Five Things to Know Before Hiring a Brand Designer

As a business owner, you know you need a few things to be taken seriously by your potential audience—usually, a logo is chief among these things. My advice is to not jump into the visual branding (logo, etc) until you’ve had some actual business experience under your belt. When you’re ready to hire a brand designer, here are a handful of things to consider before you do.

1. Your designer should be a strategic partner for you.
You have lots of business decisions to make that are related to your branding. Brand designers are innately problem-solvers. Time is spent interviewing, researching, writing and rewriting, workshopping, trying again. And all this before logo sketching even starts! Your brand designer is there to help hone in and define your brand THEN bring things to life visually.

2. Your designer will ask you a lot of questions.
At least I hope they will! Branding is about a lot more than making a logo and a website. Brand design is first about your strategic foundation—why are you in business, why should people hire you instead of your competitors—what sets you apart and brings people in the door. Allow your designer to know those things about you and your business and the final product will be that much better.

3. Creation is a process, not a neat linear thing.
The creative process can take time, can require play, can be a little messy, and may call upon you to be vulnerable. You as the client are just as important to the process as the designer. It is an iterative process—you will see multiple versions of each piece and your input is valuable. Don’t be afraid to give feedback.

4. Find a designer whose style aligns with your audience’s taste.
Check out their work before you reach out. Any designer can make a logo for you. Truly. It’s also good to consider their design sensibilities, their process, their personality. So much of design is deeply personal, so make sure you align with the human you’re hiring before you hire them.

5. Hiring a designer doesn’t mean the project is hands-off for you.
The project you’re hiring a designer for is still YOUR project. It’s involved, it’s personal, it’s collaborative. Again, your input is valuable—you know your business well. Your designer cannot (should not) design for you in a vacuum. Plus, it can be really fun to see everything come together!

If you want to learn more or reach out, visit andimints.com. Cheers!

Content provided by Women Belong member Andi Mints Gilreath