Today’s businesses thrive on their creativity. Be it content writing, advertisements, or marketing email campaigns, everything first runs through the creative minds of the core team. And that is what attracts most of their customers.
With social media slowly turning into an advertising platform, organizations put more emphasis on creating posters to entice their target audience. And behind these creative ideas is the ingenious mind of a graphic designer.
Graphic designing is the art of creating visuals that convey a message. The profession has become quite popular with the young generation. And with the new social media trends, companies can use a young graphic designer to reach a wider audience.
Graphic designers not only design logos and flyers for the brand but also promote it. They have the right marketing skills to spread the word. That is why your company needs the best designers who can innovate, create, and publicize the product as well.
Table of Contents
- What makes a good Graphic Designer?
- How to select the best graphic Designers?
- Set your goals and expectations straight
- Keep a list of skills you want in a Graphic Designer
- See how they handle unexpected cases
- Portfolios are not sufficient
- Give trial projects
- Take personal interviews
- Ask about their requirements
- Look for their experience in the industry
- Talk about your brand and target audience
- Ask about their inspirations
- Summing up
What makes a good Graphic Designer?
You can find thousands of graphic designers who are sitting idle at their home. The main reason is the lack of skills and qualities required as a professional. So, what are the qualities that make a graphic designer the best?
Creativity
Being creative is necessary not only for graphic designers but for marketers as well. The innovative thoughts and ideas you put into a project are what companies look for. A good graphic designer should be able to convey a message with images and illustrations that are likely to grab someone’s attention.
The creativity of a graphic designer comprises brainstorming on ideas, humorous visuals, attention to detail, sketching, etc. One can use references or memes to add a punch of wit and humor into their content.
(Source : Google Images)
A graphic designer must have the ability to achieve the goals by maintaining a balance between art and audience appeal.
Communication skills
Communicating, like creativity, is a must in every profession. Since a graphic designer’s job is to communicate the message to the audience, this skill is essential. And what is the purpose of being one if you cannot do the main job?
However, communication is not limited to the public. You will have to interact with clients and express your ideas. A designer should have a clear idea about public speaking, presentations, written proposals, etc. They may even have to communicate through phone calls and emails.
Graphic designers should be confident while presenting their work if they want to earn a client. The customer will not be able to trust someone who is not sure about their job. They should also listen to the client’s preferences as listening is a part of communication too. Also, using an SPF record checker adds security to email practices and makes email communication more reliable.
Technology
Being up to date with modern technology is a plus point for all graphic designers. Design software like InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, and Quark are the most common ones that designers use for work. You need a good hold of these programs to reach the top of your industry.
(Source : Google Images)
Web designing can also add to your advanced skills in your resume. Some clients can ask you to design a website, so you need to learn the basic programming languages as well. If you already have this knowledge, it’s essential to list the programming languages on your resume. Here is a list of software that a graphic designer requires:
· Adobe Photoshop, Acrobat, Illustrator, and InDesign
· HTML
· CSS
· Quark
· Digital designing
So, once you master these programs, no one takes the client away from you.
Typography
Typography refers to modifying the text in such a way that it is legible and appeals to the audience. One needs to know about all the fonts, tracking, line spacing, and kerning to learn typography.
It can help you in designing templates and layouts for the content. Since a significant portion of the content is text, typography is a much-needed skill for graphic designers. It makes the writing attractive for the reader or the viewer.
Consistency
The ability to be consistent with the content is crucial for a graphic designer. Use the same layouts, templates, text formatting, and logo of the brand while designing posters, flyers, or advertisements. It creates a good impression on your clients, and they will stick to you in the future.
(Source : Google Images)
Incorporating a brand’s identity in your designs by using the same color scheme, fonts, and style is what being consistent means. In cases where companies don’t have any of these, they might ask you to create one.
If you are inconsistent, the client will not take a second to cut all the ties. With consistency, even the audience will get familiar with your work in no time.
Other Important Skills
· Maintain accuracy in your content
· Illustrations can increase the quality of design
· Marketing
· Be patient because good ideas don’t come in a minute
· Time management
· Proofread your content
How to select the best graphic Designers?
Hiring a graphic designer is not as easy as it sounds. The selection process takes a lot of time reviewing resumes, recommendation letters, interviews, and shortlisting the candidates. But once you know what to look for in a graphic designer, the job becomes less tiring.
Following are some tips you should keep in mind to choose the best out of the many graphic designers:
Set your goals and expectations straight
Before you start any project, you set goals and then explain them to your team before they start. In this case, too, tell the applicants what you expect from them. Lay down all the details about your company, the objective of the project, deadlines, and specific qualifications they must have.
The main aim behind this is to make the candidates clear about the assignments and projects they will be working on. They need to know what they are getting into. So you have to state all the obstacles that might come in their way.
Once they are clear about the project, they can prepare accordingly for the tasks that are coming ahead for them.
Keep a list of skills you want in a Graphic Designer
You cannot just hire a professional without knowing about their profession. Have some basic knowledge about graphic designing and the necessary skills that a candidate must have. You can judge candidates based on these skills.
Stay updated with the latest software that designers use for designing. It will help you list down the skills you require for a job. The skillset also depends on the nature of the project. In such cases, a designer having the ability to work with different software will be the ideal candidate.
Also, consider essential skills, like communication, time management, marketing, etc., that you want in your graphic designer. These skills will ensure maximum efficiency of the designer, and you will get better results.
See how they handle unexpected cases
Anyone can work when they know what’s coming their way. But one’s way of reacting in sudden and unexpected situations can ensure how fast they can think. Ask them questions that they least expect in an interview.
An out of the blue question can really help you get an idea of their insightful thinking. For example, you can ask them to review a random design and what they would have done to make it better. It will get the candidate under pressure, which was the whole point of the question.
The main aim is to know whether a candidate can work in unforeseen circumstances or not. And if yes, then how well can they do it?
Portfolios are not sufficient
Resumes and portfolios, for any type of job, are not enough to judge a candidate’s skill. While hiring graphic designers, portfolios may not be a reliable source of a candidate’s skills. It will only contain the information of who they are and what they did, but not how they did it.
They may have some sample designs for you. Ask them about the inspiration behind these designs and why they chose them. It helps you understand the designer and their work better.
It is better to give them tasks spontaneously during interviews. With these tasks, candidates can show their creativity and skills.
Give trial projects
To know more about how the candidates work, give them a task that only takes a couple of hours to finish. It can be anything, like designing a logo or editing a random design. Since you only want to see the skills of the candidate, the task can be an easier one.
In these tasks, you would want them to give their best efforts. A little motivation can make sure that they work to their full potential. You can pay them for the design they make. This way, you get to see their work process, and they get paid for it.
Take personal interviews
In the hiring process, personal interviews are better for judging the candidates. No one wants to keep listening to someone without knowing their expressions and body language. In personal interviews, you get to see how the candidate reacts to a certain question and how well they answer it.
You can ask them to come to the office or any other suitable venue. If they cannot come, ask if they are available for an interview over a video call. This gives a better sense of the candidate, and you can see their projects in front of them.
One thing these interviews ensure is that you get to know how well you can work with the candidate.
Ask about their requirements
The process should not only be about what the company requires but also the candidate’s requirements. Ask them what they expect from your organization. This will ensure that they work smoothly without any difficulties. Understanding their needs will also make your communications better.
Their requirements may include proofing concepts, giving feedback, or discussing designs. It can also be some tangible item like artwork and documentation. Also, it is better to clear things at the starting of the project. Otherwise, the project will suffer in the future, leading to failure.
Understanding their needs will also make your communications better. The flow of work will not break, and you will achieve your goals with the highest efficiency.
If there are two designers that you’re hiring, and one of them loves to design quotes and the other hates it, knowing this will help you delegate who works on what, to keep everyone happier.
Look for their experience in the industry
The designer must have some experience in his field. It will eliminate the training process of the individual, and you can start the project immediately. Fresh designers may not be able to speed up the project resulting in slow progress.
If the candidate has experience in the field, he will know how to interact with the clients. Apart from that, he can also market your brand and spread it across a wider area. They can also help in finishing the project before the deadline so that you can move ahead with a new one.
Finding a group of skilled and experienced designers was necessary for us in order to create our unlimited design subscription, and now brands all around the world are taking advantage of that foundation that we’ve laid.
Talk about your brand and target audience
A graphic designer’s job is to convey the message to the brand’s target audience. The designer cannot do it without knowing about the brand or the target public. So, tell them everything about how you want to achieve your goals with this project.
Once they go thoroughly through the details of the brand, it will be easier for them to communicate with the client and customers. Talking about these things is crucial for the success of the project.
Ask about their inspirations
Lastly, ask them about their inspirations. Knowing what inspires and motivates them will help you get a better understanding of their work. Also, you get an idea of what type of books, movies, and artists they adapt their style from
Their inspirations might help you get more ideas about new designs and marketing strategies for your brand. Even if you don’t hire a candidate, his self-motivation technique will surely strike some ideas in your mind.
Summing up
One thing you need to keep in mind is that you want someone with more than just knowledge about designing. Creativity, consistency, accuracy, experience, etc., are equally essential skills of a graphic designer. The academic scores and certificates carry the least bit of importance.
You cannot find such things on CVs and portfolios. The only way is through conversing and interacting with the designer.