How to Choose a Good Designer for your Brand Identity Development
By. Saurabh Dey
Date: 6 Dec 2009
Many don't find the time, some don't care, while some others do want to do the jobs themselves, and a lot many more are going for the run on the mill services to save costs. A client of mine to save costs stopped consulting us (we are a team of designers running a brand image consultancy) at a point of time when according to our suggestion, we should have looked after the promotional print material for his company. Well he nodded to the whole plan, accepted the design but then passed it over to a production guy of his choice whose quote was obviously one third of ours.
What happened, the new production person to save paper in printing of his brochures not only resized them, but compressed the entire design in a way that it became oblong, along with the text, imagine. The colours were such that the photographs became almost opaque. The same was printed and 5000 copies were distributed in a trade show. What's the reaction of the client, well he did not notice until we informed him about it. Imagine the response to his identity. He could have set a terrific impression, but now he's just another manufacturer whose attention to detail is missing. What else will be the impression towards him if not that?
I have always been on the forefront of educating clients about how an identity makeover can change the way people percieve them. A lot of businessmen believe that they can handle their logo themselves. Well maybe some can, but not all. Designers go through proper training and they do have a talent for it. Businessmen should realise that they have a certain quality, because of which they started a business. Now they didn't build the office with their bare hands, did they? But I suppose drawing lines on the computer is a luxury they can engage in. Wrong.
Designers have a natural visual talent for drawing inspiration out of things they see, comparing and combining, morphing, adding and subtracting shapes in their heads in split seconds, just like the businessmen have their fields of expertise and their individual talents. At a Design School, a budding designer spends years analyzing, doing form, colour, imagery and creative exercises to shine their skills, talk about 4-5 years of studying and living in just that atmosphere where they learn how to research on a business, how to define its target audience, and how to communicate that in one strong visual. Can everybody do that?Not to mention, the number of clients they have worked for, which only makes their skill stronger and they are able to communicate better. Now a business person who has only thought about his logo, for example, and has no experience with even holding a pencil and a drawing board, will he/she be able to compare with a good designer's skills.
I guess the fear on the part of the businessmen lies in whether or not the designer is good, what if they are over charging or whether they can deliver or not. Well the solution to that is simple:
1. To look out for designers or firms who show a decent piece of work or two and can explain the outcome of the project and the idea behind it confidently, rather than those who show loads of work but without explanation.
2. If you are working with an overseas designer over the internet, then to find secure ways of payment, research the designer, about their blogs, or their websites.
3. Always ask for extra details of a project that you like in their portfolio and judge them on the basis of their confidence, how much can they talk about the project. Ask details about their client's target, motive, results and see what they have to answer.
4. If you aren't the best judge of creative work, then try to find out through their social network as to how many and what sort of designers like their work. if you get into their network, you will find it easier to judge and have a lot of creative fun too.
5. Try to see if the designer talks more of technology or brand placement, because 90% of good designers will give you less information on SEO, web tech, printing technology, and more matter on visual attraction and ideas for brand enhancement. But they will ensure a good outcome none the less because they have good work links.
6. Always judge a graphic designer from his/her logo development process and not so much from their print or web work, as logos and corporate identities have the least possibility of getting copied from sources or free templates. Also a designer always works on a corp identity single handedly, whereas print design, advertising and web design can be an outcome of more than one mind.
7. Lastly, always try to talk to the designer verbally. The confidence shown on the phone or in person is a big factor in determining skill. Most good designers will talk to you in a very friendly manner, you will feel the passion when they talk about ideas for your brand. But they usually write short emails.
So with this I would say, that the identity of a company is its face, the advertising is its thoughts, and other media like websites, they are the way the company interacts with people. Now your face creates an impression about you, your way of talking is developed as a result of your education, environment and influences, and the way you interact determines how many people reach out to you. Now when all this has taken so many years to build a businessman's personality, how could it be that without a professional's help, this personality development for his/her company can be achieved, that to in a matter of days.
Want to see what goes in a design process. See this : http://www.fortecorporate.com/forte_design_project_ashoka_roll.html