What’s the best way to brief your graphic designer?
When the time comes and you need the services of a graphic designer, the first port of call is to find a graphic designer that you gel with and have an introductory meeting.
It helps to do some preparation first, so here are some things you may want to consider:
Before your first meeting note down your business purpose and direction and gather information on competitors such as their website, location, clients etc.
When you get to your meeting, brainstorm words to describe your business, say who your target audience is such as demographic, business size, entity and so on.
Show your designer any past material you may have commissioned and gather any logos or images that show the feel you would like to portray. You can even include sketches or mood boards you may have regarding colours and layout.
Most importantly make sure you agree on a budget and timeframe so that you both know where you stand and what you should expect before you start creating your brand.
What if you are a small business?
One thing to consider if you happen to be a small business with a limited budget – and there are a lot of them; you may be wary about hiring a professional graphic designer thinking it’s a lot of expense with no guarantee of recouping that expense. However, it can be a wise choice to outsource your graphic design if you don’t have hours to spend learning a new trade or if your own design work isn’t of a high enough standard.
Something just for fun.
This a little tongue in cheek but you’d be amazed at what we get asked to do sometimes, so purely for your entertainment here are my questions I believe you should never ask a graphic designer:
Can we have the final artwork files? We just need to tweak them in-house.
Could you do something in the style of Nike?
Can I have that artwork in Word format?
If you do this job you’ll get loads of exposure so can you do it for free?
The design looks great but can you just add this image from Google?
We don’t have any content. Can you just design it and we’ll add it later?
Finally, my pet hate. “Can you make it really pop?”
I hope you have found this helpful but if you need any assistance or have any questions, you can always contact us, we're here to help.
