We have a few tips for working with a designer that will help to ensure you are both on the same page. Design is a specialized profession, and it’s best to follow some simple guidelines to ensure you have the optimal experience and outcome. Here are some guidelines for working with a designer:
When working with a designer, it’s important to remember that design is a highly specialized field that requires an eye for detail and an ability to bring concepts to life. Like any professional, designers have high expectations; they want their clients to value the work they do and understand how to get the most out of their experience.
Treating a designer like just another member of your team can result in a longer project and lower quality results. For example, if you give a designer a large brief that has been defined by non-designers or is overly vague or unspecific, they will be frustrated by having to communicate back and forth and come up with solutions without knowing what they are even solving. After all, designers are not mind readers!
Think of design as yet another step in your project management process—like prototyping, it’s an iterative process that requires collaboration and feedback. If you follow these guidelines for working with a designer, you will get more out of your experience:
Know what you want—and what you don’t want. It’s critical you know exactly what the purpose of your design needs are before engaging with a professional. The clearer your vision, the better the outcome will be. Never hire a designer without
I’ve worked with dozens of designers in my career. Many of them were great, others were terrible and a few are still in the middle. I’ve found designers to be more difficult to work with than developers, marketers and business people.
This is because the design process is highly qualitative. It’s not something you can easily measure or even describe. This creates a problem for non-designers, who want to know what they can expect from an interaction with a designer, whether that person be an agency or a freelancer.
The following guidelines will help you work with a designer and make sure you get the outcome you want.
Design is a highly specialized profession that’s often highly misunderstood by clients. If you have an upcoming project, it’s important to be aware of the nuances and expectations of the design process.
1. Designers don’t draw like you do: They use programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator to create layouts, and they can’t simply hand over a clip art-based illustration and expect it to work for you.
The process for creating designs is completely different from the process for creating illustrations.
2. Designers aren’t magicians: They can’t solve every problem, make things perfect, or even make everything look exactly as you want it to “out of the box.”
Designers are problem solvers — and in order to solve your problems, we need to know what they are. We can only work with the information you give us.
3. Designers don’t work in isolation: It takes a team of professionals working in concert to execute an effective design solution that meets the needs of a client and makes them money. An effective designer will be able to discuss your project with other designers or colleagues who can help solve your problems at every step in the creative process —
**1. CONFIDENCE IS THE BEST POLICY
You are a great communicator, able to convey your needs and desires effectively — right? And you have the skills and experience to recognize a good solution when you see it — right? Then why is it important to work with a designer?**
Designers possess abilities and skills that you likely do not have. Designers understand how to translate your needs and ideas into visual forms that are attractive and engaging. They can provide perspective on usability, aesthetics, and structure. Designers will ensure that your materials tell the story you want them to tell through their form, organization, and typography. The design process requires a deep collaboration between you and the designer, requiring open communication channels for sharing ideas, feedback, and suggestions.**
**2. UNDERSTANDING YOUR NEEDS & GOALS
Before starting work with a designer, make sure there is clarity regarding the project goals. If necessary, create an outline or a statement of work (SOW) which clearly outlines the project goals, objectives, scope of work (SOW), audience(s) targeted, key messages/ideas being conveyed, success metrics defined first in qualitative then in quantitative terms (e.g., sales lift in X
A designer has a wide range of experience and skills. They need to be able to interpret both the information you give them, as well as their own observations, in order to create a design. It is important that you provide clear instructions and don’t give too many constraints that limit the designers creativity.
Make sure you specify what exactly you want to see in the final design. If it’s not clear in your mind what final product you want, the designer might make assumptions that lead to a different result than what you had intended. You will have plenty of time, once the design is complete, to offer feedback and make changes or additions.
Even if you have an exact idea of what you want in your new site, it’s always helpful for designers to know why you are choosing one direction over another. Is it something specific to your business? An industry trend? Or just a personal preference? This can help your designer make better design choices for your site and ensure they are addressing your goals and needs.
If there are any restrictions or limitations on the project due to budgetary or other concerns, let your designer know about them up front so they can factor them into their planning process without surprises later on.
Be available for questions throughout the
Designers are not just for design. They are also for strategy and research, two of the most important things that happen in the business world. And even if you don’t need those things, hiring a designer and paying them well is a way to signal to your team that good design is valued.
Designers aren’t just for designers. Design is one of the most powerful tools in building products and services that people love, but it is not the only tool. Designers think visually, but they also have a unique ability to see beyond visual implications—to think in systems, to see where things connect and how they might work together or fail to work together in new ways. Designers can help translate user needs into concrete specifications and then again into beautiful mockups; they can help figure out how to test new ideas quickly; they can help debug technical issues with users.
