4 Things to Keep in Mind When Hiring a Logo Designer
It’s time for the 2.0 version of your business!!! And you’ve decided that investing in a new logo and website is what you need to get there. You did your due diligence and met with a handful of logo designers. Except they’re all offering the same thing at the same price point. So how do you decide who’s the best fit
Keep these 4 things in mind to feel confident when hiring a logo designer:
They help you make an informed decision
If the logo designer only told you what they can do without learning your brand’s vision or the challenges you are facing in getting there…then cross them off the list immediately. There’s a difference between a designer who just makes things pretty and a designer who uses design as a business tool. And you want the latter.
A strategic design partner reads between the lines. They use past data to influence their design decisions to ensure the deliverables align with your business goals. Questions I like to ask my clients before jumping into the design:
What are your sales goals for this quarter?
What offer are you focusing on?
What marketing channels will you use to promote it?
What supplementing visuals will you need to achieve your sales goals?
You can see yourself being added to their graphic design portfolio
When reviewing their portfolio, does their overall design style match the aesthetic you are looking for? You’ll see a common through line in the logo designer’s work even if it’s versatile. Sometimes, business owners worry that a logo designer doesn’t have specific experience in their industry. But I wouldn’t stress about that. Because isn’t the goal to stand out?! A logo designer who hasn’t worked in your industry will bring a fresh look to the table.
Also, look at how they present their work to you. Did they just throw things on the page or did they take the time to show you their thought process? How they care for their brand is a sign of how they will take care of their clients too.
They give you a description of the scope of work
The scope of work (SOW) is the specifics for each agreed-upon deliverables between you and your logo designer. You’ll want to know:
How many rounds of revisions are included
The timeframe
The payment terms, and
EXACTLY what you’ll walk away with after working together
I’ve heard horror stories from fellow entrepreneurs where they’ve hired a logo designer and only received one version of their logo in jpg format. Then a year later, they are spending more money because their new vendor needs the vector file format. This is why I provide my clients with a logo suite in vector (ai, eps, svg) and raster (jpg, png, pdf) file formats in ALL their brand colors. So as their business grows, they have all the files they need.
Your values align and a partnership develops
Yes, you want someone skilled in their field. But what other qualities do you want in your business relationships? This may be more of a gut check since you’ve only had a short conversation with the logo designer. But as they walk you through their process, you can usually figure out what’s important to them.
In my business, I don’t want my clients to feel like they HAVE TO continue working with me. This might be a poor business model (whoops lol). But instead, my goal is to empower you with everything they need. So I include tutorials that walk you through how to use your new brand assets and how to update your website without freaking out about ruining it. It also works because I tend to attract independent, self-sufficient clients who just need the ingredients and recipe to get started.
A great collaboration is one where the client and logo designer support and push each other beyond what they originally thought possible.