When your design project falls behind schedule, it’s easy to point fingers at the graphic designer. But isn’t the design process a collaborative effort between the client and creative team? Indeed, the client is partly responsible for ensuring that the graphic designer makes the most out of his hours. Are you doing enough to help your trusty talent? Xortie’s Sydney graphic design team gives tips on how to work with a graphic designer by asking three questions that will gauge your involvement in the design process.

Did you give a comprehensive brief?

If there’s anything that could easily disrupt a graphic designer’s schedule, it’s an incomplete creative brief or no brief at all. Your designer can’t read minds. How can he execute your ideas if you don’t list your campaign objectives, describe your target demographic, or quantify ‘rustic design’? Leaving your graphic designer to grope around in the dark will prompt incessant enquiries and/or excessive revisions, both of which spell wasted time and effort.

And if there’s anyone who could and should supply relevant details, it’s you, the client. Your brief, therefore, should be anything but. Give the entire creative team as much information as you can. Sit down with them before embarking on the design process to clarify anything that might still be hazy. Doing these might eat up your time at the very beginning, but each pertinent information will be worth every precious second in the long run.

Did you follow the image submission requirements?

Receiving an inappropriate image file is a sure source of time-consuming stress for graphic designers. Take file resolution, for instance. A low-resolution pack shot might be okay for your website but certainly not for your billboard ad. Should you insist on using it, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to work with and will only result to a distorted, pixelated output. And don’t tell your graphic designer to simply adjust its resolution to 300 dpi on Photoshop: that would surely send him into a hissy fit.

That’s because a judicious graphic designer would never want a client’s project to look unprofessional by using the wrong image. Therefore, to avoid lengthy exchanges (and arguments) with your designer, familiarise yourself with basic image submission rules. Our graphic design team names a few of them:

  • Ask your graphic designer for the required file format so that you won’t have to keep on resending files. For instance, when a project calls for your company logo, he’d most likely ask for a vector file.
  • Don’t just grab any image you see on Google search. Aside from being relatively undersized, the file might be protected by copyright. If a photographer or an illustrator will only extend your timetable, try buying stock images from companies like Shutterstock and Getty Images.
  • Don’t waste time by pasting your image on a Word document before giving it to your graphic designer. Submit it as is.

Did you give clear and sufficient feedback?

Some clients know what they want only when they see it. Then there are some who only know what they don’t want. Still there are those who don’t know what they want at all. As said earlier, your graphic designer is no mind reader. Client feedback that is unclear, lacking, or non-existent is a sure ticket back to the drawing board.

And by ‘sufficient,’ we don’t mean beyond what is practical. Some clients fall into the belief that more is best, so they solicit comments from everyone. But we all know feedback from the whole marketing team can’t be effortlessly incorporated into the final art. A truly thorough creative brief would be enough to steer your graphic designer to the desired direction. Any revision advice that only somewhat answer the brief are best left to the discretion of the key decision makers. Otherwise, the revision cycle will never end.

A graphic designer who can strike a balance between client objectives and artistry is hard to come by. Likewise, understanding how to work with a graphic designer takes effort on the part of the client. By fulfilling your role in the design process, you’ll be able to help your graphic designer to come up with the best design solution within your desired timeframe. And if you want to work with a graphic designer with good time management skills, give Xortie a call today.