Okay, so you have started your own business or have a thought to bring some sort of refreshment to the existing company. And to complete either of these, first of all, you need a professional graphic designer. Be it a logo, packaging design, or the complete redesign of your website as per the new standards.
Now coming to graphic designers there are plenty of them. But the main task lies in finding and hiring the right professional graphic designer who fulfills and matches your needs. So, before going onto different sites and start searching for one, look at these quick tips and points which will help you find the right one.
What does Graphic Designer actually mean?
Before heading over to the points in finding one, let’s take a moment to understand the term graphic designing and what does actually a professional graphic designer does. Starting with the term, graphic design is a broad word in itself.
Moving on, a graphic designer is a professional who puts all the ideas and communication into different formats for easy understanding. And these formats include logos and taglines, the packaging design of your product line-up, website designing, and much more.
Basically, a graphic designer is one who is capable of converting your company or start-up into a recognized brand. This is why a graphic designer plays an important role in expanding and spreading awareness of your business.
Hopefully, you have got a fair idea of what does the graphic designer does. And more importantly how vital is his/her role in the business. Thus, you should really be careful enough in the process of hiring a perfect graphic designer. With that being said, let us have a look at some of the points and tips you need to follow before deciding the one for your company’s graphic designing needs.
1. Revisit your Requirements
Starting with one of the most and basic points before hiring a graphic designer, understand your requirements. As stated earlier, graphic design is a huge domain with various categories and specializations. Basically, do you want a new logo design for the company or website optimization with a new standard design? So, this thing matters a lot and if overlooked then you might end up regretting your decision.
In this case, my suggestion would be to list down your requirements on paper and then start searching. It may be highly possible that you are looking for a graphic designer in one or multiple domains at a time and get confused. In that scenario, make sure that you choose the ones as per those requirements.
2. Shortlist the candidates
In continuation with the earlier point, once you are ready with the set of requirements then you are readily good to go. In this process, you may visit different sites such as UpWork, Freelancer, Lemon, etc., or the official websites of a few popular design agencies in your location.
Furthermore, after going through hundreds of candidates on different websites, make sure that you note down the details of those who you like. Also, if possible search for such a graphic designer in the market who has specialization in two or more domains.
By doing so, it not only helps you find the best possible candidate but also saves yourself a ton of time. Not to mention, refine that shortlist periodically so that you end up with your good choice of a graphic designer who will fulfill your needs.
3. Look up at your Budget
Talking about the good choices, everything in any category or field boils down to price and here a selection of graphic designers is no different. In fact, after you have done the best possible shortlisting and maybe you have left with a handful of choices. In that case, your budget will surely give you clarity.
Now always picking the one with the highest charge will not imply the best possible output. At the same time, picking the one with the lowest pay in order to save some bucks will also not help either.
Remember, hiring a professional graphic designer is surely an investment over your company so make sure to choose wisely. Let’s say you are getting any designer with merely a 5 to 10% bump in your budget but with better skills then definitely opt for it.
All in all, my suggestion would be to spend the amount on the lower side if you are new to business or currently running a start-up. The reason being, it is highly important to reserve your capital for other purposes.
On the other hand, huge multinational companies and industries can opt for big names in graphic designing for the best results. Moreover, for such a scale this capital investment makes sense.
4. Client reviews and Past Experiences :
This one is more of a straightforward and sure-shot point to note. I mean, you should ultimately not miss this one before actually end up hiring one. So, no matter what these graphic designers write or express themselves on their business websites or third-party profiles, you should solely do not depend on that.
In this light, one of the best ways to know the potential and quality of work of any graphic designer out there is to check reviews. These reviews can be from their past clients who rated them as per their work. Moreover, many of the popular websites such as UpWork, Freelancer, Lemonop, and others provide an option to rate in a 5-star format also to view for reference.
Not to mention, research for the best and genuine ratings especially in cases where you find rating mostly around 4 stars and then one of them has rated 1 to 2 stars only. Furthermore, look over those few ratings and find out what went wrong.
To sum up, it is absolutely a good practice to check reviews and ratings of past work experience and this small practice will result in a capable graphic designer.
5. Mutual Interaction and Periodic Progress
Now this one is a bit different. So far, we have noted all the points that need to be noted before hiring any professional graphic designer. Coming to this point right here, it is somewhat halfway between the process of before and after hiring. Let me explain.
Consider that after so much effort and web search you have finally hired an individual. The thing to note here is that you are not done yet. Meaning you cannot put all your work at that and expect to get all of them done on or before time.
In this case, the best practice would be to hire an individual for some trial period of around 2 to 4 weeks and assign some part of the whole work. Moreover, you can also conduct interactive sessions in a week or so to discuss the progress or suitable changes.
By doing so, it will give you an idea of the dedication that graphic designer has towards the assigned work.
6. Freelancer or Design Agency
Another big bummer once you have decided almost everything such as budget, requirements, and ratings, is to choose whom. And for that question there seem two major answers i.e., Freelancer and Design Agency.
Firstly, not all freelancers are fresher and all design agencies are well experienced. Indeed, in many cases, the story actually reverts down. As a matter of fact, almost 60% of the professionals from different sectors in the USA are freelancers.
Now the thing is you need to decide the one as per your choices. Hence, this question does not have one sure shot complete answer and it is very dynamic in nature. On a side note, if you are still not satisfied with the answer then check this out, here for better understanding.
Lastly, my take on this would be that with proper research and decisions you can find a freelancer who can deliver the most of your penny. But the part is there is the high effort needed from your end at the hiring process and this effort will surely pay off.
Wrapping up
To summarize all the points, you should surely take these points into consideration in the hiring process. After all, the choice of a perfect suitable graphic designer is still yours. But with these points and tips, you will get the answers to those vivid questions that come into your mind.
Once and for all, as far as graphic designing is concerned you cannot go wrong with a perfect freelancer equipped with the required skills.
On that note, consider checking my graphic design studio and also my work profile at UpWork, here to know better. Always, looking forward to fulfilling and work with you in your graphic designing needs. So, let’s design something great together!
