How To Find A Graphic Designer? A Detailed Guide
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“Design can be art. Design can be aesthetics. Design is so simple; that’s why it is so complicated.”
The renowned Paul Rand, who served as the art director and graphic designer for companies like IBM, UPS, Inc., and NeXT, said these words. Only actual graphic designers know what it takes to create an elegant, simple, and complex design. However, it can be challenging for companies to locate a professional graphic designer with the required skill set, experience, and expertise to develop designs that effectively elevate brand visibility.
To provide you with the necessary support, we have curated this comprehensive guide that outlines the steps to finding skilled graphic designers capable of enhancing your brand presence and contributing to your overall business success. Let’s get started.
What is Graphic Design?
Everything these days, from websites and digital products to instructional pamphlets, includes graphic design. There is a lot of overlap between graphic and visual design; therefore, the terms are commonly used interchangeably. Both have a foundation in design principles and usually convey ideas through visuals.
The goal of graphic design is to convey ideas visually. Photographs, color, typography, texture, shape, and even white space are used by graphic designers to tell stories, inspire feelings, and create a brand identity. A graphic designer makes a company stand out from the competition by visually interacting with its target audience.
Here is a brief rundown of the qualities you should seek in a graphic designer:
- Graphics design tools such as Adobe Creative Cloud (Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, etc).
- Ad design (Pay-Per-Click, Facebook Ads, Google Ads)
- Mobile or web design (basic elements such as logos, layouts, images, banners, and color palettes)
Learn more about graphic design here.
The Benefits of On-Demand Graphic Design
On-demand graphic design is becoming more popular right now. That is a result of the quality and convenience it provides. In addition to these two crucial advantages, the following advantages of on-demand graphic design services:
Branding Consistency
Consistency across all of your channels is essential. For example, consider the constancy of the Warner Brothers brand identity created by Pentagram. You can draw more consumers to your business by maintaining a consistent identity across your website, marketing materials, social media, and other platforms. This promotes overall brand trust.
Brand trust was recognized as one of the most crucial aspects when choosing a brand by 81% of respondents in the 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report, which included 2,500 respondents.
Fixed Monthly Fee
Paying graphic designers roughly $24.21 per hour would entail hiring them. That amounts to $50,370 annually. For instance, All Time Design offers price packages starting at $499 per month, including limitless drawings and changes. Calculating it out, that amounts to $5,988 annually. How much did you save on graphic design, then?
Quick Turnaround
Quick turnaround is another significant factor that makes using on-demand graphic designers preferable. Drafts are often completed within 24 hours. Designers must submit more sophisticated designs within 48 hours.
Unlimited Revisions
Small businesses cannot afford to spend as much money on logo designs as large corporations. Because they don’t have to pay extra for modifications, on-demand graphic design services are appropriate for startups and small companies. In addition to infinite designs, users also receive unlimited modifications at no extra cost.
Copyright Ownership
It’s one thing to receive bespoke designs. However, brands have the privilege of receiving unique designs with full ownership! In contrast, businesses cannot commercialize stock photos and themes. You obtain complete copyright ownership when working with on-demand graphic design companies.
Scalability
Scalability is built into cloud-based services like on-demand graphic design firms. Users can cancel, upgrade, downgrade, or resubscribe at any moment because the service is subscription-based. Entrepreneurs can modify spending based on their demands and the firm’s direction.
What A Graphic Designer Does and Doesn’t Do?
A graphic designer is a professional who utilizes creative and technical skills to communicate ideas and messages visually through various design mediums. Here is a breakdown of what a graphic designer does and doesn’t do:
What a graphic designer does:
- Conceptualizes and creates visual designs for print and digital media.
- Develops logos, brand identities, and visual assets.
- Designs marketing materials such as brochures, posters, and flyers.
- Creates layouts and typography for websites, mobile apps, and user interfaces.
- Collaborates with clients to understand their design needs and objectives.
- Conducts research and gathers inspiration for design projects.
- Uses design software and tools to bring ideas to life.
- Ensures visual consistency and alignment with brand guidelines.
- Presents design concepts and ideas to clients or stakeholders.
- Collaborates with other professionals, such as illustrators, photographers, and developers.
What a graphic designer doesn’t do:
- Typically, graphic designers are not responsible for coding or programming websites or applications.
- Graphic designers may not handle extensive copywriting or content creation, although they may assist in visualizing and arranging existing content.
- They generally don’t handle administrative tasks unrelated to design, such as managing finances or client communication.
It’s important to note that the exact responsibilities of a graphic designer may vary based on their expertise, the specific job role, and the requirements of the project or company they work for.
When Should You Hire A Graphic Designer?
Your standards are not met by the graphics and images used by your company. You may not have had an authentic brand identity for your company, or they may have evolved, and the graphics don’t represent those changes. It’s time to start looking for a graphic designer if you are stuck in the mud when producing meaningful designs for your company.
Check off these questions as you go to determine your graphic design requirements.
- Are you a frequent social media poster?
- Do you demand that something be created every day?
- Are you currently dissatisfied with the visual representation of your brand?
- Are there few to no interactions with your social media posts?
- Is your brand inconsistent in any way? (For instance, a business card with a unique logo design or color schemes from the rest.)
If the majority of your response is affirmative, it’s time to seek out professional graphic design assistance.
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Different Types of Graphic Designers
Hiring a broad graphic designer and assuming they can handle any design project is a standard error individuals make. That would be similar to asking your regular plumber to build you a new roof in addition to fixing your sink. So instead, there are various types of designers, each specializing in different areas of design. Here are some common types of graphic designers:
- Branding and Identity Designer: These designers specialize in creating visual identities for brands, including logos, brand guidelines, and overall brand aesthetics. Under this category, you will find a creative director, an art director, and a brand identity designer.
- Print Designer: Print designers focus on creating designs for physical mediums such as brochures, posters, packaging, magazines, and other printed materials.
- Web Designer: Web designers specialize in creating visually appealing and user-friendly designs for websites, ensuring an optimal user experience across different devices.
- UI/UX Designer: User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) designers focus on creating intuitive and engaging interfaces for digital products, considering user interactions, usability, and overall user satisfaction.
- Motion Graphic Designer: Motion graphic designers create visually dynamic and animated designs for videos, films, advertisements, and multimedia presentations, incorporating elements of animation, typography, and visual effects.
- Illustration Designer: Illustration designers create original artwork and illustrations for various purposes, including books, magazines, advertisements, and digital media, using their artistic skills to communicate ideas visually.
- Packaging Designer: Packaging designers specialize in creating attractive and functional packaging designs for products, considering visual appeal, branding, and practicality.
Hiring a Freelance Graphic Designer vs. an In-House Graphic Designer
Let’s discuss the type of graphic designer you want to recruit—freelance or in-house—before we go into how to hire graphic designers. Each has advantages and disadvantages, so you must choose the one that is best for you. Here are a few things to think about:
Freelance Graphic Designers
Pros
Designers may work as “contracted” or “freelance” artists. Freelance designers usually work for themselves and aren’t necessarily committed to working for a specific employer or company. Freelance graphic designers are fantastic for businesses needing a simple, one-time project performed quickly and easily. In addition, engaging a freelancer on a project-by-project basis is less expensive than hiring someone full-time.
Cons
The time commitment involved in employing a freelancer is a drawback. You’ll spend time with them, exchanging messages and managing their payroll. In essence, you’re hiring yourself as a project manager to work with your freelancer.
In-House Graphic designers
Pros
On the other hand, using an in-house designer enables you to produce the quantity and quality of design you require while significantly increasing organizational productivity. If the majority of the design projects your in-house designer works on are centered around your brand, and only someone familiar with your company culture and values can translate them into a design, then hiring them is incredibly crucial.
Cons
The cost would be a clear disadvantage. Although pricey, especially for a startup or new company, in-house designers are essential for teams needing care and attention. To keep employees from being bored, you’ll also need to make sure you have plenty of necessary, volume, and creative work accessible for them to work on.
How to Find a Graphic Designer?
There are countless ways to find freelance graphic designers. You can use online job boards to post job requests or use a design service like Freelancer, Guru, People Per Hour, or Upwork to help you connect with freelance graphic designers.
Alternatively, you may employ a firm like All Time Design, which will give the designers the structure and administration, and you would need to submit the design project you need to be completed. Here’s a list of nine platforms to hire a graphic designer online:
1. All Time Design
This is the best of all on-demand graphic design platforms. With lots of jobs to be done in a month, a fixed rate can get them done. Ranging from $499 to $1699 a month, you get unlimited designs and revisions on all graphics done.
All Time Design allocates a specific designer to a customer to ensure a direct and close relationship.
A diversified team of designers at All Time Design is prepared to take on any graphic design work ranging from logo design, web design, visual design, business card design illustration, app design, T-shirt design illustration, and more.
They offer more than just app design, logo creation, and flyers. This designer gathers your graphics idea to create something unique that associates with the needs of your target audience.
2. Behance
Behance is an online marketplace for graphic design that Adobe purchased so that its users may showcase their work there. Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, and Adobe Illustrator are examples of Adobe tools. You can go through the artwork and portfolios of graphic designers and artists. In addition, you can sign up for Adobe Talent through Adobe Creative Cloud or with a monthly plan if you are interested in hiring through the platform.
Since Behance is accessible to most artists, you can choose a graphic designer to suit your project’s requirements. We recommend this website if you’re looking for a freelance graphic designer who uses Adobe Creative Cloud. Adobe Creative Cloud subscription entitles you to free public job postings.
3. Working not Working
Working Not Working (WNW) has spun the conventional job board. WNW has created a website under the name “UnJobBoard,” where freelancers and creatives looking for full-time work may locate positions that work for them. The platform aims to improve the standing of the creative with a magazine as well. Freelancers can mark their calendars as Working or Not Working to find designers available during their time range.
There are available freelance graphic designers with diverse expertise and skill sets. A concierge service called Human, which WNW is testing out, can help you find the right candidate for the job position while saving you time and risk.
Since WNW doesn’t charge a commission, making it a perfect place to find graphic designers for ongoing projects or full-time employees.
4. Freelancer
Freelancer is one of the most prominent websites for freelance graphic designers, boasting millions of members. For most projects, the platform charges a set rate. However, with the Preferred Freelancer Program, you get access to several platform-provided individuals who are more highly qualified. Need a variety of designers, including brand, illustrators, web, product, and logo designers? Freelancer has them. The fact that both parties must pay fees to begin a project is an intriguing wrinkle that helps to disperse accountability and ensures interest and follow-through.
Hire graphic designers using the strategy that suits you best, whether it’s a competition, a job posting, a profile search, or a pre-existing package. Some graphic designers are reasonably priced and can fit most budgets. Risk is reduced with the payment management system, which includes milestone payments.
5. People Per Hour
A freelance marketplace called People Per Hour was initially developed for the European market. Affordable graphic designers are available for hire at People Per Hour at cheaper rates. You have two payment options: hourly or predetermined rates for each project. You can even hire workers on a one-time basis for “hourlies” if you are unsure how long a relatively simple task will take. Use this platform to aid you with the project because it provides capabilities for project management.
You can locate a graphic designer that fits most budgets online because of the many graphic designers available.
Whether you want to advertise a job that pays hourly or by project, or you would want to hire through “hourlies” offered by the freelancers, there is flexibility in the type of hire you can make. By hiring based on a sample project that the designers have uploaded, you can save time by avoiding creating a job description or interviewing candidates.
6. Design Hill
“A blend of a crowdsourcing bespoke design marketplace and a creative platform for designers to learn and promote their creative work” characterizes Design Hill as what it is. When using the crowdsourcing model, you can select from various designs each time you submit a proposal. Alternatively, you may choose a monthly package that allows you to submit as many requests as you like in a single month, or you can directly bargain with a designer for a single project.
This crowdsourcing website has made the design process easier for both the recruiter and the freelancers, ensuring a steady stream of employment.
You can choose the package that best suits your needs from various cost-effective hiring options. With the contest option, you may examine your project from many angles. You can submit numerous requests each month if you have a monthly membership.
7. Toptal
Toptal has changed the freelance market by offering a customized experience with client satisfaction guarantees. Toptal can assist in ensuring that you are paired with a designer unique to your needs, interests, and timetable, whether you are searching for a freelance graphic artist, logo designer or hiring a graphic designer part-time or full-time.
The platform’s business approach helps to guarantee that consumers are matched with some of the top graphic designers AND that your match benefits you and your group. The best graphic designers in both design and customer experience are found via Toptal’s screening and testing procedure. Toptal also provides web designers, software developers, and other professionals to assist you with your graphic design project.
You may relax knowing that thoroughly vetted designers will work on your project because Toptal only accepts the top graphic designers’ applications.
Before committing, you can explore the site and test the chosen designer during the risk-free trial. Get matched on your timetable while saving time. Toptal will pair you with a designer based on your profile, saving you the time and hassle of sorting potential candidates.
8. Upwork
One of the most popular freelance marketplaces is Upwork. The platform acts as a marketplace for various skills, with millions of users and jobs offered each year. The two prior market participants that joined to establish Upwork also contributed their experience and project management frameworks. Upwork is a platform designer of all levels use to find employment because of its history. If you need help with branding, logos, graphics, Photoshop skills, website design, or even business cards, use Upwork.
The high proportion of customer rehires at Upwork indicates that their wide range of clients is satisfied with their services. You should be able to discover a graphic designer who fits your budget among designers with a wide range of experience.
By making payments only once specific project milestones are reached, the project management solutions enable you to reduce risk.
9. 99Designs
To fulfill your requirement, 99designs crowdsources graphic design concepts. When you advertise a job, you can get hundreds of submissions from designers with suggestions for how to proceed. With the help of this approach, you can find a design you like before hiring a designer. You can decide to work one-on-one with a single designer rather than forgoing the contest. You can pick from a selection of more seasoned designers for that option.
View many interpretations of your suggestion to discover what you like. Affordable design packages let you select and choose the skills and credentials of appropriate designers. Designs are produced at the speed you require to meet your project’s deadline.
How to Shortlist Graphics Design Professionals
It would be best if you evaluated the most qualified graphic designers as proposals are presented to compile a shortlist of interview candidates. The following items to watch out for:
Experience: Has the graphic designer worked in your field before? Software frequently used, such as Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, and Adobe Illustrator, may also be mentioned.
Feedback: What do former clients think of their past work? Reviewing comments can help you understand a person’s capacity for problem-solving, communication, and high-quality output.
Portfolio: Although graphics design is subjective, can you tell what they were attempting to say? Do they understand their level of success? Each sample needs a description that may include information about the issue they were trying to solve and other project requirements. Look for portfolio samples that appear comparable to what you desire or that otherwise adhere to your preferred style. Have they already produced any images like this?
How To Create an Engaging Job Posting
Now that you have a distinct image of the graphic designer you want, it’s time to create the job posting. Even though you don’t require a comprehensive job description like you would when recruiting an employee, try to include enough information for a contractor to determine whether they fit the project properly.
A successful graphic design job post should include the following:
Scope of Work: Make a list of all the deliverables you’ll need, including print media for actual flyers and pictures for banner advertisements.
Creative Brief: A creative brief, technical concerns, and brand standards should be attached.
Project Length: You should specify in your job posting if this is a minor or major project.
Background: Specify here if you like a designer with a background in a particular industry.
Budget: Establish a budget and note whether you prefer hourly or fixed-price contracts.
Not Sure Which Designer You Require?
Being uncertain of the solution is quite normal. However, having one designer on the team who can handle a wide range of design projects is essential when several design projects need to be completed. To obtain a sense of the type of work each designer can do for you; there is a service that allows you to experience working with them.
A service like All Time Design is advisable if you’re unsure which talents to hire. The company charges a set monthly flat fee for on-demand graphic design assistance. You can experiment with design logos, web designs, app designs, flyers, etc., without taking the chance of employing and firing someone simply because they aren’t a good fit. In addition, you can submit as many projects as you like.
Since it only costs as low as $499 per month, it’s a somewhat reasonable way to get started and complete a few projects simultaneously.
How Can All Time Design Help You?
All Time Design holds the key to unlocking the growth potential of businesses through our wide variety of design services. We can help your business in the following ways:
- Firstly, our branding and visual identity expertise can help create a strong brand presence that resonates with your target audience, setting your business apart from competitors. Our team of professional designers can design compelling logos, develop cohesive brand guidelines, and craft memorable visual assets.
- Secondly, our proficiency in web design and user experience can enhance the online presence of a business, creating user-friendly and visually appealing websites that drive engagement and conversions.
- Additionally, our expertise in marketing collateral design can assist in creating impactful materials that effectively communicate the brand message and attract customers.
All Time Design has helped thousands of business owners worldwide with their graphic design needs. Through our comprehensive design services, All Time Design aims to support business growth by enhancing brand visibility, customer engagement, and overall brand success.
If you’re looking to create a logo design, social media posts, banners, and more, sign up and get started for as low as $499 to its premium package worth $1699 monthly.
