Utilisation is a thermometer, not a goal

Every studio owner we talk to can quote their utilisation number. Far fewer can say what it should be. The instinct is to push it up: if a designer is billable 95% of the week, the studio must be running well. In practice, teams that sustain above roughly 85% for more than a quarter start showing the same symptoms — slipping deadlines, no time for feedback rounds, and a hiring scramble the moment someone takes leave.

Utilisation is a thermometer. It tells you the temperature of the studio, not where you should set the thermostat. The teams with the healthiest margins in our customer base sit between 70% and 82% billable, and they protect the remaining time deliberately: internal reviews, pitch work, tooling, and the slack that absorbs a client who is two days late with assets.

The number to watch alongside it is committed capacity — how many hours of confirmed work you have already promised against the hours you actually have. When commitment crosses 100% for a future week, that week is already late; nobody has just noticed yet. Tempo surfaces this three to eight weeks ahead, which is where the decisions are still cheap.

A practical rhythm: review the next six weeks every Monday morning, in fifteen minutes. Look for a week above 95% committed, a person above 90%, and any project with no named owner. Fix those three and you have done most of resource planning.

If your studio is currently over the line, resist the urge to hire first. Re-sequence one project by a week, move a discovery phase behind a delivery phase, and re-check. Roughly half the overloads we see are scheduling problems wearing a headcount costume.