Contract Designers - The Secret To Getting Great Results

You wouldn't tell your doctor what tools to use when removing your appendix, so why would you tell your designer what colors, layout or software to use?

Telling a designer exactly how to create something is pointless and will reduce the quality of the results.

Why do we hire designers?

If that is why designers are hired, what approach can we use to work with them effectively?

Manage you outcomes, not methods. Let me explain. If you want your company website to communicate its professional and customer-focused approach to business, don't tell your designer what colors, typeface and layout to use.

Giving painfully detailed instructions to designers stop their creative juices from flowing. No longer can they come up with innovative solutions, and resort to designing "by the book".

So if that's the wrong way of working with a designer, what is the right way?

Take advantage of their creative abilities and also make them happy

For example, you might tell her that you want website visitors to immediately understand the benefits your environmentally friendly construction business provides. Secondly, you might tell her that once this understanding has been established to channel it to a Request For Quote form on your website.

Any designer that is truly good at what they do will take your goals and make them real by utilizing design techniques and coming up with creative solutions. If your designer requests extremely detailed instructions then they aren't a designer. They just know how to use Photoshop.

To get great results from your talented designer, leave them room to be creative and accomplish your goals. Don't put them in shackles by giving uneducated instructions.

Notes: This does not mean you can't have them use brand colors, logo, corporate style guidelines, etc. But always try and remove as much detail from your "requirements" as possible. The more freedom, the better.

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