Five Tips for Working with a Graphic Designer

As a successful business owner, you make important decisions every day. Everything you do is for the good of your company because, after all, nobody knows your goal, vision, and purpose as well as you. So why would you blindly turn your visual branding needs over to a graphic designer without having a hand in the finished product? While it is true that graphic designers are professionals in their creative arts, a good designer wants to ensure that their product fully satisfies your needs. That is why it is imperative that you collaborate with your designer every step of the way. Clear communication is the key to reaching your desired outcome. Here are some important steps you can take to make your work with a graphic design professional exactly what you want.

Use a creative brief

The best way to make your needs and goals clear is to complete a creative brief before beginning a project. This provides a framework of the needs of your project as well as the elements that should be considered. Your brief should include what you need and why as well as the goals you hope to reach with your design. Let your designer know who you are as a person and the personality you wish to have with your company. You should also include your ideal audience and the core message you wish to communicate. Finally, make sure your designer knows what you don’t want. Sometimes, an idea is reached more easily by stating what you wish to avoid

Know your budget

Before undertaking a design project, be clear on how much you are prepared to spend and make sure your designer knows that you cannot exceed your budget for any reason.

Understand the charges

Before beginning any project, get a written quote of charges. Ask your designer how changes may affect the price as well as how many drafts are included in the fee. How much will additional drafts add to the final cost? If you require changes, try to make them in batches to keep the costs to a minimum. In graphic design, as with any other business, time is money.

Be involved

Carefully review each stage of the design and keep open communications between yourself and your designer. This can help avoid any misunderstandings and the charges that may accompany avoidable changes. Talk with your designer about who owns the rights to the design upon completion.

Be diligent

Proofread finished copy and check designer’s final version of the work carefully and more than once. This material represents your business so it is of utmost importance that you ensure its quality.

By following these simple steps and hiring qualified graphic designers, you can ensure that you will be happy with your finished project. Remember, this is your business and nobody knows it as well as you do. When choosing a graphic design company, choose one that welcomes your involvement. If a designer presumes to know your needs better than you do, find someone else. The best designers will welcome your input and involvement.

Graphic Design Melbourne expert, Wes Towers has many years experience in visual branding design. His company, Omnific Design has successfully worked with a number of small and large business brands. For more information and resources visit www.omnificdesign.com.au

Making Your Own Economy

The way I look at the economy is that there are two positions that any business can take. One is you can let the economy "happen to you" OR you can develop your own economy. I choose the latter. How can you develop opportunities? Myself, I'm in the middle of developing a few ideas to bring opportunity to my door. The first is a workshop series that is targeted to start-ups. It involves a government grants expert, a motivational speaker and myself, The Branding Expert.

We're calling it, "Fund it! Brand It! Do It!." Catchy don't you think?

The goal is to bring it to cities initially in Canada, and also to widen it's scope by offering it online as well. The first one or trial (if you will) is aimed for the east coast in late summer/early fall. Not only is it a paid gig, but it also generates warm leads.

You too can create your own economy by doing much the same thing. Become a valuable source of information and initiate a new revenue stream in the meantime. Develop a professional brand image to sell it and boost your expert profile at the same time. Put yourself out there and grab the gold.