Graphic designers play a crucial role in the success of your business. They can help you come up with a stunning website. They can also be integral to making adverts for your company that people will appreciate. Therefore, the search for a quality graphic designer must be serious. You can even consider partnering with a graphic design agency in London if you can’t find individuals who are preferential for the job. These are the qualities to look into if you want to hire the best graphic designers.
Good communicator
The key to success in graphic design is communication. After all, ‘graphic design’ is simply ‘visual communication’ – so a good designer will be a good communicator. As the owner of the business, you may have an idea of what your website and ads should look like. Graphic designers also have their expert aesthetic views. You need to merge your ideas so that the results will be compelling. If you don’t hire a graphic designer who can communicate well, it could be a challenge moving forward.
Curious
Some graphic designers have years of experiences in the bag. It’s a good thing to have experience. The problem is that it sometimes makes some of them complacent. Once they have found an aesthetic that works in some cases, they may keep on using it. But a designer’s responsibility is to remember that each relationship is different’ each client is different, and their needs all individual. You want a graphic designer who is curious, engaging and interested in your project, and who will always push the limits. You don’t want your website to look like everyone else’s. You don’t want to work with someone who feels satisfied with a mediocre job. Complacency is a creativity-killer, and so many people fall back on it because it’s safe. We’re not here to be safe, that’s what medical professionals are for. We’re here to do something exciting, using the knowledge and experience we’ve built up over the years as a springboard, not a safety net.
Open
Working with graphic design requires the merging of ideas. You want a graphic designer who will listen to you, but who you respect enough to listen to as well. Although there are great ideas that graphic designers might have, you still own the business. You want the results to reflect your brand. You shouldn’t work with someone who will insist on something you don’t feel represents your brand the best it can.
Patient
Graphic design takes a lot of work. Even a simple design to place on your website might take days to finish. You might even have other requests to improve the appearance. You need to find a designer who will be patient with your ever-changing needs, and rein the project back in to focus on what matters most. You want a designer who understands the nature of the job, and both sides need to understand why it’s essential to make changes to improve the results. This can be based on user feedback, or seeing how users interact with the designs.
Ability to take criticism
A professional working relationship between graphic designers and clients is successful when there is a mutual respect for each. It also relies on the ability of the designer to accept feedback, and the ability of the key stakeholders in the client’s business to give constructive feedback. Simply saying ‘I don’t like it’ does not give the designer helpful feedback they can use – they want to know what you don’t think works about it, what your reason for not liking it is – if it’s simply personal preference over your business needs, you may need to hear the designer out on why this creative decision may be more successful. Your design team will liaise with the key stakeholders in the company for feedback – something agreed early on in the project – so when collating feedback from others in the company it is essential that it is agreed upon and nothing stands out as too contradictory because one person in the company had a personal preference against it. Similarly, the designer should be someone who isn’t precious about their work, who can iterate quickly, and discard designs if they are proven to be unsuitable, moving swiftly on to the next and more successful idea.