WORKING WITH YOUR DESIGNER

Not only do designers design, we also translate. There are rules to be followed and terms to understand. We don’t expect you to know all these rules and terms, but a professional designer will share with you the correct terminology, the issues of licensing and copyrights, the materials needed for the job and the reasons why you can or can’t do something.

Below is a short list of frustrations designers live with on a daily basis. It’s important to understand both sides of the equation – yours and ours. I hope this helps prepare you to work with your designer on your upcoming marketing materials.

DO –

• Share your ideas. Designers are not mind readers.
• Be honest with us. Your contract will allow a set number of revisions. If you need changes, tell us. Don’t accept something you don’t like.
• Understand the term VECTOR BASED ART. This is art work designed with paths and lines that can be reproduced and/or manipulated for professional looking copy. If you don’t have vector based art, this can be produced by your designer.
• Know the difference between CMYK and RGB. CMYK refers to print. RGB refers to web.
• Share your budget. We know how long a project can take and whether we can work within your budget or not.
• Understand the terms of using stock art and/or stock photography. These terms often refer to print runs or back links. You must be willing to follow the terms.
• Provide high resolution (300 ppi) photos. A photo can be downsized and maintain its integrity. It can’t be enlarged and maintain its integrity.

DON’T –

• Ask us to pull your logo (or any other art, for that matter) from your website. This is an inferior rendering and won’t reproduce well on your marketing materials.
• Ask us to pull art or photos from someone else’s website. This is a copyright violation and could land you with a major lawsuit.
• Assume you own the work after completion. Unless you’ve made arrangements to purchase the copyright of the work, you’re buying usage rights of the work. The designer owns the copyright.
• Ask us to provide free services outside the terms of your contract. Would you do that to your customers? Please ask us for a cost estimate of additional work.
• Tell us you need the final product in two weeks and give us the information ten days later.
• Tell us how easy the job is. What you think should take an hour may actually take eight hours.
• Tell us your nephew, cousin, brother-in-law could do the job. If that was case, he’d be doing it.

Future articles will explore some of points on this list in more detail. We’ll talk about copyright, licensing and usage rights, why your website doesn’t provide quality art, contracts, revisions and more. If there’s any particular issue you’d like to see addressed in Creative Edge, please email me.