How to love your designer and be loved back – seems like an odd relationship to forge love between, right? But the truth is, working with a designer is an integral part of your business’ branding success. The relationship between a business and a graphic designer ideally should be a give and take of creative thoughts and ideas maintaining the designer’s creative vision and how you envision the way your brand is presented to the public. And that public brand, is among the first images a potential client will associate with your business.
We discussed this valuable relationship with a top designer at one of the leading national retailers and asked him to share his thoughts. Here is what we learned about methods to help you love your designer and in return, be loved back:
- Backwards is Best – Start by working backwards to work forward. For designers, it’s a simple equation: Desired End-Result + Desired Timeframe/Go-Live Date = Expected Outcome. For your designer to realistically meet your expectations, providing all of your final expectations, allows your designer to work backwards and better plan the start of the creative process.
Share and Share Alike – Unless you as the client have absolutely no idea what you want (which generally isn’t the case), don’t be afraid to share your ideas unabashedly. Often the craziest ideas will be molded into the best ideas. Designers want to hear your input and thoughts before they put pen to paper, mouse to monitor, stylus to tablet…you get the idea.- Bend a Little – Be flexible. Yes, that crazy idea just may be the one, but it doesn’t mean it should be implemented just the way you see it. Let your designer do what they do best. Listen to their input regarding colors, typeface choices and general layout to achieve the look you are both happy with.
- Mind Your Image – If you are sending images over to your designer, be mindful of the resolution. For quality end-results, stay away from low resolution images.
- The Fine Print – Keep in mind, if you are looking for stock photos or licensed typography included in your end-product, you will most likely incur additional fees. Designers need to pay for usage rights and no matter how awesome your designer is, they don’t want to be stuck paying for those fees and they don’t want you, as their client, to be held liable for licensing and copyright infringement. A good designer knows the proper channels to go through and will not lead you astray.
Being mindful of these simple tips will result in great communication between your business and your designer. And that’s key in all relationships – especially this most important one. Open and clear communication and understanding of these suggestions will have you loving your designer and they will love you back for making their job a little easier.
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