What Is The Role Of A Graphic Designer?
The more informed you are about this profession, the easier it will be to make an informed decision for your business. The role of a graphic designer is to visually communicate a message to your intended audience. Because there are numerous ways this can be done, this process requires problem-solving skills. The audience you want to reach will determine the medium you choose to communicate your message.
For example, if your core audience is elderly people who need assisted living services, you may want to invest in a newspaper ad since a vast majority of that demographic reads printed newspapers. With that in mind, a graphic designer with experience creating print ads will be your best
choice.
Another example is using a social media campaign to zero in on a distinct target audience online. In this situation, you would want to find a designer that has the digital knowledge required for creating social media advertisements.
Shillington does a great job listing some of the most relevant disciplines graphic designers are practicing today:
- Branding/Visual Identity: Visually embodying a company’s core promise with graphics, color, typography and images.
- Advertising & Marketing Design: Crafting images for advertisements and campaigns that capture attention and deliver results.
- Lettering/Typeface Design: Arranging fonts and written words to communicate ideas in a readable and appealing way.
- Editorial/Publishing: Creating visual messages designed for both printed surfaces and digital interfaces.
- Digital Design: Making human interactions with machine and software interfaces as clear as possible.
- Product Design: Ensuring that users and customers have the optimal experience.
Design is a highly collaborative industry. Some of the strongest creative projects in marketing don’t just employ a graphic designer – they utilize copywriters, photographers, illustrators and videographers.
Why Do I Need A Professional Graphic Designer?
In business, presentation and first impressions count! Our brain processes visuals up to 60,000 times faster than plain text. Great design can captivate an audience, stick in their minds and direct them to your call to action. Save time and money by hiring a skilled professional designer who knows how to do the job right the first time. Great design stands the test of time. Bad design is expensive.
Where Do I Look For A Graphic Designer Online?
If you Google “graphic designer near me,” you will likely see results for freelance platforms, along with a handful of agencies located in your area. Freelance platforms like Upwork and Toptal offer a network where clients can connect with freelance graphic designers.
However, hiring an agency rather than a freelancer may be to the optimal choice for your business for many reasons, including customizable results, access to experienced professionals and team collaboration. Here at Three Girls Media, we provide every potential client with a complimentary consultation to assess the needs of their business.
Do I Need A Creative Brief?
A creative brief is just a fancy way of communicating the details of a project to a creative professional (like a graphic designer) or team. Designers cannot read their clients’ minds and vice versa. If you give vague project instructions, designers will execute based on how they interpret what you give them – no matter how small or open-ended.
Whether the project is a full-blown marketing campaign or a simple logo, it’s always a good idea to outline your scope of work.
Some things to include are:
- Company Background & Brand Guidelines. Who is your business, and what do you want people to think when they engage with you?
- Project Overview. It can be very helpful to include visuals of what you would like the end product to be. Are there other businesses you want to emulate?
- Target Audience. As we mentioned earlier, identifying your target audience helps a graphic designer know how users will engage with your material.
- Budget. How much time can your graphic designer spend creating your content? Three Girls Media offers à la carte options for clients, but that is not always the case with graphic designers.
- Timeline. Knowing when you need deliverables completed will help your graphic designer determine what can be reasonably completed by the deadline.
- The Problem To Be Solved. As natural problem solvers, graphic designers can use their creativity to circumvent whatever issues you want to avoid or fix with your design.
- Desired Outcome Of Deliverables. Let your graphic designer know what state you would like the final product to be in when it arrives on your digital doorstep. Some clients prefer to be involved in the drafts of the product, while others don’t want to see the deliverables until they are complete. Let your designer know what your expectations are.
Defining these items will ensure your project goes smoothly. If this task seems overwhelming because you don’t already have brand guidelines or a marketing strategy in place, don’t fret. However, we do recommend investing in these items after an established logo is in place.
Should I Look At Graphic Designer’s Portfolios?
Absolutely! Once you have a creative brief in hand, you have a pretty good idea of what skills to look for. Be on the lookout for any examples that are similar to your needs. Seek out the right skill set for the project.
An experienced designer will, at the bare minimum, have the following skills, whatever their specialization is:
- Powerful Creativity
- Typography Knowledge
- Familiarity With Adobe Suite
- Color Theory
- Layout Design
What Questions Should I Ask?
A light-hearted question about where they draw design inspiration from could help you understand the type of designer they are. This question can also be a great icebreaker.
Asking questions about preferred communication style sets a solid foundation for the client-designer relationship. If a designer’s past work blows you away, but you find them difficult to communicate with, it could spell disaster. Communication is fundamental to the design process. Ask the designer if they prefer phone calls, texts or emails throughout the project.
An experienced graphic designer will usually have an established creative process. If they don’t voluntarily share their creative process with you, ask!
Ask the designer how they take constructive criticism. This is an essential part of the creative process, and your designer should be able to take constructive criticism and have a conversation with you to discuss the reasons behind their design choices.
Should I Consider A Trial Project To Test A Graphic Designer?
This depends on the circumstances. If you are looking to form a long-standing relationship with a designer that you can return to time and time again, a trial project is a great way to test the waters. However, some timelines and budgets will not allow for this option.
Don’t expect designers to take on a trial project free of charge. The purpose of a trial project is to establish a working relationship. Using a small project like creating a social media graphic can be a great way to experience working with someone. When possible, use a trial project to establish a solid working relationship with a graphic designer prior to hiring for a huge project where more resources and time are on the line.
Balancing The Quality, Time And Cost Ratio With Your Graphic Designer
In the design industry, it is a well-known fact that you cannot have all three: good, cheap and fast. You have to sacrifice one. Keeping this in mind will save you some unpleasant surprises along the way.
Let Three Girls Media Assist In Your Next Graphic Design Project!
Don’t underestimate the value of a properly executed design project. If you want a thoughtfully crafted message communicated to your intended audience that knocks their socks off, look no further than the combined forces of Three Girls Media.
Special Offer:
Sign up for a complimentary consultation during January and receive an Email Marketing Guide valued at $475! We offer a 30-minute phone consultation with our CEO and can answer your questions and discuss your specific marketing needs – no strings attached. Call 360-955-1410 or contact us today to arrange your consultation!