To a future elected official
you need a graphic designer
You’ve achieved getting your business and campaign going & managed to pass off those free template made bumper stickers or semi-lettered signs through mspaint, and few other webapps. You tried photoshop but gave up due to costs and know you’re not using it to its potential and you just shut down illustrator after it loaded having been overwhelmed by the tools you’re not familiar with to use.
We can sympathize as each tool is made/designed for certain types of jobs. You can’t be a jack of all trades in a business when you’re grinding from sun up to sun down especially for as complicated as a topic as is graphic design. It can take several years to understand in practice all the various rules and psychology at play for light and color psychology and theory.Now we’re here to help you succeed but we need your art first , so here’s some tips and notes on the nature of hiring a graphic designer.
FREELANCER vs. IN-HOUSE
There are considerations to make, firstly if you’re just starting out as a fledgling business wherein its just you and/or 2-3 friends helping or even as employee’s a “Freelancer” might be for you. There’s so many resources such as our list below though there’s natural caveats to each one but like all things due diligence is recommended , make sure how the companies handle the funds transfer , how to handle grievances if any occur between you and the freelancer.
However, if you’re more established with regular clients and been crushing it for a little while an in-house designer might be better, they’ll be a regular employee but their mission is to help you solidify and expand your branding/message. However unlike other positions wherein the catch is to be told or asked how high to jump and do it , design is whole different ballgame wherein there are key aspects to the relationship that is different than other positions.
Communication:
There is communication and then there’s micromanaging, if you’re in a rush let them know. Though you should know you might get a rushed product, plan your project so that you’ll not only have time to vet a freelancer but to give them fair time to complete a project.
Things you think will only take a short time, honestly will take a lot longer than you really realize in part due to how marketing and design are staged projects. Before making an agreement on a project inquire about what they feel is a reasonable communication schedule.
PAY
This is the 21st century and we all can do better on this front. We’ve all heard the saying “you get what you pay for” , this is not true for all things including graphic design but like legends of old there’s a grain of truth in it. If you hunt down the cheapest freelance designer they’re likely to have too many clients , potentially be sloppy with their designs , or flighty at worst.
The in-house designer that signed on for low pay may not return any loyalty and could be flighty as they’ll be seeking freelance work or a secondary employment during off hours to compensate a low wage. Alternatively they can also be someone starting out and needing an opportunity, opportunity for anyone but even more so for someone that’s just starting out can be worth its weight in dwarf star material.
This doesn’t mean you need the most expensive candidate either as on that spectrum you could find someone we’ll call a “Rick” an all consuming egoist whom can do no wrong and thinks you can’t appreciate their abilities. Naturally we’d want to avoid that, there is a happy medium and it takes reasonable communication and with clear outlined expectations and willingness on both sides to accept input, within reason.
Do beware of being a micro-manager as it can hamper a relationship in either spectrum ,a fair wage allows the employee to not be worried about life like their rent/food/health and transportation. It can also plant a seed of loyalty, where-as a tremendous workload and massive expectations without support and/or positive mutual communications and commiserate pay increases can fray said potential for loyalty.
Final Thoughts
Freelancers – you can hire and get the product move on , get a different designer , and wash rinse repeat. Ideally in a good project you may want to consider a standing relationship with your freelancer , after at least 2 or so projects and expectations on both sides being met.
In-House -The business is growing or has grown beyond the one off graphic and design needs, like all positions you can hire a Graphic Designer to be on site or remotely with a general salary like all employee’s. This goes more into your own experience and interests in hiring someone than advice we could really offer in this article.
