Serial freelance contracts don’t benefit anybody

You can tell the design world has been busy recently because of the rise of the freelance.

Yes, there are some great people out there freelancing, but I would question whether the design consultancy or the freelance actually benefit from the serial one-week dates everyone seems to be on.

In my experience, it’s impossible for people to get their head around the client, the project and the challenge – let alone the design group’s way of working – in such a short time. When people put down roots, they feel part of a team, get a chance to develop, gain support, and have their contribution recognised.

Unfortunately, permanent middle and senior designers are becoming a rare breed as swarms of freelances fly around. When the chill winds blow through the design sector again, I wonder how many will be left out in the cold?

I’m not sure what the implications for the future are, but we could easily be creating a bunch of generalists, rather than people that can make a sustained contribution.

Jeremy Sice, Managing director, SAS, London W2