Over the past 19 years working as a designer, I’ve learnt some tips and tricks that can really help to achieve the best outcome between a client and designer. Both the client and designer want to achieve a design that is both visually engaging and effective at meeting the business objectives – for this to happen both parties have their part to play! In this blog post I will share 5 expert tips that can improve how you and your designer work together.

Tip 1. Detailed brief, better results

For the designer to truly identify what you are looking for in a design, they will need to ask you a series of questions (a bit like an investigative reporter!) These questions might include something like the following:

• What do you want your new brand to accomplish?
• How are you different from your competitors? Who are your main competitors?
• Who is your target audience?
• What are the expected deliverables?
• How do people learn about your product, organisation or service?

A short answer is fine at this stage and it’s ok if you need some more time to think before responding. This briefing stage is the most important, as the success of any design project largely depends on the clarity of the initial brief.

Typically your designer will then ‘brief back’ their understanding of your needs to make sure everything is covered and before starting any design work. Your designer should also be able to tell you more about the process of how they work and what you can expect throughout the various design stages. Designers typically use tried and tested ‘frameworks’ or processes as they move through the stages of the design, helping to keep everything on track and within the agreed timeframe. This is also a good opportunity for you to ask any questions you may have, or raise any pain points which you feel specifically need addressing in the brief.

Tip 2. Personify your unique brand story

You must be clear on your brand story – It should encompass your ambitions, your personality, your values and beliefs. This will help you to connect with your consumer, make you more memorable and bring your brand to life. Your designer can help you to tease out this story, as they learn more about your brand and business. Consumers want to know the story behind your product or service and what it is that makes you different from your competitors. As the expression goes ‘define yourself, or be defined.’

Tip 3. Dare to be different!

Spend some time bookmarking examples of brands you like. Look for examples inside and outside of your industry. It’s a great opportunity for you to get an idea of what you like and what you don’t like, and be able to discuss them with your designer. Your designer is not going to copy these brands, but it is an effective way to benchmark your new branding.

There is nothing wrong with looking at your competition or indeed any other logo for inspiration. However, following what other people do is often a mistake. What works for one brand will not always work for another. Do your research, look at what your competitors are doing – can this be reframed? Remember, you are not trying to fit in, you are trying to stand out!

Tip 4: Consolidated and direct feedback

Design is a very subjective subject. We all have our personal opinion when it comes to design. Your feedback is key to the success of the design project, so honesty is the best policy when feeding back to your designer. The more specific you can be, the better. Try this approach: ask yourself these two questions: ‘will it meet my business objectives?’ and ‘how will my audience respond to it?’

Don’t forget to listen to your designers advice too. They’ve worked on multiple design projects and know the challenges and possible solutions. And remember a brand mark can’t communicate absolutely everything about your organisation; but it should express the most important brand value of your business or organisation. This will help to focus your brand message. When feeding back to the designer, try to make the points actionable for the next round of designs. It’s helpful if the feedback is granular and not too broad, focusing on specific elements of the design; for example ‘can we explore another font option which feels less corporate’. All feedback from different parties should be consolidated into one email, or ideally marked up as comments in a pdf and sent by the main point of contact (the main point of contact on the client side is established at the briefing stage).

Tip 5: Context is everything

Because design is subjective showing it to too many people can just muddy the decision making process. Instead keep the number of people to a minimum and canvas their opinions individually to avoid ‘design by committee’. You and your designer will spend much time discussing the right approach for your brand identity and hopefully you will have a firm grasp of why certain decisions have been made. The danger comes when you present work to colleagues who don’t have that background. Make sure that you always fully brief anybody you show the design to so they know why it has turned out the way it has. Context is everything, so always present it. When you do show them a design and they tell you what they think – always ask them why – why don’t they like the colour? Why do they think the logo should be made bigger?

Equally ask yourself the same questions. Often there are underlying reasons for a reaction towards a design. Telling the designer these underlying reasons can enable them to find the most appropriate solution.

Conclusion

From my experience, the best client and designer partnerships are where ideas can be exchanged in an open and positive way, even if there are challenging conversations as part of that. It can feel like a leap of faith, but remember that design is a process. It takes time to really nail a design, it’s not unusual to have several rounds of creative with each engagement further refining the design. Trust in the process – some of which I have outlined above – and you and your designer will create a design that you can truly be proud of.