Questions you should ask your graphic/web designer

Aug 6, 2016

When you look for a graphic designer, finding the right one can be daunting. How do you know he or she is the right one? What questions to ask the designer?

In this post, I will guide you on how to choose the right designer for your project.

 

RESEARCH

 

Before contacting the designer, I encourage you to do the research about the designer. Word of mouth is always the best one, but if you don’t know anyone, look out the designer’s testimonial page to find out what the previous clients said about the work.

I always recommend clients to work on their marketing plan first to have a solid understanding on their product and marketing before approaching a designer, because the more you know about your brand, the easiest it is to brief your designer.

 

MAKE SURE YOU ARE A GOOD FIT.

 

Trust your gut feeling. Don’t just hire a designer because of their cost. You get what you pay for, so if it’s too good to be true, it’s probably not true. Look for someone who is transparent with their pricing so you know what you get with the price. Most designers will be happy to have a chat about their process, their pricing and what includes in the pricing. Get the feel about them before you commit to something.

Check their portfolio and see if you like their style and it fit your business. Designer’s portfolio is the best way to find out if their styles resonate with your branding or your product.  if your business is the baby and children’s industry,  don’t hire a designer who mainly works with blocks in the building industry and vice-versa!

 

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR DESIGNER.

 

So what kind of questions that you need to ask the designer? These are some that I would recommend asking them:

What is your process?

Most designers have a process on their work, including normally filling the design brief, brainstorming with the client. Find out how many changes/revisions they allow you on each process as they vary from designer to designer.

What are your rights and what files will you get?

Find out what you get and don’t get before you sign up.

In my case, I give the copyright and full reproduction rights for the logo design, including working files and different format of images. You will be able to use them to any mediums you like or take them to any designers you want.

For any other print projects, you assume full reproduction rights upon full payment to use the design, graphics, and text contained in the finished assembled projects. All files are supplied as press-ready PDF. You can request any working files (Illustrator, Photoshop or Indesign files) for a fee that includes retrieval fee and transfer of rights to use the artwork.

You normally will get the right to use stock images or fonts that you purchased for the project.

What platform do you use for the website?

If you are hiring a web designer, make sure you ask questions on what platform to use and why they use it. Also make sure you know where the website is hosted and that you will have the access to the hosting just in case something happened and you need to access it yourself.

Who owns my website?

This is important – some developers charged their service very cheap, but they make it hard for you to get out. Find out who owns the website and what happens if you need to break the contract with them.  Most designers also offer ongoing maintenance for a fee that you could take advantage of if you are not tech savvy.

Aren’t sure how to create visual branding and graphic design that hits your target market’s sweet spot? I can help!

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