If you’ve been in business for more than a few minutes, chances are that you’ve either hired or attempted to hire a graphic designer in the past, so you know how difficult it can be. But once you’ve put your project into the hands of a capable designer, the ball is rolling, so it’s important to know how to get the most from your relationship. In order to do that, you’re going to need to have a basic understanding of an industry that is shrouded by myths, misnomers and misconceptions. Once you know what a designer is and isn’t, and how the industry works, you can communicate more effectively with your designer, shorten the timelines and cost of your projects, and make life a lot easier on both you and them.

Graphic designers are professionals

Understand that just like any other member of your staff, graphic designers, whether freelance or employees of a marketing company or advertising firm, are professionals who have taken certain steps to achieve their education and experience. The work that they do can be a valuable asset to your business. Treat them with the same level of respect that you feel you deserve you should be treated.

Software is nothing more than a tool

There is a certain level of technical skill and experience required to design effective marketing materials. It’s not a matter of simply having access to a particular computer program. Most accountants use one of the industry standard computer programs to maintain their client’s finances, but you wouldn’t give your receptionist a copy of Quicken and think that she could effectively handle your corporate taxes. Graphic design is no different. When graphic design software is used by a professional, the results can be astounding, but when used by a novice, the results can be range from mediocre to dismal.

Designers are often asked to “photoshop” a graphic, often to fix some catastrophic problem, such as turning a black and white photo into a color photo. To put the humor of this request into perspective, let’s assume that you run an auto mechanic shop and a client comes in with a major problem with his vehicle…let’s say a cracked engine block. When you inform him that because of the severity of the problem and the amount of work that will go into fixing it, the job will take several days and will cost $3,500, he asks you to simply “matco” it. Graphic design does not have an “easy” button that does the work for us.

Graphic designers are not mind readers

Despite their sometimes eccentric appearance, graphic designers can not read minds, nor can they see in the dark, fly, or cast spells. If you want your project to be completed in a timely manner, it’s imperative to communicate with your designer. If you can’t explain what you want, you can show them other things that have the same feel that you are trying to achieve, such as a magazine, another web site or even the architecture of a particular building ? but don’t ask them to copy something. Not only is it illegal, but it will also present a poor image of you and your company. If you find that you are having a difficult time conveying your vision to your designer, an option may be to proceed in smaller steps so that you can make minor changes along the way rather than having to start over with a design that took the wrong direction entirely.

Both time and ideas are money

Unless you have agreed to compensate your designer on an hourly rate instead of a flat rate, you should never ask them to design something without some sort of direction as to what you want. It’s not any more acceptable to tell your graphic designer “I don’t know what I want, but I’ll know when I see it.” than it would be for them to tell you “I don’t know how much this will cost, but I’ll know when I charge you.”

The graphic design industry is unique compared to many other industries in that there is no tangible product when a project is completed. If a customer at the checkout register of your hardware store chooses to leave without purchasing your products, you can simply put them back on the shelf and sell them to a different customer. If a designer finds him or herself in a similar position, they can not take the same course of action because a design produced for one client will rarely be suitable for another client. This is why it’s morally wrong to ask a designer to work on “spec” or to create a design for you in the hopes that you’ll like it enough to actually pay for it. It would be like asking a home builder to build on your land, and if you liked the house, you would pay them for it. No builder in his or her right mind would agree to that, nor would any person in their right mind be comfortable requesting the builder to do it.

Graphic designers have personal lives too

At the end of the day, you go home, but for some reason, people seem to think that it’s perfectly acceptable to drop a project off to a designer at 5:45pm and expect to see it completed by 9:00am the following business day. Your business is normally conducted during a set range of hours and you should expect the same to be true for any graphic design firm. Sure, there will be cases when burning the midnight oil may be necessary ? but that is the exception, not the norm. The more time that a designer is given to complete a project, the better it will usually turn out. Rushing a project inevitably leads to mistakes and an overall lower quality.

Time stands still for no man

Define realistic timelines for your projects. If you tell your designer that you need your project finished yesterday, I can assure you that they will not meet your deadline. Setting a deadline of “immediately” or “ASAP” do not define your needs any better. By setting quantifiable goals, you allow your designer to adjust their existing projects accordingly ? but remember, if they have to put another project on hold to work on yours, you will probably have to pay a “rush” fee. When you make everything a priority, you make nothing a priority, so for the best results, get your project to your designer with plenty of time to spare.

What kind of reaction do your prospects have when you hand them a business card? Do they appear genuinely impressed, or do they appear to be holding back laughter?

If the latter is the case, then perhaps it’s time for an upgrade. Maybe when you first started your business you couldn’t afford to shell out the money for professionally designed and printed business cards, or perhaps you didn’t see the value in it.

The fact of the matter is that a professionally designed business card will set you apart from your competition, and when you go the extra mile and have them professionally printed you will really make an outstanding impression. Think 2-sided, full color business cards on a nice heavy 16pt stock (you can literally cut cheese with this) with a high gloss UV coating.

We’ve probably all seen this happen hundreds of times even if we don’t remember it. A company comes out with a really great television commercial and before you know it, everyone is using the same style in their commercials. The same goes for brochures, web sites or any other part of a company’s public face.

On the surface it makes perfect sense. The commercial looked cool and delivered great results. Unfortunately (or rather, fortunately) it only works for the first and sometimes the second or third company. After this point no one remembers which company is which and the first few trendsetting companies have moved on to something new.

Perhaps a larger company can get away with this type of approach to their marketing, but most smaller companies would be buried trying to keep up. To successfully market your company with a smaller budget, you’ll need to be the trendsetter and keep your competitors on their toes.

It’s common for business owners to make unrealistic requests of design firms. Probably the most common is when they contact several design firms and ask them all to design something for them, whether it’s a logo, brochure or some other piece, with the intent that they will choose one of the designs if they like it. While it may seem like there is nothing wrong with this request, in reality, there is. Think about how this request would be taken in any other industry.

Potential home buyer: I want you to build me a house and I’m going to have three other builders do the same thing. After these homes are completed, if I like one I’ll purchase it.
Home builder: Uhhh…No.

Potential car buyer: I’m thinking about buying a car from either you or another car dealer with in a seventy mile radius. I’d like you to drop off one of each model of car that you have (the other car dealers will be doing the same) and after I’ve had a chance to drive all of them for a while I’ll decide if I want to buy one.
Car dealer: Uhhh…No.

Restaurant visitor: I don’t know what I want to eat, but I’ll know what I like when I taste it. I want you to make everything from your menu deliver it to my house. Keep in mind that the Chinese, Italian and Mexican restaurants will be delivering their food as well. After tasting everything, if I’m still hungry, I will choose a meal from one restaurant.
Restaurant owner: Uhhh…No.

The bottom line is that graphic design is a business. You wouldn’t run your business by handing out your product or service for free in hopes that someone might feel like paying for it and you shouldn’t expect a design firm or designer to do so. Some firms will do spec work, but they usually fall into one of two categories. They are either brand new firms with no experience trying to land their first clients, or they are huge firms that only work with clients that have multi-million dollar advertising budgets.

Like any other business, a graphic design firm has overhead. By working on spec, they are forced to raise their prices because unlike some businesses that sell a product, graphic designers can not take back their time and resell it. Many people take for granted the overhead that can be necessary to run a graphic design firm. Specialized software is required to do what we do, and depending on what is needed, can be an investment of several thousand dollars per employee ? which must be updated on a regular basis. Additionally, a graphic design firm needs far more robust hardware than the average user. Our processing power, memory and storage capacity needs can be mind blowing and frequent upgrades are often necessary. Most firms employ highly skilled designers, whom must be paid accordingly. These designers have the talent and experience to develop marketing materials that deliver results quickly and efficiently. All of this allows us to provide our clients the best service at a reasonable price and in a timely manner.

If you’re planning on growing your business, you know that you’re going to have to market it in some way. This will almost always require something that people will look at, whether in print, on the Internet, on television or some other medium. With that in mind, it’s important that you know the role that the two key aspects of any visual marketing tool play.

Graphic Design is best used to get your prospect’s attention. A professional designer knows how best to utilize layout and color to evoke a certain feeling or emotion as well as directing attention to particular information.

Copywriting is best used to clearly communicate your message and provide details. A professional copywriter will tailor your text to effectively communicate with your target audience while creating a powerful call to action.

It’s important to keep in mind that in most cases, effective graphic design will not compensate for weak copy nor will effective copy compensate for weak graphic design. A person’s impression of the professionalism of you company hinges vitally on the quality of the material you present to them. One way to get the most from your visual marketing materials is to ensure that you, the graphic designer and the copywriter all have open communications throughout the process. This ensures that everyone is on the same page and also speeds up the development process.

If you haven’t already experienced it yourself, then you’ve probably heard some of the horror stories about trying to find or work with a graphic designer. It can be difficult, time consuming and frustrating to say the least, but in all fairness it’s no different than any other profession. Think about how some people must feel when they have to work with some of your competitors.

You’ll want to evaluate some basic things first - things that are vital in any industry. Is your potential designer on time to meet with you? Do they treat your staff with respect or do they treat them they like they don’t matter? Did they do their homework before coming? Once you’ve nailed down the basics, your list of potential designers will probably be a lot smaller. Now you can start to look at some of the things that are more specific to our industry.

Presentation

Everything from how a designer dresses to how they package their sample work will tell you something about them. Take a look at their clothing but avoid basing your opinion on your personal fashion preferences. Instead, look at details that will tell you how much effort they put into their own appearance. Clean shoes are a great indication of someone that pays attention to details. Trimmed fingernails are another. You’ll also want to pay attention to whether the work presented in their portfolio is straight. Though these may seem like little details they will mean a lot in determining the attention to detail that your designer will take in your project.

Preparation

Did your designer run up to your office door chasing his wind blown papers across the parking lot or did he stride confidently to your door, materials in hand? Did he show up with a pen and notebook? This is important unless you want to spend a lot of time later reminding them many of the things that you’ve already told them. A designer that isn’t prepared for the initial meeting is not going to conduct day-to-day business any differently.

Point of view

Everyone has a different view of the world and it’s a given that those with a similar point of view will work better together. With that in mind, it’s important to find a designer that shares your beliefs. The advertising for your multi-million dollar SUV dealership will never achieve spectacular results as long as you are using a designer that believes that all corporations are big evil things bent on destroying society for a buck. If your designer doesn’t understand where you’re coming from they will never be able to tell your prospects.

Portfolio

This is really a classic case of “size doesn’t matter - it’s how you use it!” When considering designers you may be loosing out if you dismiss a designer because of a small portfolio. The designer that came by in a 3-piece suit with a three inch thick portfolio isn’t necessarily the one for the job. Maybe the girl that has no college degree and a portfolio with nine pages of work that she did at home is a better fit for you. The most important thing really is quality. The designer that brings everything may not be able to decide what to present and what not to present which could mean that they will have the same problem in delivering a clear message to your audience.

There is one more thing to consider when you choose a graphic designer - they know what you don’t when it comes to design. When you say “let’s add more colors” or “make the text bolder” there is usually a good reason that they’re rolling their eyes. We recommend that after you’ve done your homework and chosen a competent graphic designer you let them do their job. Graphic design is a lot more than just making something look nice. There are a lot of technical details that have scientific backing that you may not know about. In most cases it’s in your best interest to focus on what you are an expert in and let them focus on what they are an expert in. You will see far better results that way.