Trust your designer

By
Angie Herrera

Every now and then, a client will ask us to design something (be it a website, a brochure, a logo), but he/she will tell us exactly what he/she wants, without being open to other possibilities. Sometimes it's with a sketch, sometimes it's with a cut-and-paste copy. But basically, the client has laid out the piece for us.

All egos aside, this is unfortunate for the client. It's unfortunate because it doesn't let the designer do his/her job. A designer's job is much more than just putting together pretty pictures, setting text in cool fonts and picking nice colors. There's a reason we create things the way we do. Any good designer should be able to tell you, specifically, why he/she chose a color, a font or the placement of an element (such as a logo). And the reason shouldn't just be, "Because it looks good that way." After all, the client hired the designer for his/her talent, skill, and quite possibly, his/her experience. And let's not forget the ability to communicate with who it matters most: your customers. Why keep him/her from using that talent and knowledge by providing an almost-finished piece? Who loses in that situation?

Certainly not the designer - he/she is still getting paid premium design rates for doing production work.

Not you - you're getting what you want.

Your customers. They lose because without the designer actually designing, the message is lost.

Yes, you're the expert of your business. Let your designer be the design expert.