How to Work with a Graphic Designer | Pt. 1

In the world of design work, it is inevitable that we will meet people that we have trouble communicating with. Even if we all speak the same language, the words and ideas we have gathered in our experiences shapes our understanding of those words and ideas. You may have heard that it is scientifically true that your red and my red might not be the same. That applies to our hardware (eyes) and our software (the way our brain processes color, or words or ideas). Certainly that applies to blue too. It’s entirely possible that you may never find the right blue. It may never be blue enough. I want to bridge the gap between designers and clients so that we can work together efficiently & effectively. 

Let’s start at the start where starting happens. You decide you need a graphic designer’s help to create your vision. Before you look for designers or talking to your Uncle’s nephew’s niece who knows a person who can draw, you MUST decide how you’re going to convey your vision to that person. So sit down with a pen and paper or set your phone to Do Not Disturb and open the notes app. Here are the questions you’re going to answer first:

1. What visual element(s) do I need?
   Is it a logo revamp, a visual identity system, social media graphics or templates, t-shirts, stickers, a sign for your small business?
   

2. What is the business, cause, organization, band that the graphic is for?
   

3. Who is the audience? Who are your clients, customers, fans, etc?
   This one can be very detailed. The more descriptive the better! Some people call this building an “Avatar” of their customer(s) and some people get wildly specific.
   

4. What is the tone/vibe?
    Is it strictly professional and straight-laced, informal, how weird can we get? Designers are often crammed into boxes full of suits and ties and professionalism because that’s where the money is. If we can get weird, we will. We desperately want to get weird.
   

5. Do you have an established brand? What colors, fonts, shapes, images, and voice need to be used?
   If you have brand guidelines, make sure you know where those are to send to the designer you decide to work with.
   

6. What is your budget for the project?
   Some folks have trouble talking about money but let’s be real here, you’re trading money for visuals. It doesn’t have to be awkward. Embrace the trade. It makes the world go round!
   Make sure you know exactly how much you can spend on this project before you start inquiring with designers. Some designers have a ton of clients, experience, & demand and they’ll charge more than someone that recently graduated from a design program at your local college. You need to know where you stand on that spectrum of designer cost.
   

7. When do you need it finished? What is your absolutely drop dead deadline for this thing? Is it tomorrow??!
   Look, if it’s tomorrow, it’s going to cost extra. It just has to because this designer is going to have to stop what they’re doing, move things around on their schedule and likely work into the night to achieve this. Please don’t let it be tomorrow. A month is a nice timeline to work with. Also, many designers are booked up to 3 months ahead, some a year or more. Time is an incredibly important piece of this puzzle.

Now that you have all of that information in one place you can begin crafting your message to the designer of your choice. It might look something like this,

“Hey ______! I need Answer to question 1 goes here. I own a company called Answer to question 2. We serve Answer to question 3. I’ve envisioned an Answer to question 4 aesthetic for this project. My business has brand guidelines which I’ve attached to this email (question 5). Our budget for this project is Answer to question 6. (Quick tip, use a range, ex: $1k-$1.2k with your absolute max as the 2nd number. Ask if you can get variations and more deliverables for your max budget. Designers might hate me for this one.) My timeline for this project is Answer to question 7. Do you think this is a project you’d be interested in? Sincerely, ______”

The struggle to communicate is often caused by not fully understanding what we want. Hopefully, these 7 questions and this simple script can help you better understand the project at hand and to clarify your needs to your designer.

Good luck out there and Godspeed!