You're a business owner with a new product idea. You have a game plan and a picture in your head. You create your best napkin drawing to communicate the idea with your team, but you struggle to clarify all the details, leaving your "prototype" a little less than impressive. Unless you're also a designer, the inability to really put pen to paper (or stylus to tablet) just makes it difficult to turn those dreams into reality.
There are a number of great free/cheap softwares/apps/creative tools available for non-professional designers to help out in just this sort of situation (e.g. Canva is one of our favorite). But there are limits for those tools and what can be accomplished without a professional driving their use.
Here are a couple of the notable perks of hiring a designer:
Mind Reader
One of the biggest advantages to hiring a designer is that they can do a lot of the creative thinking for you. A good designer is well-versed in the terminology, tools, and tricks of the trade and will be able to help you get the ideas in your head out in effective ways. They'll be able to point out shortfalls, design flaws, and even pinpoint opportunities for development or added features. And these are the things that set your product apart from the competition.
That said, not every designer is right for every project, so it's important to find the right designer who thinks about the right types of products and in a way that is helpful for your brand. When searching for a graphic designer, you'll need to review their portfolio, see proof of the marketability of their work, and connect to make sure they'll work well with you and your team. Here are a few places to look:
Instagram / Pinterest
Of course, the best place to find a good designer might be a quick conversation with a friend. Ask around, check out design work they've completed, and see how they were to work with. You might find a gem from a quick conversation that could really work well for you.
All the Details
Perhaps the biggest reason companies hire graphic designers apart from general creativity is because they understand all of the tools, processes, and how to nail the details of the work. Consider all the requirements a printer requires in final printable files:
Crop Marks
Bleed Marks
Outlined Font
Font Files
PDF & In Design Files
Gold Foil Outlined in 100% K (Black)
And so on...
These are only a few, and they could change depending on other factors in the process, like paper type or image size. Miss one of those details, and your entire process or product could be foiled. And an amateur could spend hours or days trying to figure out and correct design problems when a professional designer would likely avoid them or be able to correct them in just a few minutes.
The biggest problem other than shipping that can delay orders in the printing and manufacturing world is incorrect files. Even the smallest mistake can mean as much as 3-10 days in revision time, especially when proofs are involved. So designers can not only save you time, they can also save you a lot of money.
Certainly a professional graphic designer is not required to create and manufacture a product, but one can be a great service and end up saving you a great deal of time and money, possibly producing a better product in the long run.
Ready to create the product to please your customers and enhance your brand? Contact us here, and let's create something great together.