by Rocky Alvarado
Whether you're a start-up business or an established corporation, quality design is a huge part of how your company is perceived. It could make a small business look legit, and unfortunately, can also make quality businesses look small-time.
With all the Technical schools that now seem to pump out designers by the bunch, logical thinking would say that quality designers are plentiful right? Well as many businesses can tell you, that is just not the case. I have heard horror story after horror story from business owners who have had a difficult time pairing up with a reliable graphic designer.
Why is this so? Really, oversaturation of the market is part of the problem. Just because you passed your class and can work photoshop, doesn't make you a good designer. These schools are pumping out designers, and only a small fraction of them are legitimately talented. Graphic Design is not like being an electrician or some other kind of trade, people think if you learn how to use our tools, you can fit the bill. But that is completely misguided, you need to understand artistic concepts, and balance that out with technical know-how.
There is no foolproof way to find a good graphic designer. But here are some questions you MUST ASK yourself about the designer and your design needs.
• Is he/she qualified?
This seems like a no brainer, but you need to look at more than if the portfolio looks good. You need to know what YOUR needs are. For example, if you need someone to come in and do a newspaper ad or some sort of printed piece. You can't bring in someone who is primarily a web designer because they will not understand the rules of creating a piece for print. Do they understand the concepts of "bleeds" do they know the difference between RGB and CMYK? Which one is necessary for print? Can they create a 1-color piece? Do they know anything about the application of Pantone colors and what it means to the 4-color print process? If the file isn't print ready it will cost you when the printers have to intervene and work on the file themselves.
• Does the designer have any real world experience?
So many people go with a designer who shows them a really cool ad or poster or whatever. Or some website they did with their buddies. But what many young designers don't understand is the stress of meeting deadlines. If you did these ads at school, odds are you had at least a week to create it. When, in the real world, sometimes you only have an hour. Many designers don't get that concept, and the client suffers as a result. I would ask any prospective designer to tell me a story of a time they met a hard deadline.
• Is the designer a diva?
There are some designers out there are so caught up in creating stunning modern design, that they feel like it's beneath them to do a door hanger for your auto shop or whatever, many times you can see this in the portfolio. If you don't see anything that looks like it has any sort of real world application, it might be a good idea to ask them about who their clients were and if these pieces were ever actually produced. Ask them if they have any actual printed samples, or live websites. Many designers design strong artistic pieces on their own time and pass it off as real work. If they are divas, they might be harder to work with as they almost feel bothered doing your "small" job. A quality designer knows that it's not small to you and respects that.
• What are you willing to pay?
Of course in today's economical climate, you want to save cash wherever possible. But design is a trade where you really get what you pay for. Here at SPAR, we are a small mid level boutique, and we charge a rate that can be affordable to both large and small businesses. Sometimes you need a whole marketing campaign with demographic targeting, radio and commercial spots and maybe you feel more comfortable with a large agency. But a big mistake is simply going with the cheapest alternative. There are alot of bogus designers who just learned photoshop, or worse, MS Publisher or something like that and think they can make some easy cash by undercutting everybody. Those designers are the worst because their files are almost guaranteed to not be print ready, and will most likely look like crap. If you don't have the cash, I would suggest a design intern from a quality school. You can pay them in school credit, or pay them a smaller amount, since the real payment for them is to get some work produced for their portfolio. Really cheap designers are very seldom a good deal since odds are you will be disappointed with the final product, and you may incur extra cost from printers when the file requires intervention.
Bottom line is: there are many factors that go into making the big decision of choosing the right graphic designer for you. But the rewards are great when you consider that a good printed piece or quality website can generate far more money than what is put in. So while there is great risk, there is also a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for those who find that elusive dream designer. Happy Hunting!
Rocky Alvarado is a lead graphic/web designer at SPAR Design in Houston, Texas www.spardesign.com
good stuff...
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