A guide to the design journey
What to expect when working with a graphic designer
Lately I’ve been thinking about what it would be like from a client’s perspective to work with a graphic designer, especially those clients who’ve never dealt with one before. So, here I am, writing about it to let you know what you can expect when working with a well seasoned graphic designer.
Just like any industry, it may seem like we have our own secret language and some things we need to bring up in conversation are unique to our daily work and our daily language. Some of the time it’s boring technical stuff like pixel dimensions and colour specs and we’re truly sorry, but most of our conversation involves digging deep on what your project is and how to go about it. Any questions we ask helps us work out how to communicate to your business’s customers. These conversations can be daunting and new but remember, at the very foundation, a designer’s discipline is communication. We produce visual communication across a wide range of areas like websites, social media, printed brochures, the list is long and each requires different considerations and varying conversations.
We’re used to talking to a wide range of people and businesses, no two days are ever the same in this job and no two clients are ever the same so we need to be pretty flexible when we communicate.
I see this as a huge plus for clients, it means we can talk to different people from a range of different backgrounds and we know how to pull out important information from any discussion. If the project gets a bit off-track sometimes, we’re willing to talk about how to change tack to get where we need to be, we just need to keep talking.
Before you engage a graphic designer
First of all, the scope of your project needs to be developed. If you’re struggling with how to communicate this, I have a basic design brief form that asks detailed questions about the nature of your project. Any good designer will ask for similar details prior to quoting.
Some clients think it might help to say ‘I don’t want to taint your creativity’ or ‘I just want to let you work your magic’ and I know they mean the best, but this stuff gives me the shakes. Any good designer will be endeavouring to solve a problem for their client. This problem for instance might be ‘I need my packaging updated’, but without knowing what isn’t working on the current packaging design along with an outline of what the client is expecting, we’re like bunnies in the headlights. We want to you to be part of the journey... no, we NEED you to be part of it.
At the same time, WE ALSO need to be part of the process from the beginning. A few times, I’ve been approached by clients saying ‘I need a logo designed, I know exactly what I want, I’ve done a drawing and all you need to do is convert it into a logo’. Some clients think this makes our job easier and possibly the job might cost less but in truth these projects are usually the hardest. There’s a foundational process to designing logos and if a client is married to a sketch from the start, it’s almost impossible to progress the project from this stage.
When it comes down to it, the whole designer/client relationship is based on trust and healthy communication, just like any other relationship in life really.
At some stages of the project we’ll be holding the map and at others the client will be. As long as we’ve got the same destination in sight we’ll be ok.
Briefing a graphic designer
So, you’re getting your design brief together and you need to find a designer. If you’ve done a search on designers in your local area, make sure you get three quotes for comparison. Consider it pure gold if you’ve been given a designer’s name from a trusted source.
Even at this point, start to observe your initial interactions with each designer you’re requesting a quote from. How open are they to your business’ needs? Are they reflecting back to you what you have asked? Have they exceeded your expectations?
At the very least your discussions should include the following:
A thorough description of your project and if there’s anything you’re unsure about pick up the phone to chat things through. For example, the design approach for a logo design that will be pressed into concrete may be different to a logo that is used only online. The more info we have, the better.
Final artwork dates, try to include as much detail as possible and avoid using ASAP in your timeline.
Getting some quotes
Once you’ve sourced some designers and told them about your project, they should get a detailed quote back to you pretty quickly. Information that you can expect in your quote includes the following:
A full description of the project reflected back to you.
Detailed costings of production.
How many rounds of alterations are included in the quote and details of the cost in case that is exceeded.
What you will be given at the end of the project. For example, a logo file may be supplied to you in .jpeg, .pdf, and .ai formats.
Any project management fees.
Once you’ve got the quotes in your hot little hands, go through the items carefully and a decision will need to be made on how to proceed. Get back to the designer/s as soon as you can with either a confirmed go ahead or your intention to decline their quote.
Talk to your designer
Once you’ve been given some concept designs, we understand you need time to think it over but please don’t let a month roll by without talking to us. We don’t stop thinking about your project even after we’ve presented it to you, this is sad but true so please let us know if we’ve hit or missed the mark.
If the design we’ve sent you isn’t answering all of your needs, part of the design process is refinement and we’ve built that into the costings, it’s rare to nail the design first time. Once again, a conversation will determine your needs through detailed feedback. It’s important we use feedback as a stepping stone towards the right direction.
Part of the feedback conversation is talking about the details where follow up questions can be asked for clarity in relation to communicating to your business’s audience. For example, feedback might include a statement like ‘I don’t like blue’. Follow up questions could be ‘is it too bright/dominant? Not bright enough? Is it too clinical?’ This is all part of the refinement part of the process. At each feedback point during the process, we can refer back to the design brief to make sure we’re staying on track.
Let’s wrap it up
By this stage, you should know your designer well and know the point at which to approve your design project. Once you’ve verbalised your approval to your designer you’ll receive everything that was outlined in the original quote. If anything within the scope of the project has changed, your designer should have talked this through with you as well as any implication on the final cost of your project. You should be confident you have a professional project ready for launch. We’ve arrived.
As usual, I have a few extra tidbits that are worth a look:
The difference between art and design
7 tips to improving client-designer relationships
How to give better design feedback
Have I missed anything important? Want to share your story? Use the comments section to get in touch.
First published Feb 10, 2021