clients employing a small design firm is they seem very ambitious and want the work also want to do the best job they can in order to promote themselves. Also for the client themselves the small company or freelances they would be expected to be more accessible and I suppose they tend to be more innovative when it comes to new ideas or major changes in the work.

"Freelance designers and small design firms tend to deliver the project earlier than larger design companies."

Here is an interesting quote by James Paden on the advantages of a large company

"large design companys have individual experts on staff most freelancers and small companies will probably know a lot about website design, but they won’t have a full time graphic designer, web programmer, interface designer, copywriter, SEO expert and social marketer on the payroll. Not only that, but all these people have friends and their own personal support network. More experts will have eyes on your project at a larger company."

One major factor I think is that the big companies are big for the simple reason they have made it that far using there abilities skills and talents. Although saying this they must have started of as small company to begin with so everyone needs to start somewhere. So when it comes down to it most probably all design companys freelances will try there best to promote there own work as it is a very competitive industry.