How to make the most working with a Graphic Designer
by Rene Pe Benito

When you get right down to thinking about your next communication piece for print, the Web or Multimedia, you must decide whether to design the piece yourself or hire a graphic designer.

When you do decide to hire an outside help, you'll either get just what you pay for, add more wrinkles to your face or get more than what you pay for. The choice is obviously getting the most out of what the Graphic Designer can give for less money.

As with many human interaction establishing a relationship--looking at the project from designer's point of view other than your own--is a good foundation.

If you've worked with a graphic designer before, try to analyze what worked and what didn't. Here are a few tips from a practicing graphic designer:

This will only put him off course or lose interest. After all he is not one of your employees.

Decide beforehand what you want the designer to do for you. Make all relevant materials you want included in the piece available at the first meeting such as complete copy, photos, illustrations, color preferences etc. If you have none of these and want the designer to provide all say so at the outset. This may push the cost up but these are additional work for him.

Many graphic designers today are multi-talented and can respond to most client's needs and often times difficult demands. If you are not sure ask him directly what his capabilities are. He may prefer to work on a particular look that is often based on his experience or style. Let him volunteer what he wants to do.

If you want fresh ideas and technical advice to come from the designer himself, involve him this early.

If it's his first time to design for you, it helps to give him a corporate profile and that of your competitors. Creativity works best when you feed it with information, the right kind of information.

Discuss this at the beginning and always make sure he gets paid on time. What is often overlooked is payment for work that exceeds the number of revisions. Make a provision to pay work that goes beyond the original agreement. Graphic designers work with a variety of clients. He is always comparing one client to the other particularly on payment of fees. Any bad experience will show in the kind of attention and quality of work you will get from him.

Check details of copyright you are entitled to when you use his design and how frequently you are allowed to use them. Design copyrights are often limited to the project at hand but other rights may be offered free or with royalty payments.

While there are standard rates designer charges for their work, they often are flexible if they like the challenge of the project or the client is easy to deal with. You can offer future work as a leverage to negotiating a lower fee for your current piece. If you have other pieces that will use the same design, try hiring the designer to do the related pieces at one time. This will save the designer and client additional workload and time and often will cost less.

If you involve too many people, there will be conflicts in every situation. For instance, color or type disagreements between two persons in your organization will delay the client or irritate the designer.

If you put your weight as though you are the designer and expect him to just listen and follow, you might just get what you wanted. If you think you can do the job yourself, don't ever hire a designer just to translate your design ideas to the letter. You hire him to do the job so let him do what you paid him to do which is give the benefit of his design capabilities and experience to bear on the project at hand.

Signing up a graphic designer to work for you is not only hiring his services but his person as well. Consider the dignity of his profession and his person and you will extract whatever creative juice you can get from him.

Graphic by Extreme Graphics

Design Copyright © 1999, 2000 Extreme Graphics
BF Resort Village, Las Piñas City, Philippines
Telefax: (632) 871-2267
E-mail: webmaster@exgraph.com