Limited hierarchy: The company is basically split into a few “Creative Directors” and a hoard of junior designers. There is a definite need for more structure and defined roles. Project Managers, Client Services, Senior and Mid-level designers with a range of experience.
Lack of Experience: Illustria hires almost everyone straight out of college. I suspect this is due to a lack of funds needed to pay for more experienced designers. The big issue here is that there is absolutely no mentorship to look forward to as a new employee. When your Creative Director only has a few months to a year more experience than you, you can expect to look to Google Search for most answers.
No training: In addition to a lack of mentorship, a new employee can expect little to no training. You will quickly be run through how the system works (timesheets, project submissions, etc.) and then be thrown in the deep end, working on client projects on your first day.
Employees are not considered an investment: After you are thrown in the deep end, you will be expected to sink or swim. If you are not a fast worker or do not produce excellent work immediately, you will most likely be fired within a month (often without sufficient warning). There needs to be a proper training period in place that encourages new employee success rather then seeking failure.
The business model: While the subscription based business model is a unique idea, it does not work well with creative projects. The cheap pricing that Illustria provides is ideal for company’s looking for production work or a supplement to an existing in-house team. However, the founders keep encouraging sales to bring on more creative work (branding, UI/UX, ad campaigns etc.) While this is great for the young, passionate designers that work for them, the cost structure does not allow for the team collaboration and processes that are required to work on such large-scale projects. Therefore, these large, creative projects are generally shoved onto one designer to work through themselves. This often results in underwhelming products and unhappy clients at no fault to the designer.
The founders: While I am sure they have the best of intentions, the two founders are absolutely the number one problem that Illustria faces. To start, neither have a background in design. They don’t understand the creative process or how to work with designers. This problem could have been resolved by hiring a Creative Director who has worked 5-10 years in the industry but they decided to build a company where neither they nor their employees have sufficient experience.
Aside from their lack of design knowledge, their youth and lack of social skills has created an unbearably awkward work environment. Your ideas will be shot down and any criticism you give will be taken very personally. Neither of them can manage people effectively and this is really the major issue with the company. Great designers, promising business model BUT horrible management.
