When hiring a graphic designer, the relationship should be collaborative and transparent. As a client, knowing what to demand from your designer ensures the final product meets your expectations and goals. Find out what you as a client need to consider when working with a graphic designer to make the most of the partnership.
Understand Your Brand and Goals
Clarity on Brand Identity
Before approaching a graphic designer, it’s crucial to have a clear understanding of your brand. Ask yourself: What are the values, mission, and vision of your business? What tone and style do you want to communicate? These questions help define the visual elements you’ll need in your design. Make sure you understand your ideal clients and how they want to perceive your brand.
Specific Goals for the Project
Whether you need a logo, a website, or an entire branding kit, outline your specific goals for the project. Do you want to rebrand, attract a new audience, or simply refresh your visual assets? Clear objectives give the designer a direction and a measure of success, ensuring they understand the core purpose of the design work[2].
Ask for Transparency in the Process
Initial Consultation and Timeline- How to Brief Your Designer Correctly
It's crucial to ensure that the briefing process is clear and thorough. Start by analysing the full scope of the project, including specific goals and expectations. Do you want to go step by step or do you already have a clear understanding of the project as a whole? In the briefing sheet I provide, you can be as specific as you want, or leave some of it to me if you are not sure about how to answer a question.
Request a Project Scope
Demand a clear scope of work that defines what’s included in the design project. Are there limitations on revisions? Will the designer be responsible for sourcing stock images, or will you provide them? Understanding how long brainstorming, design, revisions, and production will take is vital to staying on track. A detailed project scope avoids miscommunication later and ensures all expectations are met[4]. If you are in a mad hurry, be prepared to pay extra.
Provide Feedback and Expect Revisions
Constructive Criticism
Feedback is an essential part of the design process, but it must be constructive. If you’re not satisfied with the design, be specific about what’s wrong. Whether it’s the color palette, font choice, or layout, offering actionable criticism helps the designer refine the work and meet your vision[6]. Weirdly, try to keep the feedback somewhat abstract; a qualified designer is trained to take the visuals and design towards certain feelings. Rather than say "the logo needs to be bigger", try saying "the logo needs to be more impactful". Instead of asking to change red to blue, please ask for "the colours to be more neutral". A good designer will have several tricks up their sleeve to meet your demands.
Demand Flexibility with Revisions
Discuss how many revisions are included in the project scope. It’s standard for designers to allow two or three rounds of revisions before additional charges apply. Make sure you’re comfortable with this limit before the project begins. Being clear on this upfront will prevent misunderstandings later.
Insist on Ownership and File Delivery
Full Ownership of Final Design
One of the most important aspects of hiring a graphic designer is ensuring you have full ownership of the final design. This means you should be able to use the design on all platforms without restrictions. Make it clear from the start that you expect the designer to transfer the copyright to you once the project is completed.
Request all File Types You Might Need
In addition to ownership, demand all file formats of the final design; high-resolution versions for print and web should also be delivered, such as SVG (vector i.e. fully scalable), PNG (Portable Network Graphics; file is a lossless raster image format that supports transparency and is commonly used for web graphics and images), JPG (ideal for storing and sharing digital photos while maintaining acceptable image quality). I offer all the important versions after the initial "Three custom-made Brand Concepts" when you have selected the concept that you feel most comfortable with. The stage where you get all necessary files is called "Artwork".
Trust the Designer’s Expertise
Respect Their Creative Process
While you should demand clear communication and transparency, it’s equally important to trust the designer’s creative process. You’ve hired a professional for their expertise, so give them room to innovate. Micromanaging the project can stifle creativity and lead to a less-than-ideal outcome.
Open Communication is Key
Ultimately, a successful design project comes down to an effective brief. Ensure you maintain open channels with your designer throughout the project.
Conclusion
By knowing what to demand from your graphic designer, you can ensure that the project aligns with your vision, timeline, and goals. Clear expectations, constructive feedback, and ownership of the final design create a collaborative and productive working relationship. Demand transparency, but also give the designer the creative freedom to deliver their best work.
If graphic design interests you...
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Best regards,
Nina, your designer
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I post a maximum of twice a month, I promise!
The naked brand designer
Who am I? My name is Nina Ignatius. Welcome to my bare-it-all blog about branding and design.
I am delighted to be able to share my 30+ years of brand design expertise (and some unreal experiences from around the world too) with you.
I have worked with small, big, new, old, traditional and modern clients, all wanting to refresh an old brand or create a new one. My experience allows me to work with many clients to provide specific solutions to their branding needs.
I offer you more than 30 years of insights from my international career from prestigious design firms in France, Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia and Scotland, as well as my native Finland.
My proudest professional moment was being selected to Forbes's "40 Women over Forty" for my innovative and disruptive design.
I blog max twice a month. To always be the first to read it, please join my mailing list here. There is also a useful freebie for you to download.
Best regards,
Nina A. Ignatius
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Disclaimer: English is not my first or second language, I always use Grammarly and other AI tools to help write cohesive texts!
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