So you’ve realized that you cannot do all the design work for your web, blog and social media without the help of a graphic designer. How do you pic a graphic designer?
You hop onto the internet and Google: Graphic Designer New York (or whatever city you’re from)
A long list of designers and printers pop up and you look at the websites of the first few that pops up in your search results. (If their website comes up on top, they must be good right?)
You find one whose work looks good and are fairly cheap. That’s it, you’ve hired your very first graphic designer! Until…
A few week or month along the line you battle with work not coming out on time. Printers complaining of artwork not being print-ready. Maybe the designs aren’t bad, but not at all what you’ve had in mind!
Suddenly your quick and easy Google search seems like a total waste of time (and money)
But how do you go about finding a good graphic designer?
Spoiler alert!!
With graphic designers, as with most other things in life, if you want to pay peanuts, expect to employ monkeys!
Instant coffee and pure coffee are in essence the same thing, but in reality, they’re not equal.
Before committing to a designer, it is always wise to work with them on a single project. That way you can get to know the designer and see if you make a good team. To make sure that the designer is able to bring your vision for your company to life.
A good graphic designer will be able to:
- understand who you are trying to reach with your design message (your ideal client).
- visually communicate your message.
- understand what your overall business goals are.
It therefore comes without saying that you should know the answers to these questions as well, even before your first meeting with your prospective graphic designer.
You are after all not simply hiring someone to design some “pretty graphics” for you, but someone who understand your needs and are able to help your business grow.
Here are some tips to consider when choosing your graphic designer:
- Be clear with your goals and expectations of what you want to achieve.
- Know what types of skills you are looking for. Design is a broad term and if you’re looking for an illustration, a web designer might not be your best option, and vice versa.
- See how the designer can think on their feet (a good test to see how they will handle the unknown). Let them evaluate previous or other design work. Ask them what they would do differently or better.
- Don’t rely on portfolio’s Sometimes portfolio’s might look amazing, but the process the designer follow can be agonizing. Or the time line might not suit your needs.
- Consider a trial project to start with. Pic something small first, before you commit to a designer for more or bigger projects.
- Request a short video chat or one-on-one interview (if they don’t offer it). Seeing someone face-to-face immediately gives you a feel if you connect. This helps a lot when it comes to communicating your ideas.
- Ask what will be required from you. Some designers have a specific process they follow that might include some work from your side as well, eg. filling out forms or providing certain content.
- Explain your brand vision and target audience The designer can only ensure that your message is successfully captured in the design, if they know for who the message is intended, as well as exactly what the message should be.
- Look for relevant industry They say experience is the source of knowledge. Getting someone with enough experience, also gives you the knowledge of that for your projects.
- Talk about what inspires the designer. Knowing what inspires a particular designer, enables you to help them help you. For some designers it is seeing your business and process. For others is might be going through relevant photographs. But providing your designer with this as far as possible, helps to inspire them to give you the best end result.
- Look for experience that relates to your ideas. Some designers have a very particular style and hardly ever deviates from it. You should look for a designer whose design style suits your needs. Ideally you are looking for someone who can deliver in any style. They will be more able to provide you with a successfull
- Make sure about your deadline and if they can accomplish it in that time. Part of the responsibility of a deadline will also be with you as customer to respond to the designer’s emails and proofs.
- Always get recommendations/testimonials. This is a wonderful way of finding out how customers experience a designer and the process they use. Although this is not set in stone, it can give you a good indication.
- The price fits into your budget. This is totally up to you. Just remember that the more experienced a designer is, the higher the price. But you usually get what you pay for.
- Their work must show that they can adapt to a variety of styles in their design work. If you’re looking for a long time relationship, this is especially important. It is also very important if you serve customers with different demographics.
- If they have a blog, it shows they can give your added value. Although this is not a guarantee, it usually shows you that a designer knows more than just drawing pretty pictures, and best of all, will share this knowledge (knowingly or unknowingly) with you for free.
Besides Google, there are a couple of places you can look for a designer:
- recommendations from social media groups
- Fiverr
- Freelancer
- Behance
- Upwork
So you have found one or two designers that look the part for you. Their price seems reasonable and you like the work in their portfolio. But how do you go about choosing between them?
A couple of questions in an interview could quickly help you choose between them. I do highly recommend doing it face-to-face or via video call. The way they react and then respond to your questions can tell you a lot about them, their confidence in their own abilities and their process.
Here are 6 important questions to ask:
- Describe your design process
- How do you work with collaborators such as copywriters, photographers and developers during a project?
- Tell me about the timeline I can expect for the project.
- How would you handle it when you don’t agree with my feedback?
- What motivate you / where do you find creative inspiration?
- What is your payment policy?
So there you have it. Not so scary after all!
If you still feel that you are not sure about hiring the correct graphic designer for your needs, send me a message and I’ll gladly answer any questions you might have.
Until next time!
