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A graphic designer is often considered the saviour of any company looking to enter new markets or make turns in positioning: new logo, new colours, new advertisement… but not necessarily new everything. The probablitiy is high that having a designer on the team is going to be beneficial, but you have to make sure you do it right. From past experiences, here’s a small list of what might be getting in the way of both sides’ expectations:
1. They’re being administrative
No, this doesn’t mean they’re trying to run the place. Designers are thinkers. That means they look for things that make sense EVERYWHERE. If your company is too busy, too crowded or too disorganised, your designer may struggle to function to their maximum potential. Though part of their job is making sure everything looks and communicates perfectly, that’s only achieved by putting things in place first; if the workflow requires them to manage information and processes, they’ll need time to do so. That means, for a short time, more behind the scenes work and less visual results, of course.
2. They’re not wearing headphones
Even if it’s not Christmas, or any other special occasion, headphones are always the best gift you can give to a graphic designer – it’s 100% guaranteed that they will wear them, and they’ll become happier for it ‘n all! For most of them it’s merely a way of focusing (even more so if your company fits the previous topic) – despite what most people may think. Music is inspirational, so don’t be offended having to call their name three or four times before they acknowledge you’re actually talking to them. Some may even experience “name-call-syndrome†(taking the headphones off abruptly and looking lost to everyone around them), but don’t worry, they’re as healthy as everybody else.
3. They don’t have a partner in crime
Have you ever seen Art + Copy? You should. Designers send messages with colours, typography and other graphics, but first you need to have someone in charge of deciding what that message will be (and even if you’re the CEO, it’s not you!). If you’re not an agency or don’t have a marketing guy – or anyone else – in charge of the final copy of the text, you should consider hiring a freelancer to join the creative team. Before things go visual, the content must be great.
4. You need someone more experienced, perhaps?
So you hired from portfolio and not from CV? It’s alright, it happens a lot and it’s not necessarily a bad decision. But there’s a lot more to consider than just beautiful final results – experience, for example – and you’re going to be a part of this process called design now. With an experienced graphic designer you should witness their authority increase by the day, as they begin to handle urgent requests within much shorter periods of time. The decision to have an in-house graphic designer is a bold (and totally awesome) move for any company which is not an agency or a publisher, so make sure you know exactly what you’re expecting to get from them before hoping for Cannes Lions winning pieces.
5. Maybe you’re forgetting something…
Designers are human too! They don’t have super powers. They’re just regular people with productivity levels like any other employee in the company. Forget about divine inspiration, perspiration does it 95 percent of the time… so provide a good working environment, fair compensation and just let ‘em work.
Original article posted on the Printsome Blog
