Working With a Melbourne Graphic Designer
When hiring a Melbourne graphic designer for your website, it’s important that the process is a collaborative one. This applies to the various stages of the process – from the initial brief, at the draft stages and right through to project completion. Here are a few tips for working effectively with a graphic designer to get the results you want.
Make your brief clear
It’s important to be clear about what it is you want and to communicate this effectively to your designer.
This can be tricky, especially if you see yourself as more of the ‘non-creative’ type and are not exactly sure what you want! But without a clear brief, your designer may not know where to start.
Tips for this stage:
- Describe your business to your designer – its vision, mission, goals, aims, and so on. Your designers will need this as a framework for creating your site.
- Make it clear to your designer what your site is about, including what you want the content to say and do, who your target audience is, and the message and tone you want to convey.
- Research other sites to find examples of what works for you and what doesn’t. By doing this you might be able to get a better idea of the types of layouts, colours, fonts and images you want. It also enables you to provide concrete examples for your designer and also communicate what you don’t want.
- Listen to your designer. Designers are experts at their jobs, so if you feel lost in the process – let your designer guide you and listen to them. This also applies to all stages of the project – communication is a two-way street after all!
Allow enough time for the project
It really isn’t a good idea to leave the process until the last minute and then expect miracles. If you want a high-quality outcome – and don’t we all – you need to allow time for this to happen. Go ahead and set target deadlines for the stages of the project but do make them reasonable and realistic. You should also factor in some extra time for things that might not go to plan.
Provide clear feedback
At the draft stages it’s vital to give constructive feedback. It’s important to communicate well at this stage rather than letting things go until it’s getting too late. Consider each element of the design and what you like or don’t like. If you feel unsure, mull over it for a while and promise to get back to the designer soon.
Don’t micro-manage
While you are the one in charge, micro-managing is counter-productive. To avoid this happening, make what you want clear, and then give your designer leeway and space to fulfil your instructions.
