Graphic Design Night Learning – 5 More Things You Should Never Say to a Graphic Designer
If you’ve been following our blogs in the past, you may remember that we took a light-hearted look at things you should never say to a graphic designer? That post was so popular that we’ve decided to revisit the subject again, and expand upon it somewhat.
With graphic design night learning courses now selling out fast, and with so many people studying and learning graphic design online, we’re seeing more interest in this particular field than ever before.
Even if you’re not thinking of studying graphic design in detail just yet, chances are that you may need a designer at some point in the future, whether it be to design a business card, promotional posters, a business logo, or anything else.
If you are thinking of hiring a graphic designer, it certainly doesn’t hurt to know and understand the etiquette behind hiring them and working with them. For that reason, we’ll now be listing 5 more things you should never say to a graphic designer.
‘Can you use this image I found online’?
By all means, draw inspiration for the designs you’re hoping a graphic designer can create for you, but don’t just ask them to pretty much copy any old image you’ve managed to source on Google.
To begin with, graphic designers like to be unique, and they therefore won’t be in a hurry to copy or “re-do” a generic image available online that has been viewed millions of times in the past. Sourcing images online can be tricky as it could result in legal issues, it may harm SEO, and it won’t help your designs to stand out.
When you hire a graphic designer, don’t just send them over a screenshot of a generic picture you found on Google Images in the hopes of them copying it, because they certainly won’t ever recommend that you do so.
‘Can you do this by tomorrow morning’?
Want a guaranteed way to tick off a graphic designer? If so, then go ahead and contact them about a job, send them over the brief, and then ask them if they can complete it in less than 24 hours.
When it comes to graphic design night learning courses, designers will quickly be taught by their tutors to expect their clients to be impatient, but asking for a complex design in one day or less is bordering on being insulting, whether you mean it or not.
Even small and seemingly basic designs require hours of meticulous design process, research, fine tuning, and so on, plus of course, there’s the fact that they have lives, and they have other clients to cater for as well.
Rather than asking for it in a day or less, instead ask them for an estimate of the earliest date they’d be able to complete the work for you and see if that fits into your schedule.
‘I’ve done half of the design already, can you reduce the price as it’s less work’?
If you were hiring a painter and decorator to decorate your dining room, would you paint half of the room and ask them for a discount because you’ve “saved them some work”? Of course you wouldn’t, so why would it be any different with graphic design?
Yes, there are free tools and applications out there suitable for graphic design, and yes, there are YouTube tutorials so people with no experience can try their hand at graphic design, but that doesn’t make them qualified graphic designers. If you’re looking for a new business logo, don’t try doing half and then asking he designer to finish it AND THEN give you a discount in the process, because that won’t happen.
Designers will spend months, even years, at graphic design night learning courses to master the craft of graphic design, so by doing half of the work to try to “save them time” you’re actually adding to their workload because they’d almost certainly have to undo everything you did as a novice and start over.
‘I can’t pay you until we’re happy with the design’
If you’re hiring a graphic designer, if you want them to agree to work with you, never tell them that you won’t pay them until you’re happy with the final design.
There are unfortunately people out there who are scammers and who are looking for freebies and consequently there have been people who have ripped off graphic designers by promising to pay them when they’re happy with the design. Sadly, what tends to happen is the “client” will claim to be unhappy with the design, will request revision after revision, will ask the designer to start again, and will make life so difficult for the designer that they simply cut their losses and walk away from the job without payment, leaving the unscrupulous “client” with a free design.
We’re of course not saying you’d ever dream of doing that, but graphic designers are very wary of this type of language, so ask them what their preferred payment methods and options are.
‘I forgot to mention, I’ll also need this, you don’t mind, do you?’
Another way to tick off a graphic designer is to tell them, halfway through the design process, that you forgot that you also needed something else in relation to the image, so can they change it to include these elements too?
When you gave your designer the brief, they quoted you based upon the details and instructions you gave them at the time. You wouldn’t hire somebody to erect a fence for you, and then halfway through, tell them you forgot to mention you also wanted them to paint the fence after. This would require additional materials, more time, and more work, and would obviously put up the price.
When talking to your graphic designer about what you need, be sure to tell them everything you need them to do well in advance.
When studying at their graphic design night learning courses, designers will of course learn about the challenges and tribulations they’ll face when qualified, so while they will indeed be patient and polite with you, this doesn’t mean they’ll be happy, or willing to work with you again.
