If working with a brand designer is on your radar but you don't know what to expect, these quick fire tips should help to alleviate any overwhelm you might be feeling and get you on track for a smooth project process.

1: Know what’s expected of YOU from the very beginning

Going through a rebrand of your business is 100% a collaborative effort if you’re considering hiring a designer. As part of the process, you’ll most likely have some questions to answer as a first step before any design work begins.

For clients that work with me, that involves spending time completing a brand discovery questionnaire. This gives you the space to go in-depth with the foundations of your business so I know more about who I’m designing for and what the underlying goals are for your rebrand. You’ll look into things like what the purpose of your business is, what inspired you to start it, what your values and mission are, as well as your competitors and main target audience.

These are all key components that help to form a solid brand strategy, and will play a big part in creating a new visual brand that truly aligns with your business from the get-go.

2: Be aware of the project scope and discuss what assets will be included

During the initial stages of booking a branding project, the designer should explicitly let you know what assets will be included in your package. If there’s anything extra you know you will need that they haven’t mentioned (e.g. social media templates, flyer designs, business stationery etc), discuss this early on.

Be as clear and detailed as possible so you’re both on the same page about what you’ll have at the end, and so it can be included in the design brief from the very beginning. You don’t want to leave it to the end of the project when they might not be able to extend your allotted deadline in order to create the extra work!

3: Set a realistic launch deadline

Make sure you’re aware of any timelines that your chosen designer works towards for branding projects (my branding projects can run from 4-6 weeks and I’m a fan of using Asana to keep timelines and deadlines visible).

Avoid booking with them if you know you’re going to be really busy/on holiday in the middle of the project and can’t be as invested time wise, as no one likes projects that drag on unnecessarily. Great design takes time, so be realistic about when you want to launch your new brand.

4: Be committed, engage fully and trust the process

Once you’re aware of the project timelines, be sure to prioritise it and set aside time to give yourself a chance to respond to emails, give feedback and request edits in a timely manner.

I always like to treat my projects as a collaborative effort, which is made a lot easier when I know the client is as engaged in the process as I am.

Also, don’t be afraid to ask questions if this is your first time working with a designer. I promise you, we’re not a scary entity that will bite your head off if you don’t know something! You don’t know what you don’t know, and I’m always open to sharing my design knowledge with those who ask 😊

5: Communication is key!

If there’s one key thing to avoid when working with a designer, it’s ghosting them during your project.

If life happens and you can’t give feedback in time, take 5 minutes if possible and send a quick email to let them know so they’re aware and not anxiously waiting around wondering where you’ve disappeared to.

On the flip side of that, try not to micromanage and send emails every five minutes wondering when you’ll see design work. Remember you should both be aware of project timelines from the beginning, so trust the designer and their process as much as you can.

6: Be SMAART with your feedback

“Make the logo bigger!”

“Can you make it pop?”

“My neighbour and her husband don’t like it”.

These feedback responses will most likely induce a gritted-tooth grin from your designer, so avoid giving outdated, vague and unhelpful feedback.

Instead of cliché, aim for constructive feedback using a framework like SMAART (specific, measurable, achievable, actionable, rational and timely). I send my branding clients a pdf guide talking about this in detail with example prompts, but essentially it boils down to you doing things like:

Referring to the original project brief before giving feedback - e.g. “the design isn’t quite hitting the brief, can we try to emphasise XYZ from the requirements?”
Saying what you want in a clear and understandable way, following up with a reason why.
Thinking about your target audience and what would appeal to them, not just focusing on what you like/dislike.
Making sure your feedback is realistic and actionable (think of it as instructions that can be completed).
Being empathetic, honest but constructive. Avoid subjective words (as they can mean different things to different people) and consider being objective. For example, subjective feedback would be “this looks weird”, whereas objective feedback would be “I don’t think X is complimenting the rest of the design. Can we remove it?”.

Ultimately you want your branding project to be a great experience for you both, so aim to do what you can to work with the designer, not against them.

I hope this blog post has helped to give you an idea of what to expect if you’re considering working with a designer (like me!) to work with on your branding or website project.