What To Look For In A Professional Who Will Design Your Brand's Graphics

When developing your business’s brand identity, there is a lot that goes into the strategy. The image you portray through your graphics will influence the public perception of you, as well as whether the consumer chooses to support you or not. You may have heard of UX (which is user experience), and this is the experience of your customer on your site, including their interaction with your graphics and design. Thus a critical part of developing your business is designing a strong brand. While some individuals feel competent and confident in their ability to create and manage their own brand graphics, others feel this is beyond their scope. If this is the case for you, then you might be considering hiring a professional to do the graphic design work for you. Look no further, this one's for you in your process of hunting for the right fit.

What is Graphic Design?

Graphic design is a creative process whereby an individual or team curates a visual representation in pictures and theming to communicate a business’s core and content. The artist or creative is referred to as a graphic designer and they train for approximately 4 years. They are often well-versed in several computer design programs as most of the work is done digitally, nowadays. Some of the typically used programs include Adobe, Affinity Designer, Inkscape, CorelDRAW, and Sketch. An example of the graphic design for a business like a dental practice would be a sign with a sleek, simple color palette like whites, greens, and blues and a graphic with an icon of a tooth. This communicates clean, hygienic practices, as well as the obvious message that it is for a dentist.

How Important is the Brand Graphic Design?

Your business brand is the way you communicate with your consumer. Therefore, the impression you make is paramount. Imagine you are picking between tubes of toothpaste. A large part of your decision is going to be influenced by the way the box looks and what it tells you. It is the same for all your business brand needs. These include, but are not limited to, your website, app, packaging, signage, ship wrapping, business cards as well as business premises. Now you are starting to see the importance of an effective and clear brand, and you can see how beneficial, if not vital, it could be for your business to hire someone or a firm that specializes in this aspect. Not only does it give you one less thing to worry about (and it is a lot more than one), it is also done in such a way to drive sales and improve your consumer image. So do you feel assured that hiring a professional is the right move? Okay, now what to look for in a designer?

Industry Experience

First of all, you want to hire someone who can provide you with a portfolio of their work. This way you will get an idea of their capabilities and what they can do for various brands. You should be suitably impressed when browsing their portfolio, even excited about what they can do for you. It is helpful to choose an individual or firm that has worked in the industry for a while, and developing your brand will not be the first time they take on a project of this nature. Seeing other work they have done will also allow you to refine what you like and don’t like. They will also be able to advise you on strategies that have and haven’t been effective in the past. With experience comes the advancement of technical skills, and these will only benefit you. If they have industry experience, you can also get an understanding of whether the other clients they have worked for in the past were happy with their performance and outcomes. Obviously, you want to pick a designer that sticks to deadlines and deliverables.

Budget-friendly, But At What Cost?

While cutting unnecessary costs is an important part of many successful businesses, you don’t want to be foolish and cut costs at the expense of your business image. Perhaps you know the saying, “if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys”, meaning if you can’t be prepared to pay for good quality work, then you cannot expect it. See your payment of a designer as an investment in the success of your business. Remember, that if the image is effective at communicating a message, then you will get more customers and more sales. That means more profit for you, so it will be worth it. If you are too cheap in your hiring, then you might feel disappointed and resentful when your brand graphics are not as enticing as they could be.

Communication

While you are trying to create an image that communicates with your customer, it is also very important that your design professional communicates with you too. They should be providing you with regular, detailed updates on the status of your graphics. In your work together, you should feel prioritized by your graphic designers and that they put your needs, as the client, first. This will instill confidence, and eliminate the risk of miscommunications and misunderstandings. If there is anything you feel unclear of, or perhaps change your mind within reason, they should be willing to work alongside you to adapt or improvise where possible.

A business’s graphics go a long way in portraying the business’s goals and values to a consumer. What’s more, these graphics are often the way the business can interact with their customers. Therefore, the process of building a strong brand image is essential. Perhaps you have the skills and creativity to design your own graphics and brand imaging in-house. Or perhaps you do not feel confident in this domain and would prefer the expertise of someone or a company trained and experienced in this field. If this is where you find yourself, then hopefully this guide has assisted you in the process of being aware of what to look out for before hiring a professional.