There’s a good chance you wound up here because you’re scrambling to get a brochure done, or you’ve finally realized you desperately need a logo designer. If you typed ‘hire a designer’ in the Google search box, I really don’t need to convince you that you should hire one! But, you might be here because you find yourself on the fence if you REALLY need one. And even if you need one, at what cost? Here are five reasons for why you should hire a graphic designer.
1. You don’t have the skills to design what you need.
This isn’t a slight against you, I have no idea what your capabilities are! But, you probably do. Maybe you’ve been handling your company’s design work from its inception, and you’ve always felt like it never looked as good as it could. This is a top reason to start searching for a professional.
This is a common reason I get clients! They often say to me, “I tried to make my own logo, but I don’t like how it looks!” Believe it or not, being a logo designer is not an easy thing to do. It takes skill and practice and experience. And there’s no better proof of that then trying to design something yourself and seeing how far you fall short of what you want!
Here’s a great example of the value a designer will bring. I had a client who wasn’t happy with their pitch deck. They were a startup, and as many startups do, they had attempted to design the deck themselves. They knew it wasn’t cutting it, but they didn’t know how to fix it. So they handed it over to me. And the result was a design that made their deck look professional, clean, and so much easier to follow! They were thrilled, and saw first hand why it’s a great idea to outsource design work instead of the DIY approach.
2. You don’t have the time to design what you need.
This comes along with having a growing company. At the start, you wore all the hats, because you didn’t have the funds to outsource work. But as you grow, you’ll have to start picking and choosing where you spend your hours. So you’ll naturally start delegating work and expanding your team. A freelance designer is a great option, because you have access to them on an as-needed basis, and they spend the time doing what they’re good at while you save hours to do what you’re good at.
3. You don’t know the first thing about where to start a design.
Designs are a tricky thing. You need to make sure a brochure design will be printed right, a logo design is in the right file type, a package design has the right dielines. You need to understand RGB and CMYK, know what bleeds and slugs are and how to set them, make sure your website is responsive. And if these things make your head swirl, you’ll probably do more damage than good by trying to design things yourself.
A rule of thumb: if you find yourself opening up Microsoft Word to design a brochure, you need a designer. Hiring a designer brings you both a creative commodity and the technical know-how of making production-ready designs. If you want to avoid the stomach-sinking moment of opening your order of flyers and half of the design was cut off, then hire a designer. If your logo looks really muddy and pixelated on the side of your work trucks, you need a logo designer. Finding a professional to work with will save you time and money in the long run!
4. You want your business to grow.
This is for those stubborn people who believe that they are good-enough designers. You know who you are. You have the mentality of “I’ve built my company from the ground up, so the logo I made in Microsoft paint will keep doing just fine!”
I respect the tenacity and hustle. All businesses have begun in that stage, everyone has been a ‘logo designer’ in Canva. But there is a follow-up stage where refusing to let go of the reigns will cause more damage than good.
The most obvious example of this mentality is holding onto the website you built yourself 5 years ago on Wix. It worked fine at the start, when you were just dipping your toes in the pond of entrepreneurship. But now, after building your business into something respectable, you find that your website is your weak point. This is when you let go and pay a professional to do it right. You will find immediate rewards.
5. You want to be better than your competition.
If by now, you’ve been convinced that you’re at the point to hire a designer, then the follow-up question is how to find that designer. Of course, I’d plug my own services! But let me first give a word of warning. Many people, when they reach this stage, have a hard time investing in a quality designer. They know they need one, but they don’t want to pay what it takes to have a good one. This venn diagram is one of the best visuals for why you don’t want to skimp out on designs.
If you already find yourself recognizing a need for a designer, I implore you to respect your business and invest in a good one. You’ll only do yourself harm if you try to skirt around it! If you’re a little lost on how to choose a designer, check out these 11 questions to ask your candidates!
