The Questions to Ask Your Designer Before You Start a Project

Your company wants to engage in social media marketing, rebranding, or advertising. Hence, you need a great designer to create good designs. There are so many freelancers, agencies, and graphic design services available. It is your choice who you hire. But how do you choose the right designer? How do you decide who to work with so that your campaign is a success? To clear up all your doubts, you need to ask the right questions. Here are some suggestions.

What Is Your Budget And Time Frame?

Let’s begin with the basics. Money and time. These two points cannot be ignored. You have a limited amount of money to spend on a design. A timeframe has been set for your plans. Get in touch with your designer and let them know what you expect. Ask them what they would charge, and how much time they estimate it will take. There may be some compromises to be made here, but it’s better to know this up front. Without asking your designer about these two factors, you may end up with a bad design and have to spend more money improving it.

Ask Them How They Approach A New Project

A good designer solves problems. Whether you are trying to improve your public image or meet a sales quota through new creatives, your designer should be able to help. Depending on the expected outcome, they should approach each problem differently. Provide them with a scenario. See what types of questions they ask you to understand your project’s scope. Make sure the approach they take to your problem or the goal you want to achieve is clear and effective.

Ask To See Their Portfolio

The designer is hired. They follow your instructions. The design, however, is not what you expected. Quite a bit of time has probably passed by this point, and it’s too late to check your designer’s profile in detail. It’s important to ask this question before you begin. Ask to see more examples of their work that they haven’t included in their portfolio, which would be relevant to your current project. It’s always worth asking about how much experience they have in the area that you require them to design in, even if they don’t have additional examples. Take a few examples and ask them to explain how each project was completed. You can get an idea of what styles they tend to follow by seeing their work and listening to their design process.

Ask Your Designer To Describe Your Brand

The differences between brands, even those providing similar products or services, are as great as the differences between people. It is important for your designer to have a deep understanding of your brand. When you contact them and tell them about your brand, ask them if they understand the image you want to convey. It’s important that you and your designer are on the same page here. Adding information that you haven’t mentioned will earn them bonus points.

Ask Your Designer About Your Competitors

The answer to this question goes hand in hand with understanding the brand. What type of branding and design dominates your industry? Is your designer aware of this? Our world is highly competitive. In order to succeed, you must become better than your competitors quickly. A designer who knows your industry will be able to help you with this. Knowing your brand isn’t enough. Your competitor must also be known to them.

Ask Them To Describe Your Target Audience

Often, designers work with clients from different industries and are aware of a variety of customer segments. What is the level of knowledge they have about your customers? Who is your target audience? Do they use social media? Are they old folk who don’t have social media accounts? Is there a particular demographic they belong to? Your designer should be able to answer these questions. By checking out your website and social media accounts, they should be able to gather some of these details.

Ask Them About How They Collaborate

Your designer must work with you and/or collaborate with other members of your team. You should ask your designer how they handle feedback and how comfortable they are with collaborating. When you are trying to show the world how good your brand is, you do not want internal friction. The importance of good communication cannot be overstated. Ask your designer how they have handled team dynamics and balanced competing priorities in the past. Get references from their previous clients. You could save a lot of time this way. The answers to these questions will give you a better understanding of your designer’s workflow. It’s impossible for them to know about every brand out there.  Additionally, if you are a startup company, they may not have much knowledge of your product/service, the competition, and your target audience. If this is the case, be sure to provide them with all the information you can and then ask questions to assess their understanding.