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A mountain of books are precariously piled on your desk, illuminated by the blue glow of your overworked laptop. Each one is a deep well of knowledge, helping to guide you down the treacherous path of entrepreneurship. This is how you’ve built your empire: figuring things out on your own. As a business owner, you’ve become the Lord of DIY. You’ve conquered such monsters as contract drafting, social media marketing, copyrights and patents.
But now, as you need a mailer made to advertise your new service, you question if it’s wise to down countless hours in battle with Photoshop. Those hours could better be spent reaching new customers, catching up on your bills, or taking a much overdue brain-break in front of Netflix. How do you know when it’s time to start outsourcing design work? Can you keep trying to do it yourself?
This is the internal war waging within all small business owners. When building your business from the ground up, you get rather used to doing everything yourself. But there’s a point where you need to hand the reigns over to another professional, one that is skilled and trained with a teacher other than a stack of “Dummy Guides.”
There are already so many obstacles to overcome in running a business, do yourself a favor and don’t be one of them.
A required disclaimer: As a professional designer, I’m required to say the following: You should always hire a professional designer to design everything.
But as a small business owner, I’m also inclined to say: you can (and should) learn how to do some graphics by yourself. So let’s cover how you can gauge what you can conquer on your own and what you should definitely outsource!
The first thing to look at is how often is your client going to interact with it. A good rule of thumb is internal graphics can be created in-house, external graphics should be outsourced. How your timesheets look won’t in anyway influence your client’s perception of your brand. But your logo? That’s going to be seen by EVERYONE, and it will be around for a LONG time (fingers crossed.)
So let’s apply that to a project like a mailer. We’ll pretend we have a bakery in town, eager to let everyone know that their pies will be 50% off next month. They plan on printing 10,000 of them, so that means at least 10,000 eyes are going to see them. They’ll also be paying some decent money to get them before those people. The owner decides that since she has a free trial of Photoshop, she can absolutely create the mailer herself. And the journey of mistakes is begun…
There is a very real chance that because she has no training in design, she’ll end up printing 10,000 mailers that don’t do their job. This could be because there’s a lack of hierarchy, the text is distorted and stretched and hard to read, the graphics are generic and don’t demand any attention, and the list could go on and on.
Now what if she hired a designer? She’ll be paying for some who is trained to effectively communicate through visual elements. Which means they’re going to design a mailer that catches your audience’s attention, properly displays the critical information you’ve paid to put out in the world, and conveys a sense of professionalism and quality that you want associated with your brand.
I know I’m SLIGHTLY more attentive to design than the everyday consumer, but everyone is heavily influenced by design in their buying habits, consciously or not. It’s been scientifically proven that you have 7 seconds to make a good first impression. When I receive a piece of mail advertising a business, I immediately draw conclusions about that business based on the design alone. If it’s clean and clear to understand, I’ll assume the business is professional and organized. If it’s crammed full of clip art, and it takes me thirty seconds to figure out just what I’m supposed to read, I’ll assume the business is cluttered and unprofessional.
Now these things could be a hundred miles off, but if all I have to go on is my initial impression of the kind of mailers they put out, that’s what I’m going to use to determine my feelings towards the business. But the more positive impression I have, the more willing I am to take action.
Using this logic, I think there’s ample argument that a logo is something you should ABSOLUTELY outsource. It’s the face of your company, and whether you know it or not, you draw major conclusions about a company based on its logo alone.
The fewer ways there are to mess something up, the more okay it is for you to tackle it yourself. It’s pretty hard (but sadly not impossible,) to fail at putting five words on a colored background. But there are a million ways to screw up a website!
I think small business owners should absolutely try to generate their own social media images. There are a ton of tools out there to help them. (Canva is one of the most popular.) Social media images are simple, don’t require money to be put out in the world, and aren’t as deeply impactful or long lasting as most other graphics in your business.
Hiring a social media manager who produces high quality images and posts can definitely boost your sales and interactions, but in the early stages of a business, it is possible to adequately manage them yourself.
On the other side of the spectrum is website design and branding. Although Squarespace tries to convince you that you can do it yourself, if at all possible, I suggest you hire a web designer and developer. And if you want to move away from the templates provided and try to build a site yourself, I virtually grasp your hand, look deep into your eyes, and plead with you to resist. In the digital age, your website is quite possibly the MOST influential interaction your client has with your business, so for the love of all good things, please hire a professional!
And to touch back on a previous point, your company’s brand and visual identity is the most prominent graphic attached to your business. Just because logos seem small and easy to make, they are one of the most difficult visual elements to successfully design. As a branding focused designer, I have to hit this point a few times.
Pay good money for a good logo. It’s worth it a thousand fold.
A sum of all we’ve covered is that everything can be designed well, but not everything has to be. Some additional notes to drive the point home:
– Invoices are meant to be more functional than pretty. As long as your client knows how much to pay, it’s done its job. I’m sure Nike has invoices that are unmistakably Nike, but that’s a business expense that is far down the road for every small business.
– Billboards are mean to convey a message. If it’s not designed well, it can’t do its job.
– You want to turn your sweet Subaru into a marketing machine? Car magnets are $40 on Vistaprint, all you do is make sure your business name is spelled right. You can conquer this one!
– Although they’re only 3.5 in. X 2 in., business cards are vitally important in networking. If you want anything more than your business name and logo on it, find a designer. (Most designers are willing to package business card designs into a logo project. Two birds, meet one stone!)
As a business owner, you’re used to doing things on your own. And some things can continue to be tackled in that manner. But as you can see, sometimes you need to hand over the reigns and give your business the best opportunity to succeed.
If you’ve perused any Behance profile or graphic design blog, you’ve encountered the exciting tool called the “mockup.” They range from billboard signs to coffee cups to every iPhone generation. But even though they are easy to be seen, not all designers utilize them and are missing out on some amazing benefits of using mockups.
They are ideal to use down the homestretch of your creative process for these four reasons:
This is before you present final files to your clients. It’s common to become so immersed in your design that you lose sight of its functionality in a real-world setting. Plugging your designs into mockups can help you troubleshoot issues with your designs. You might realize when using a billboard mockup that a line of text is proportionally off. Or the logo you designed doesn’t translate well to greyscale. I’ve seen many “logofolios” that are busting at the seams with logos on a plain white background, stretched across the width of my screen. But in actuality, very few of the logos are truly functional. The use of a mockup can help gain proper perspective on your designs.
I often forget that the people I work with aren’t always as visually-driven as I am. I can explain an idea for a design and perfectly see it form in my mind, but that doesn’t mean they’re seeing it the same way. Using a mockup is ideal for allowing the client to see your designs functioning without actually physically producing anything. And if you have a client that insists on pursuing a certain path that won’t work, a mockup is great to show them why it wouldn’t make sense or isn’t plausible.
Like stated in the previous point, not everyone can look at a design and visualize it in action. Using mockups in your portfolio and your website allows your work to shine and show people what you’re truly capable of. Mockups let you expand projects without the expense, such as showcasing an entire ad campaign without ever paying a cent for prints and billboards and the works. Using mockups to flesh out your work increases your value and your quality.
Mockups are fantastic for showing clients where you can take a project. If you’ve designed a logo, spend a little extra time to create a business card design and mock it up. Then pitch an expanded project scope to a client. Seeing your designs in action is an easier sell than asking your clients to imagine what you can do. I suggest doing this for additional designs that would take minimal time, in case they opt not to expand the project.
Whether you do digital or print design, there are mockups available for whatever you need, and are a fantastic addition to your creative process. To find some, you can check out my store here, places like Creative Market, or a specific Google search for whatever your mockup needs are!
A chilling winter Saturday found me on an urgent journey to Drug Mart, desperately seeking a pack of Ramen noodles to comfort me while I battled an unforgiving cold. I was quite single-minded in my quest, until I was jolted out of my aggressive search by something that could only be described as stunning. There, gracing an end cap, was this can so beautifully designed, I stopped dead in my tracks and Ramen noodles quickly fled my mind.
I didn’t think twice about purchasing it, without second thought it joined the suddenly lesser-appealing items in my cart. I have a habit of this. My desk and surrounding surfaces are ornamented with various packages and papers that struck a chord and demanded that I obtain and promptly display them.
This is how designers interact with the world. We love making beautiful things, and we equally love admiring beautiful things. Sometimes it seems surreal when I become actively aware that the way someone designed a product is the sole reason I’m compelled to buy it. In reality, this happens on a regular basis. We buy branded products because they have a logo we recognize. Or when looking between two similar items, we instinctively reach for the better-looking one.
When asked to describe what I do, I’m tempted throw out buzzwords like “branding” and “visual elements.” But I think the best way to explain my job is by saying I control people without them knowing. Not surprising, this gets a few raised eyebrows and a few steps taken back. But it’s an accurate way for a designer to think of themselves. Our task is no easy one. We have to create something that will compel a person to pluck it off the shelf without hesitation, just with an inane sense that it’s the superior choice. We are needed to put elements together in a way that can lead someone through a task without any wrong turns or mistakes. We have to embody the soul of a company that can be reduced to a one-color image.
This post doesn’t have a three-step process to make better designs, or the top ten things you should look for in a beverage. It’s simply the acknowledgment of the manipulation of design. There’s a high chance you aren’t aware how molded you are by design, how easily it plays you like a puppet. Becoming aware might not make you a better businessman, designer, consumer, or whatever you are. But I hope it makes you more in awe of the power of design.
If you’re a fellow designer, this is just one big “congrats” for doing the near-impossible. If you have the pleasure of working with or hiring designers, this is a boosted signal for how powerful design is, how valuable it is. In the weeks ahead, I’ll be publishing posts breaking down what I love about some of the packages and products that have been collected on my shelves, including that gorgeous Bai can. But for the moment, no matter where you find yourself though, whether walking down the aisle or browsing through Amazon, I hope these few words have cause you to become more aware of the manipulation of design.
Turns out, just because school is over doesn’t mean the homework stops.
A lot of people think their project falls into that last one. I’ve learned that kind of client is the unicorn of the industry: as rare as they come. So more often than not, the promises of “exposure” and “unlimited future work” fall on seasoned ears, and I maintain my rates.
This might be a surprise, but a design project is not one-sided. Even when you hire a solo designer, it is still a team effort. You, the client, are on the same team as your designer, so to make sure everyone is happy and effective, you need to be a good team member. Your role in the team is initially informative: you provide the designer with all the material and knowledge they need to fulfill the scope of the project. But once they hit the ground running with the designs, you step into a very important role: the critic. A good designer will seek your feedback often to make sure they maintain the right course and neither time or money is wasted on wrong directions.
Offering feedback can be very intimidating, and giving poor feedback can be very hindering to a designer. Below you’ll find five tips that will help you become a great critic and an outstanding team member!
This is the first thing learned in any creative class. Saying “I like it,” or “I don’t like it,” is a waste of time, because it gives the artist nothing to work with. We need to understand the WHY, so get down to the nitty-gritty details. Instead of saying, “I don’t like it,” say “The color orange is too bold for my taste, I’d like to see other color options.” Even just saying, “I like it,” isn’t as helpful as you might think. While we appreciate the kudos, it doesn’t help us understand how you interact with the work, which is a designer’s constant goal. So instead, say “The colors make the important information stand out, and readability is always at the top of our priorities.
Many a project has been sabotaged because someone withheld their true feelings. Here’s an insider tip: Designers have thick skins. It’s a job requirement! Our livelihood is built on satisfying strangers, so we’ve learned how to take it. When asked for your opinion, don’t hold back, because it will just lead to both of us being unhappy, and a lot of time and money will be wasted.
When you get the emails with the designs you’ve been anxiously waiting for, before opening it, grab a pen and paper or open up a Word document. When you first lay eyes on the designs, jot down your initial thoughts and reactions. Remember, be specific and honest! Walk away for a while, then return again and jot down your thoughts and opinions on your second interaction with the designs. The first look often is biased, influenced by your expectations, emotions, even how the designer worded their email. It’s still insightful, but not necessarily a clear vision. Returning for a second look allows the shock or newness to wear off and you can see things that might not have been evident the first time.
A good designer will often ask for samples of related work or styles you like or don’t like at the start of a project. But as the project develops, continuing to identify elements in other designs that strike a chord with you can give your designer a clearer path.
An important part of feedback is allowing your designer to explain choices they made. There should always be solid reasons behind their designs, and sometimes those reasons must trump your opinion, especially in regard to production or distribution. So be open to your designer’s choices and suggestions!
These tips should help your communication with your designer thrive, and result in happiness for both of you!
Last week, we covered the designer’s side of the price talks, which you can read here. Now, we’re going to dive into the other side.
Although money is a weighty topic between designers and clients, it can also be a tool in finding the right designer for your project. And no, I’m not saying just go with the cheapest! In fact, I strongly urge you to never go with the cheapest. If you’re on the hunt for a designer, always bear this in mind:
So many times, I encounter people who are dissatisfied with the results their designer delivered. And so often, they are paying meager dollars for them. It’s nice to think that no matter what you pay for a designer, they’ll always go above and beyond, delivering the most stellar designs they can imagine, blowing your expectations out of the water. But here in the real world, that rarely comes to pass. To avoid that scenario from unfolding, here are three things that prices can tell you about your designer.
Believe it or not, most people don’t like making $4/hour, and designers shouldn’t be much different. Except there are many designers out there whose prices are so low that they’re lucky to bring that home in the end. When factoring in their time marketing, landing clients, maintaining their website, communicating with clients, honing their skills, keeping the books, networking, etc., you realize that the hours a designer actually spends designing needs to cover a lot of unpaid hours. A designer who charges low doesn’t value their time, and you shouldn’t expect them to value yours.
It’s a simple equation: the more money you pay me, the more I value you. If you’re paying someone $50 to design a logo for the business you put your blood, sweat, and tears into, they value you and your business at $50. If that doesn’t sit well with you, that’s good. Design is an investment and you’ll get out what you put in. A good designer knows that and will price their services accordingly.
I’ve never been proud of a project that I only spent an hour on. And that’s not a testament to the speed at which I work, but rather the fact that great design takes time. I’ve encountered many people who think it’s ridiculous to charge anything more than $50 for a logo, because in their mind, a logo can be done in 45 minutes. You might get a logo, but it won’t be on par with a logo that someone invested 20 hours into. A good designer knows their process and won’t sacrifice the quality of their work just to land a job.
You can peruse Upwork or Freelancer and find bucket loads of designers that charge $5/hour, or promise a logo in a day for $35, or can build a website in two hours. Choosing designers in that pool is like playing the lottery. You might be the jackpot winner, but you’re nearly guaranteed to sink money into something that leaves you disappointed. Design is no different from the real world. You get what you pay for.
Money! Have I got your attention?
For a lot of people, that word is always followed by an exclamation point, because money makes them so happy. For designers, it’s followed by an exclamation point, a dot dot dot, and about six crying emojis and the one that looks like he’s about to explode. So, if you’re a fellow designer, consider this post a sympathizing pat on the back and a calming voice saying, “Chin up, buddy. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel.” And if you’re a client on the hunt for a designer, take this as a backstage pass to the circus of a freelancer’s life. Talking about money doesn’t have to be scary or stressful, so let’s delve into the world of pricing and maybe come out of it breathing a sigh of relief.
Many clients experience frustration because while scouring the Internet for designers, they realize almost none of them have their prices on their website. It may feel like a glaring oversight, or the foundation for a scam. But there’s a reason why it’s not common, and that reason is a huge part why talking design prices is such a daunting task.
No two projects are the same. Therefore, no two projects should be priced the same.
This is important for both designer and client to understand. A designer can feel pressure to find the secret formula of pricing all their projects ahead of time. A client can be puzzled why one designer will charge them $100 for a logo, and another will quote $6,000.
The first step is a point of controversy in the design world, but I think it’s the ideal way to bring about stress-free price talks, and to always be fairly compensated for your work.
Many clients balk at the idea of an hourly rate. They like knowing what the price is upfront, and find it hard to justify paying a designer a rather large hourly rate.
Don’t let this mentality deter you. The most important thing is being upfront. I tell my clients that their project should take around x amount of hours, but it could be more depending on xyz factors. This way, there aren’t any ugly surprise around the price of the project.
Finding the formula for your hourly rate is quite simple. Calculate how much money you need to make a month, as well as how many hours you spend designing, and divide those to find out your operating costs. Then increase that price to result in a profit margin that reflects your talent and experience. Research what your
competitors are charging and make sure your hourly rate fits in the range.
Now, you’ve shared your rate and the hours estimate. You’re ecstatic that they agree to it and you sink those late-night hours into the project to deliver beautiful designs. But then a nightmare unfolds and you find out that your “perfect client” isn’t as forthcoming with the payment as you believed they would be. Sadly, you are not alone in your experience. Nearly any designer who’s dabbled in freelance has experienced the gut-wrenching realization that you just got burned.
This happened to me fairly early on in my business. And I learned an expensive lesson:
You might think taking someone to court over a little money is a daunting thing, but a contract is a wonderful way to weed out the honest clients from those who just want free work. A contract and down payment do three things:
a.) A contract outlines and clarifies the agreed upon aspects of the project. Be as thorough as possible, because emails and phone conversations can be loosely interpreted. My contract outlines the price, the deliverables, the distribution of rights, any deadlines, and a release in case things go sour. I send it over to the client and it has to be signed and returned before a minute of work is invested.
b.) Down payments ensure the client has access to money and values your time and skill. I’ll be honest, I’ve gotten too excited by the prospect of a cool project, or the promise of exposure, and have ended up doing some work for someone before they pay me. And even if it’s watermarked to high heavens, it does nothing to guarantee I’ll later be compensated for my time. So I’m still reminding myself that the most valuable clients are the ones that value me. Which leads to:
c.) Both a contract and down payment show that you know your worth. Plain and simple. Take yourself seriously and your clients will have to do the same. This is a very important aspect for someone who wants to take their business from a hobby to a steady source of income.
Hourly rates, contracts, and down payments are the perfect start to saying goodbye to stressful price talks. Now I can attest that it doesn’t prevent you from ever having to think twice about your prices, but it will eliminate the dark cloud that often looms over a frazzled designer’s head.
Next week, we’ll swing over to the client’s side of the pricing battle and talk about how a designer’s way of handling money can be a huge indicator of things to come!
In last week’s post, we covered the basic definitions of branding, visual identity, and logo, and took a closer look at branding through athletic powerhouse, Nike. Let’s now move into the next word, and truly understand what a visual identity is and how your branding should affect it.
We learned from Nike that branding is an intangible entity; it’s the feelings and promise that consumers associate with a company. A visual identity, however, is the very tangible counterpart. A company’s visual identity is how consumers differentiate one product or service from another. It’s common to assume this responsibility solely lies on the logo. While the logo is the primary visual component of an identity, it’s by no means the only one. The logo will dictate all the other graphics used throughout the company, but shouldn’t be the only visual element created for a business.
Take a look at this diagram. The brand is over the entire company, and everything the company produces should point back to the brand. The visual identity is comprised of a logo, color scheme, fonts, and images. These are predetermined visual attributes that are then implemented into everything the company releases into the world.
You can see from the diagram that if a company is handled well, all of its tangible assets should fall under the visual identity. A great example of this is Coca-Cola. It’s primary competitor is Pepsi, but Coke is decisively winning the battle. “In 2011, Coke brand held 17 percent of the US soda market, followed by Diet Coke at 9.6 percent and Pepsi at 9.2 percent, according to Beverage Digest.” Despite the ongoing argument, the truth is the taste between the two isn’t worlds apart. In fact, they’re chemically nearly similar, and in most blind tests, people choose Pepsi over Coke.
So why is Coke the kingpin of the soda world? It starts with branding. Though people argue about taste preferences, almost no one denies that Coke has a superior brand position. That means they’ve established themselves as the better product. And they’ve gotten there in part because of their visual identity.
As you can see from this diagram, Coke’s brand can be boiled down to a few feelings and promises. They have really focused on tying human emotion to a soft drink. Capturing life’s moments is a very important stance for them, and it ties back to the history of Coke. Check out Coca-Cola’s own article outlining their history to get a great overview, but in a nutshell, their brand position began to take form in the 1970s, “when Coca‑Cola’s advertising started to reflect a brand connected with fun, friends and good times.” Coke might be one of the best companies at tapping into the phenomenon of nostalgia in their visual identity. The classic red and white logo is at the forefront, the fonts they use are timeless, and the images implemented into ads, campaigns, and their online presence often have a Polaroid-type filter.
But you’re probably not in the position to forego all visual elements except for two colors. That takes years and billions of marketing dollars. So what is the role of a visual identity for a small business? It’s the tangible elements that reinforce your company’s brand. Once you’ve shared your brand with your designer, they should respond with a logo, color choices, fonts, and images that reflect your brand.
This step is where gut-instinct is key. When you look at the work your designer delivers, does it bring the feelings and promises you want your company to convey? Grab some friends and family and ask them the same question. If you’re really prepared, find some people who fit your target demographic and see how they emotionally respond to the delivered graphics.
If you’re running a daycare, but your designer chose droll, monochromatic colors, you’re not going to feel happy, warm, or safe. If you run a gym targeting bodybuilders, but your designer opted to use a crazy font with curly cues, you’re not going to attract your ideal customers. Pinpointing your brand is vital to nailing the visual identity, otherwise you might end up scattered and misguided.
Now you might’ve started simply by wanting a logo, but hopefully you now have a better understanding of the role graphics play in your company. But your logo is still the primary graphic, and there are certain things to look for and pitfalls to avoid when hiring a designer and choosing a logo. We’ll tackle that monster in part 3, so please like, comment, share, and return next week!
