How to choose a brand designer.
You’re looking at designers portfolios and trying to figure out their “vibe” because you think that is all there is to go on. But that isn’t what you need to be looking for.
It’s really hard to make a decision on portfolio and vibes alone. You can look at work the designer has done, but how do you know if what they can do will really fit you. Like one of my clients said “whilst I'd seen some of your work and, and loved it because your stuff was absolutely gorgeous, I was also sat there going okay, but like is this going to work for me? like, is this style, is this this process going to work for me?“
It’s a tough decision to make, don’t underestimate that. You are trusting someone with your business baby and you have to know that they are going to look after it, nurture it and treat it with care. And how can you figure that out from a quick glance over a portfolio? A portfolio is often just the evidence of the outcome, not how the process actually went. Because the process is where the actual relationship happens. It’s the bit where you tell them the truth about your business, even the messy bits, and they either really hear it or they just nod and carry on with what they already had planned in their head. It’s the emails back and forth when you say “I don’t love this” and how they respond to that. A portfolio can’t show you any of that, it can only show you what came out at the other end.
What you really need is someone who is willing to listen to all your ideas, treat your business with the respect it deserves (remember you’ve built it from the ground up) but also see that you have grown, changed and evolved and your brand hasn’t kept up. That you want something that reflects the “you” you are now and where you want to go. Because I know you have some awesome ideas rattling round in your brain, it’s just that trying to sort out your brand is taking all that space up at the moment.
Someone who cares enough to ask the difficult questions and listen, really listen to those answers. It’s not really about whether they can draw a logo or put a brand together it’s more about will the process work, do you feel like the person will really get what you need.
And while you are overthinking this decision you are staying stuck. Stuck with the brand that you know isn’t you anymore. When you work with your brand everything takes longer, the decisions and the overthinking because this brand just isn’t you anymore. That post that you wanted to put out there, but just couldn’t decide what graphic you wanted to put with it, because nothing was quite right. Holding onto all of those brilliant ideas that you have and not doing anything with them, because your brand still doesn’t look the way you want it to.
Instead of looking at vibe look for designers who tell you about the process, does the case study talk about the process, what was involved how much time they spent on each part of the process. And look for testimonials, ones that tell you what the process was like. What the experience was like, looking for feedback from actual people who have worked with the person really helps. So instead of a testimonial that just says “amazing to work with, loved my now logo” you’re looking for one that tells you something like “she really listened when I said the first concept wasn’t quite right, and didn’t make me feel bad for saying so” That’s the kind of feedback that actually tells you something about how someone works, not just what they made.
So if you’ve looked around my website (and I recommend you do) you can see my process and how I work with clients and what they say after it is all done. And if you feel like we might be a good fit lets have an informal chat here, because it’s also important to see if you like the person!
