If you have any kind of business, chances are that you have worked with many other businesses or individuals to further your professional prospects. Working with a designer isn’t very much different from working with a lawyer or an accountant; we just wear sneakers and jeans to the office. Here is a quick and easy step by step guide to working with a designer that will not only make them happy and creatively fulfilled, but will get you the best possible end product for your growing business.

Working with a designer isn’t different from a lawyer; we just wear sneakers and jeans to the office. Click To Tweet

1. Give your designer all the information he/she needs

This is such a crucial step! And yet many people overlook it. This applies in two ways: Content and Creative Direction. Content is just what it says on the tin, it’s the stuff that you want to advertise such as your company details on a business card or a 50% off sale on a flyer. Creative Direction is the way that you want your product to look. If you saw a really cool website, or an awesome magazine ad that you think will really work for your business, give it to your designer!

Look at it this way, if you’re working with an accountant, you would hand over all of your financial information, whether you think it’s relevant or not. It’s the same with designers, the more you give the designer the better. Don’t be worried about breaking their creative flow or bogging them down with too many ideas, it’s their job to process all that information into one coherent design. The more they have to work with from the beginning, the less reverts there will be, and less stress for everyone.

2. Make the distinction between personal taste and good design

Everyone has their own personal taste in music, fashion and interior design. But these preferences are just that: personal. When it comes to business, you want your brand to represent you and what you stand for to an extent, but that doesn’t mean that your logo should be in your favourite futuristic font or your website should feature a picture of your cat as a background. Your designer has (hopefully) been doing this a long time, have confidence in them to guide your brand in a modern and aesthetically pleasing direction.

3. Get input, but don’t use every idea

This goes hand in hand with point number 2. While it’s always a good idea to get feedback from other people in your company, you don’t need to take everyone’s opinions to heart. If the overwhelming consensus is that a logo is too similar to a competitor, or that the colours on a brochure are too dark, then maybe it’s time to re-imagine the concept. But if one person thinks the model looks a bit like his ex-girlfriend’s dog, and it makes him uncomfortable, you can safely disregard his input. Leaving the decision making up to one or maximum two people not only helps speed up the design process, but also makes the end product much more coherent and whole.

4. Take your time before asking for changes

Once you have received your first draft of a design, sit back with a cup of coffee, take a walk, sleep on it and then come back and look at the design again. Unless it is very urgent and deadlines are looming (aren’t they always?) you can allow yourself a few minutes of reflection. Write down everything that you think you want to change, and most importantly, take a note of everything you like. This information is even more important to the designer than what you didn’t like because it shows much more clearly what direction needs to be taken. Nothing is more annoying than an endless trickle of tiny changes, so take your time and create a comprehensive list of what you like and dislike. Trust me, your designer will thank you for it!

5. Trust your designer

It all boils down to this: just trust your designer. Trust that they made the decisions they made for a reason, and trust that they know their job as well as you know yours. When you show your designer that you trust them, you are allowing them the creative freedom they need to make the best possible work they can for your business. Design is a process and an exercise in communication. Ask questions, be curious, make suggestions and listen to your designer when they answer.

Happy designers make great designs! Click To Tweet

Happy designers make great designs! So when designers are happy, you get amazing work, and that’s what both business owners and designers want. If you’re not happy with your current designer, then contact us so we can turn that unhappiness into your #happyspace.

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