I’ve found that there are common questions posed by clients, many of whom are new to the design process and its terminology. If you’re thinking about hiring a designer, but don’t know where to start or what to expect, check out the FAQs below for some answers.

Q. What is the design process? Don’t you just whip up something on the computer?

A. Think of the design process as a type of recipe. There’s researching the right recipe, shopping for ingredients, chopping, blending, marinating, reducing the various parts of dish, and finally—cooking and serving. For a great explanation (without food analogy) visit Douglas Bowman’s article, “A Design Process Revealed“.

Q. What’s a “Creative Brief”?

A. It’s a document for outlining the framework of the project. Both Client & Designer contribute. It provides structure to the project, outlining objectives, deliverables and implementation, putting Client and Designer on same page. Download a creative brief.

Q. What are comps?

A. That’s designer speak for comprehensive layouts. They are design drafts created by Designer and presented to Client.

Q. You talk about “reviews” and “feedback”—I know what I like/don’t like, but not why. How do I communicate this to you?

A. Have that Brief in hand and follow along…The DOs and DON’Ts of design feedback… (AKA: table manners and how to use that Brief as something besides a napkin!)

DO * give feedback as if through the eyes of the person whom you’re targeting * let Designer know how the tone feels (colors, wording, style) * tell Designer how the flow feels (layout, navigation, eye movement—does your eye move gracefully or fixate on a specific spot) * let Designer know if anything essential to the design has been missed * most importantly, have fun and show it off (this is custom made for you, so go ahead and feel good about it!)

DON’T * get too focused on colors or fonts (these can be changed rather quickly) * let Designer know how “your cousin George” disliked the type on the website if “your cousin George” is not the target audience * take this design to committee unless you’re prepared to have everyone’s hands in the pie (you know what they say about too many cooks!) * tell Designer we’ve got it all wrong (there has to be some gold in there!)

Q. Will you do a sample layout/design for me before I decide to hire you?

A. Dear me, no! That would be speculative work—in which I do not engage. It’s really unprofessional and devalues the entire design industry. Both NO!SPEC and AIGA offer great information on this subject. Think of it like sampling a new restaurant—you wouldn’t order an entree, eat and not pay the tab, would you?

Q. What are your rates?

A. Short answer: that depends. Long answer: that depends on your particular job and its deliverables. For instance, there’s boxed Macaroni & Cheese and there’s Macaroni & Cheese! They are not the same price.

Q. I see logos advertised online for $99. Why do you charge so much more?

A. See macaroni above. Or visit this article, by Curtis D. Tucker, for a thorough explanation.

Q. What if I want to pay you hourly?

A. That depends. Bids are prepared by project and/or task. That way, the Client knows project costs up front. A monthly retainer is negotiable for Clients who’d like me “on call” for a set number of hours. Client requests (add-ons/edits) outside the original contract may be billed hourly at the Designer’s rate.

Q. I want I site that I can update myself. Do you do that?

A. Sure! I can create and deliver a template-based site and style sheet(s) or a CMS site. As long as you’re comfortable editing code, managing assets and troubleshooting—have at it!  The same hourly rate applies for content updates as for fixing sites broken by Client.

Q. What’s DPI?

A. Dots Per Inch. It’s a measure of resolution. In print, you want a MINIMUM of 300 dots per inch for smooth text and images. PPI, the web equivalent, is Pixels Per Inch. Standard web resolution is 72 pixels per inch. Just remember—the higher the number, the sharper the resolution. And—just in case you’re thinking about it—NO, it will NOT be acceptable to cut and paste files from your website for use in print projects!

Thanks for visiting! That’s it for today. If you’ve got a question not covered here, please leave a comment and I’ll answer your question as soon as possible.