What do I feed ’em?
Feeding designers is often the most difficult thing to do. First of all, they don’t live on bread alone. You also have to feed their minds and hearts with lots of interesting and relevant information.
Designers love ideas. They have the skills necessary to transform these into practical realities that you work with or see every day. It is the responsibility of their clients to give them as much information as possible about the project they are working on, so that the solution is found quickly and creatively. The biggest peeve of most designers – and copy writers for that matter – is discovering that an important piece of information has been left out of the client brief. This is very frustrating for all involved, wasting time and money. Make sure you feed your designer all the information he or she is hungry for. Then they can really do their jobs.
We don’t do spec work!
Designers don’t think anyone should ask them to work on ‘spec’. We JUST DON’T DO IT. It’s different if a designer is paid to submit a proposal, but the operative word is PAID. It’s also different if a designer chooses to submit a proposal to a potential client, but clients should not ask designers to do work on their behalf without compensation. Potential clients should look carefully at the designers’ portfolios for work that appeals to them and interview them to see if they think they can work together.
Do they need a lot of care?
In a word: Yes! Designers work very hard on their clients’ behalf, sometimes extremely long hours to meet deadlines. In the best of all possible worlds, none of us should have to do that. If possible, clients should avoid putting their designers in that position. Even so, there are situations when both clients and designers have to ‘burn the midnight oil’ to get something done. Who really wants or needs a burnt-out shell? Designers are part of your team and thrive on challenging work and appreciation. They love what they do. Please appreciate the passion which results in the best work for you.