Free Assessment: How does your inbound marketing measure up?

Get Started
Close

Free Assessment:

How does your inbound marketing measure up?
Take this free, 5-minute assessment and learn what you can start doing today to boost traffic, leads, and sales.
Get Started
inbound-marketing-strategy-playbook-cover

Free Assessment:

What Should You Really Expect When Hiring a Designer? Here are 5 Things.

By Donny Wilson

What Should You Really Expect When Hiring a Designer? Here are 5 Things.

what-should-you-really-expect-when-hiring-a-designer-here-are-5-things-featuredSo you decided to hire a designer?

Let me be the first to say congrats! You’ve made a good decision entrusting your users in the hands of a single person.

You may be thinking at this point, what did I get myself into? Who did I hire? How do I talk to this person? The most important question that you should be asking is: what can I really expect?

Who is a Designer Really?

Some people have this high-level view of designers as people who are way out in left field, creating art that happens to look good on the web. With a coffee in their right hand and a paint brush in their left, they are single handedly conjuring up creative magic for the masses like David Blaine.

As a designer myself, I LAWL on the inside at this because it’s the furthest thing from the truth.

While I do happen to know many artists that also do web design work they wouldn’t classify themselves as artists.

Generally speaking, these days, most designers wouldn’t stand out in a crowd. They are well-kept, professional people that you hired to do a job and solve problems. They just happen to have a passion for making things -- look good.

1. Designers will ask “why?”what-should-you-really-expect-when-hiring-a-designer-here-are-5-things-1

One of the most important attributes of a good designer is there tenacity to ask “why.”

This is probably the most important part of the designer’s job. Why do we need this CTA to be red or why do we need this hero image 90% opacity?

Designers never really lost that childlike curiosity that we all grew up with and annoyed our moms asking, “why is the earth round,” “why is the rain wet,” “why is the dog sleeping?”

It’s questions like these that seem to slip out of our day-to-day thought process that designers seem to always stress over. It’s exactly what you need.

2. A good designer is like a good electrician.

what-should-you-really-expect-when-hiring-a-designer-here-are-5-things-2

Take a minute to look around right now. Are you on a computer? Are you in a space that has lights? Electric heat?

Now imagine your lights flickered and went out… Sucks, right?

Now take a minute to think how often you even think about those things in your day to day life? Someone actually made those functions exist. (Maybe, thank an electrician next time you see one.)

In much the same way, good design is often unnoticed because it was so well-crafted to its audience that you wouldn’t even think about it until it wasn’t there any longer.

3. Designers are hired to create solutions, not art.

what-should-you-really-expect-when-hiring-a-designer-here-are-5-things-3

Now, of course, before you put me on the stake and drag me through the crowd, I admit designers do have a knack for making things looks beautiful. Creating beautiful things is what drives most designers.

People come to your site for content and design should encourage and emphasize that, not distract from it. As Jeffrey Zeldman once said, “Content precedes design. Design in the absence of content is not design, it’s decoration.”  

Design for the sake of making something “POP” is simply decoration and has no real value to you or your audience.

A good designer knows this and knows how to properly approach a design problem, from the ground up (wireframe > design).

I know you’ve all heard this before, but it can’t be reiterated enough in the design industry because it is so often forgotten. Function breeds good/beautiful form and simply put, form that precedes function is simply decoration.

4. A designer emphasizes the user.

what-should-you-really-expect-when-hiring-a-designer-here-are-5-things-4

Before the pencil even touches paper a good designer is putting themselves in your users’ shoes. If they can’t live and breath what your users are stressing and expecting, then they aren’t doing it right.

5. A designer works well with others. (Required!)

what-should-you-really-expect-when-hiring-a-designer-here-are-5-things-5

Contrary to popular belief, this is part of the job being a designer.

They are communicators, visually and verbally. Expect your designer to know how and why he chose to do something in their design. Don’t be afraid to ask why either because designers aren’t mind readers and we are all only human, so there could be oversight, in some cases.

Trust me, a good designer can handle criticism. To them, it’s not even criticism. They take it as an opportunity to perfect something they are creating. They crave it!

Get Excited!

Congratulations you have your own designer! Get to know them well because they will be a close part of your life and team for the next couple of months. Ask questions and be open to new ideas because they have many of both for you!

Have fun!

Free Assessment:

How does your inbound marketing measure up?
Take this free, 5-minute assessment and learn what you can start doing today to boost traffic, leads, and sales.

Topics:

Marketing Strategy
Published on July 24, 2015

Recent Articles

How a Lack of Sales and Leadership Buy-in Is Killing Marketing Morale Worldwide
March 6, 2023 • 5 min read
Website Conversions in 2023 — STOP, START, KEEP
January 25, 2023 • 5 min read
Sales vs Marketing in 2023: What’s The Difference?
January 5, 2023 • 7 min read
How To Set Content Marketing Goals for Growth
December 29, 2022 • 6 min read
Should You Hire An Agency to Create Your Content?
December 12, 2022 • 4 min read
24 Essential Questions for Understanding Your Ideal Customer (+ Infographic)
December 1, 2022 • 5 min read
HubSpot Pricing: Your Guide to Everything HubSpot Costs for 2023
November 20, 2022 • 13 min read
Take It From an Expert: You Probably Don’t Need a New Website
November 16, 2022 • 4 min read
Inbound Marketing Benefits Explained (Updated for 2023)
November 15, 2022 • 6 min read
Want to Win More and Improve Company Culture? Do More Role-playing
November 9, 2022 • 4 min read
4 Ways To Recession-proof Your Website In 2023
November 1, 2022 • 5 min read
Why Trust Is the True Currency for All Business
September 5, 2022 • 7 min read
The Big 5: Best Business Blog Topics to Drive Traffic, Leads, and Sales
August 29, 2022 • 10 min read
What is a Content Strategy? (Definition + Templates)
August 25, 2022 • 12 min read
10 Marketing Objective Examples To Guide and Focus Your Strategy
August 18, 2022 • 6 min read
What Marketers Need To Know About Switching to GA4 [Google Analytics 4]
July 30, 2022 • 5 min read
How To Inspire Your Marketing Team To Try New Ideas
July 25, 2022 • 5 min read
Do I Need To Invest in Marketing When My Business is Thriving? (+ Video)
July 21, 2022 • 7 min read
How Much Does It Cost To Become a World-class They Ask, You Answer Case Study?
July 16, 2022 • 12 min read
Demand Generation vs. Lead Generation: What’s the Difference?
June 6, 2022 • 5 min read
What Small Business Leaders Need To Know to Thrive During a Recession
May 23, 2022 • 7 min read
Blog Editorial Calendar for 2022: Templates, Examples, and Tips
May 21, 2022 • 6 min read
Green Energy Inbound Marketing Strategy: The DIY Approach to Getting More Customers
May 7, 2022 • 9 min read
33 Most Important IMPACT+ Resources To Train Your Marketing Team in 2022
April 26, 2022 • 13 min read
SaaS Inbound Marketing: How to Get Started With Your Strategy (+ Examples)
April 16, 2022 • 9 min read