A Guide to Working with a Design Creative
Get the most from your designers, know how they work, think and behave to get the most out of them.
Working with designers always seems like a hit and miss task for any business. It’s important to be able to trust and know that your designer is going to be able to understand and convey your brief visually while maintaining your vision for the overall project.
Many designers get lumped into the realms of being branding as a bad designer by clients, while designers are doing the same to clients. Often, more times than not, it is just a misunderstanding of the two parties.
So, how do we avoid this and make sure that every time we talk with a designer or client that we deliver the best that we can?
Try to be visual about your ideas
One of the main things we see go wrong is when someone tried to explain their visual ideas without anything visual. Most people, including some creatives, do not think visually or often use the right words to explain their intention.
Show some examples of what you do and don’t like to the designer, try to explain what you do and don’t like about what you are showing them. This will give the designer an really good understanding of what you are expecting from them.
Don't ask them to copy
Please, for the love of god, do not ask a designer to create something “just like this” or “Think Apple”, “Think Google”. Firstly, you are not these other brands and so you should have your own unique identity and qualities you want to portray.
If you have a strong brand or are creating one, a designer will take this and create your project around this.
Supply your copy
Designers are designers, writers are writers, proofreaders are proofreaders. Don’t expect your designer to write your text for you, and don’t expect them to proofread that text for you either. You should supply a complete copy to your designer, and it should already be approved and proofread.
Talk to your designer about how much space you have, or want for copy. They will be able to give you a good idea of the maximum length to fit the copy comfortably within the design.
Finally, be realistic about the length of your text. Don’t ask a designer to create a 1/4 advert for you and supply three full A4 pages of copy and expect it to fit. It may seem obvious but it happens.
Be open, honest & respectful
If something isn’t working, the design just isn’t looking right or you need to change direction, be open and honest with the designer as soon as possible.
Designers are more than happy to make revisions, they don’t take constructive feedback personally and should be more than happy to accommodate or make recommendations to any questions, revisions or aspects of the design.
