Graphic Design: You Get What you Pay for

by Chaun Soh

Computers, graphic design software and the ready availability of templates have made it possible for large numbers of people to set themselves up as designers.

As always some are excellent, many are good — and quite a few should clearly be in some other business.

Talents vary and with them, the costs — especially if you find yourself paying too much for design work that achieves too little.

The dangers of shopping by price alone

When searching for a graphic designer it is tempting to try and cut costs by selecting one at the lower end of the range.

But it is important to realise that the greater the expertise of a graphic designer, the greater the demand for their services — which is usually reflected in their costs.

Basically, you get what you pay for. You know the old saying about paying peanuts and getting monkeys.

Do you want a cheap website that’s barely adequate...or a brochure which contains your information in a dull, uninviting, purely functional format?

Or do you want a polished, highly professional document which communicates your chosen message, attracts your target audience and clearly shows you to be a quality business?

Take the time to choose carefully

Your graphic designer will represent you to your audience, so they need to be chosen carefully.

With the large amount of material people see every day, the way you set out to break through the clutter of this information overload merits careful thought. It will have a major impact on your business and its presence, positioning and success.

It’s worth taking the time to interview a large number of designers, to determine how likely they are to understand your commercial priorities and objectives.

Will they be working for you or their folio? And speaking of folios, can they deliver the quality their folio promises? Many don’t. The designer may have lucked out or have been helped to achieve the excellence of the work shown.

What design quality means

Quality design work is not just a matter of someone who has learnt some design software tricks for ‘prettying up’ text and graphics.

It is about communicating your message to your audience in the most effective way. It should be a pleasure for your target market to view and easy to read.

You are paying not just for the design as such, but for the years of experience and high level of skill your designer brings to your assignment.

A great design may look straightforward, but it takes a great deal of training and experience to know what to put in and where – and what to leave out.

A basic design can be functional and adequate but not good enough to make an impact on your target audience. Even worse, it can reflect badly on your business.

How a top designer works

An experienced, high quality designer will take a large number of factors into account when going through the design process with your work.

Careful use of fonts, colour and arrangement of text and graphic elements are all factored in when preparing to communicate your message effectively.

There are also more ephemeral yet equally important elements such as texture, balance, rhythm, movement and contrast.

A great designer will obviously be trained and experienced in the latest industry standard software and have the skills to use the medium in which they are working to its best — whether it be websites, print or e-mail, taking into account the advantages and pitfalls of each.

Working with a graphic designer

This requires much more than finding someone who can produce great designs. A skilled designer doesn’t just take your content and run with it; they will work closely with you to best communicate your message, accommodate your specific requirements and take the time to really understand your business.

This communication needs to go in both directions. Your designer should explain what they are doing and why — and provide feedback on your ideas and how best to make them work.

Your ideal graphic designer will also be flexible enough to deal with clients who want differing amounts of input, ranging from a hands-off approach to detailed involvement.

They will also be happy to educate you on the design process so you have a better understanding of how it all works — helping you outline your requirements more clearly.

Why designer charges vary so much

One of the main reasons for the higher priced designers is that they do more than just tamely produce your graphic material.

A ‘value added’ designer will offer many additional services, such as marketing and advertising advice, sourcing of photos (including arranging of personalised photo shoots where required), and editing. They can even managing a project completely from concept through to printing and marketing.

Where necessary, a quality designer will work with a team of people, managing their input into a project.

This means a broad range of requirements come under the umbrella of a single bill and just the one point of contact for you.

There will be no communication difficulties between the many people doing different parts of your job, no concern about varying quality and no fears that some critical aspect of your job has been forgotten or overlooked.

The excellence of your design work will influence the way you position yourself within your market.

By carefully selecting a graphic designer who not only produces high quality work but also works with your business to produce the most effective communication strategies for your target audience, you are investing in a crucial component of your business success.

And how much is that worth? You get what you pay for.