Graphic design is essential in presenting the company to the public. You should always have professional-looking and attractive graphic designs for your company. It’s how you can generate leads and revenue and get an advantage over your competitors. Think about graphic design as a visual way to convey your brand or message to your customers or prospects. In doing so, you need to hire a graphic designer to make your design objectives come to life.

So, in this article, we provide reasons for why you need to hire graphic designers, where to find them, and how to hire one for your company or startup.

 

Why Should You Hire Graphic Designers

One, hiring a professional can help you focus on your business. Yes, graphic design tools can save you a lot of cash. However, it has its cons, such as no copyright (unless you upload your design assets) and limited features (especially if you’re only using the free version). Perhaps, a graphic design tool would be best in time-sensitive projects when you need to publish a post in less than an hour or so.

Two, graphic designers can put your vision to life. Maybe you do have some design experience, and a do-it-yourself graphic design tool is sufficient for you, then go for it. However, graphic designers have months or years of expertise and experience that they’ll do your design for you, provided you have realistic expectations, and are communicating with them regularly.

 

Where to Hire a Graphic Designer

Fortunately, you don’t have to send out a notice in the newspaper to find a graphic designer. A quick Google search will yield the results you need to get the graphic designer that can fulfill your requirements. For instance, Upwork and Fiverr are two of the largest freelance job marketplaces. However, there are also other ways to get graphic design such as on-demand design service, freelancers, agencies, and more. And here’s a step-by-step guide on how to hire a graphic designer:

 

1. Determine Objectives, Requirements, and Budget

Before you dip your toes in finding a graphic designer, you have to identify what you need first. You don’t want to go to different websites, not knowing what you want.

First, know why you want to have a design created. Where do you want to apply it or where do you want to post it? What are your expectations for it? What’s your end goal? Think about those first before you hire a graphic designer.

If you’re launching your startup or getting started as a small business, proceed by requesting for branding assets.

Second, how much can you spend on it? Okay, so here’s how you can gauge your budget:

• Freelancers charge hourly services starting $5 up to $200 for each visual asset or project
• Design agencies can cost an upwards of $3000 with an added retainer
• Unlimited graphic design services start at $349/month with unlimited designs

From there, you can decide what type of graphic designer to hire as a better fit for your upcoming project.

 

2. Learn What Graphic Designer You Need

Okay, let’s assume you have everything you need before undertaking the project. But you have to remember that there are different types of graphic designers. Some specialize in various graphic design assets like logos, websites, packaging, and animation, among many others.

Many graphic design freelancers specialize in a specific visual. Luckily, freelance sites can help showcase their portfolio alongside their profiles.

Design firms, on the other hand, have a team ready to take on your challenge. It means you can expect to have graphic designers that know how to handle specific requests. Sometimes, they may ask for the help of freelancers or graphic design teams if they have a big project.

The same goes for unlimited graphic design services. What makes them different is, they will assign the best designer for your project according to your needs. You might see that they’ll change designers before the project begins, but you’ll get a graphic designer within the day, and they can start on your project soon.

 

3. Find a Graphic Designer

Since you have three different options in finding a graphic designer, choose which one is apt for your needs.

One is creating an advertisement on freelancer sites. Two is manually selecting one from the freelancer sites or marketplaces. Three is surfing the net for design agencies or unlimited graphic design services. Sites like Upwork and Freelancer allow you to post a project or an advertisement. From there, a graphic designer can contact you. By then, you can start on the project.

An alternative to creating a project is starting a design contest. It’s one of the fastest ways you can get a design, but there’s a catch. It can become expensive, especially if you want a high-quality design. Some would also argue that a design contest is unethical due to its model. That’s why many would opt for a design firm or another graphic design service to avoid that scenario.

Since you’ve allocated a budget for the project itself, save yourself the time and find a graphic designer through the marketplace. It can take a while if you haven’t signed up for the service or if you’re unsure of what you want yet.

Save yourself the trouble of going through countless pages of freelancers and choose either a design firm or agency or unlimited graphic design service. For a design agency, all you have to do is reach out to the agency and give them the details of your project.

Meanwhile, for an unlimited graphic design service, since they have vetted designers on board, you don’t have to worry about finding one. The team automatically assigns the best designers for the job. All you have to do is sign up for a subscription plan and describe what your project is all about.

 

4. Interview or Proceed with the Project

So, maybe, you’re still considering your options on what service or freelancer you’re hiring.

If you prefer to hire a graphic designer from a freelance site, the freelancer might need to undergo an interview process before you start the project. It’s for formality’s sake, and that’s how you get to know the graphic designer better and discern if they’re a good fit for your company. Plus, you can get to align your expectations, and you can test them if they can capture your branding.

Things to ask in an interview are:

• What makes you different from other graphic designers?
• What is your creative process?
• How do you handle feedback and criticism?
• How do you handle pressure while producing high-quality designs?
• What do you think about my design requirements and branding?

If you’re pressed for time and considering a freelancer on a project, you might want to skip it out because you might have to interview them first. Every time spent on finding a graphic designer is a missed opportunity for you to grow your business further.

That’s why it’s much better to go with a design agency or an unlimited graphic design service. You don’t have to worry about spending time on interviews because these services have stringent recruitment processes. This ensures that you’re only getting the top two percent of the best designers. Although, with a design agency, you might have to discuss further before you agree on terms based on budget. Otherwise, if you’re pressed for time, points go to design firms or unlimited graphic design services.

That’s when you can decide if hiring a graphic designer would be a perfect fit for you.

 

5. Hire a Graphic Designer

After doing your rounds of interviews with freelancers, you can evaluate if a freelance graphic designer would help bring your vision to come to life. If you think that based on their character, credentials, and portfolio, they would provide you with the logo, website, or social media graphic design you need, then, by all means, go for them. In some way, freelancers do offer affordable services too. Plus, if you have set expectations for your freelancers, you can communicate with them quickly, and they can produce good designs for you.

What you need to remember before deciding to hire a graphic designer is that some graphic designers may not send over their designs soon. Based on experience, some who hired freelance graphic designers say that it took a while for them to receive their graphics. Perhaps, they have other clients aside from you too. That’s why it takes them a while. Some wouldn’t even show up at all.

Another disadvantage of hiring a freelancer is the communication barrier. Since some graphic designers may not be as fluent as your primary language, it could pose a concern, especially if you want to convey the design you want.

In this case, you might want to reconsider hiring a freelancer aboard your team. Instead, use credible companies or services that will guarantee you high-quality designs that exceed your expectations.

Design agencies do get a good reputation in giving clients compelling designs that produce results. However, design agencies can be costly for those with a small budget. Plus, since design agencies may take on different clients at the same time, so it could take a while for your project to finish.

Meanwhile, unlimited graphic design services like Design Doctor take out the interviewing process because, as previously mentioned, all you have to do is sign up. Just like that, you can choose which plan you want based on your project. From there, you can easily start a project by providing specific details. The system assigns you a designer that will fulfill your needs. After this, you get a draft of the design within 1-2 days.

A great thing about signing up for an unlimited graphic design is you have unlimited revisions for all the graphic designs you receive. This means you can just click and comment on the design which needs tweaking, and the designer can edit that for you within a day or so.

 

Final Thoughts

Graphic design tools can help you save up on costs, but it’s partnering with a graphic designer that won’t give you a headache regardless of price. Leave the designing to the professionals while you focus on running your business. However, you need to understand that it can take time to hire a graphic designer because you deserve to get the best designs for your company.

If you think you need more graphic designs, at a fraction of what a costly per-hour freelance graphic designer charges, then an unlimited graphic design service is perfect for you. Starting at $349/mo, you can get all designs you need in a month without breaking the bank. Sign up for a Design Doctor subscription here.