Strategies for hiring UX/UI designers, content strategists, marketing technologists, and creative directors — including portfolio evaluation, cultural fit assessment, and creative team building for digital-first companies.
As of October 2026, a contract graphic designer typically bills about $45 to $48 an hour through a staffing firm and an art director about $83 to $88, modeled from federal wage data plus a 24% employer burden. KORE1 has no observed creative bill rates, so every figure here is a BLS-modeled estimate (OEWS May … Read more
Judge a contract-to-hire creative on fit, pace, and how they take feedback, not the portfolio you already saw. Score it at days 30, 60, and 90. KORE1 converts 37.5% of contract-to-hire placements across all roles (207 of 552), and a KORE1 contractor can convert at no fee after 1,040 hours. By Samantha Litman, Executive Search, … Read more
Staff a launch in three waves: a creative project manager and art director first, then designers, copywriters, and producers for the build, then motion designers and video editors for the final stretch. Keep brand ownership in-house. KORE1 contract assignments run a median 116 days (n=1,887), about one launch window. By Samantha Litman, Executive Search, Marketing, … Read more
Entertainment marketing is the work of selling films, series, music, and live events to audiences, and selling those audiences to brands. Studios and streamers now run more of that second job themselves, so they’re hiring agency-trained people, from brand partnerships leads and branded content producers to creative directors and account leaders who know how to … Read more
By Devin Hornick, Co-Founder and Partner, KORE1 A product designer job description should name the product the hire will own, the metric they share with a product manager, the platforms they ship on, and a base range, about $100,000 to $175,000 for mid to senior in 2026. Everything else on the page is supporting detail. … Read more
A salary offer is competitive when it beats what your best candidate earns today and pays for everything else the job asks of them, from the level and the scope to the office days and the risk of moving. Most offers that feel low aren’t low against the title. They’re low against the ask. By … Read more
By Mike Carter, Managing Director, KORE1 Good product designer interview questions for 2026 ask a candidate to find the funnel step worth redesigning, read an A/B test honestly, and design for an AI feature that is sometimes wrong. Portfolio polish tells you about taste. These questions tell you whether the person will move a number. … Read more
A motion designer salary in 2026 runs $75,000 to $150,000 depending on level, and federal data backs it up, putting the middle half of the occupation at $75,490 to $139,130 with a $102,030 median. By Samantha Litman, Executive Search, Marketing, Creative & Media, KORE1 Seventy-five to one-fifty. When I give a client that range for … Read more
A recruitment agency is worth it when the seat costs more sitting empty than the fee costs to fill. On an $85,000 marketing seat, a 20 percent fee works out to about seven weeks of that seat staying open. By Samantha Litman, Executive Search, Marketing, Creative & Media, KORE1 “Honestly? You’re too expensive.” I have … Read more
An art director salary in 2026 runs about $85,000 to $100,000 on the agency and brand searches I run, against a federal median of $114,850 and a Glassdoor average of $107,994. The gap is mostly which art director you mean. By Samantha Litman, Executive Search, Marketing, Creative & Media, KORE1 Eighty-five to one hundred thousand. … Read more
