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Commissioning Design… 
what 
you? 
TERRIFIES
money-munching 
monsters 1 
(You’re terrified of costs that go ‘bump’ and expand in the night) 
Possibly the worst way to commission a designer is 
to give them free reign to charge by the hour for ‘as 
long as it takes’ until the job is finished. Going down 
this route, you’ll never know what you’ll be paying 
for the finished job, until the invoice lands on your 
desk with a terrifying ‘THUD’.
Any professional designer will take the horror out 
of this situation, by providing a quote for the job prior 
to being commissioned. Once this quote is signed o, 
by you the client, both parties know exactly what’s 
expected in cost terms. Similarly, costs for print 
and/or web build should be on the quote at this 
stage where relevant.
TRICK 
TREAT? 
2 OR 
(You’re afraid of whether you’ll like what you get back) 
This is indeed a ‘tricky’ one, because, if you’re using a 
designer for the first time, there’s no way of knowing 
what they’ll come back with. Marketers that have used 
a designer for a number of projects will have got to 
know, and trust, a designers work and built up a 
professional relationship with them.
When commissioning a new designer, all you can do 
is look at examples of their previous work – ask them 
to send you some portfolio examples if there’s none 
on their website (but be afraid if there’s no work 
examples on their website!) 
Unless you’re commissioning an illustrator for a 
certain ‘style’, be wary of designers who seem to only 
have one style of work. Also key is to provide a decent 
design brief so the designer knows exactly what you 
want. Ideally meet face-to-face. This is an ideal 
situation you both to ask questions, agree a route 
forwards and start building that important 
client/designer relationship.
3 TIME-PROMISING 
INVISIBLE GHOSTS 
(You’re scared about the designer not delivering when they promise) 
Always try to give designers a deadline, even if you 
haven’t really got one yourself. In my experience, 
I work much better if I know a client needs it for a 
certain time or date. Clients that say, “Get it back to 
me whenever you can”, often get their work pushed 
to the back of the queue, behind the clients that 
have given a stricter deadline.
While it may not always be practical, on longer 
projects, regular catch-up meetings help to make 
sure the job stays on track, both in terms of timing 
and creativity. 
These can also be done by phone, or simple emails 
from the designer explaining what stage they’re at. 
Also, don’t be afraid of chasing up the designer if 
you’ve not heard from them in a while.
4 HIDDEN SURPRISES 
UNDER THE BED 
(You’re terrified of hidden extras that might appear on the final invoice) 
This goes back to the quote mentioned in slide one. 
Designers may need to charge for extras such as 
photography, stock images, or specific font purchases. 
At the quote stage, a designer probably won’t know 
if they’ll need some of these or not (until they’re 
part-way through the job).
However, the possibilities of these extras should be 
stated on the quote and the costs for these should be 
run by you for sign-o BEFORE purchasing, so there 
shouldn’t be nasty surprises at the end.
5 KNOW-IT-ALL wizards 
(You worry whether someone who says they can ‘do it all’ really can) 
Other designers may disagree with me on this one, 
but I would be slightly wary of those clever wizards 
that say they can do everything. Whilst it’s good to 
have a suite of connected services, good people 
tend to specialise in things they’re good at.
Many ‘one-person-band’ graphic designers nowadays 
say they can design, build websites, copy-write, sort 
brand strategy, help with your marketing plan etc etc. 
They may be able to do all this, but will any one part of 
it be particularly good? A larger design agency probably 
can, as they’ll have dierent people, with dierent 
skill-sets, that they can call on and supply to you. 
I’ll do the things I’m good at, such as graphic design 
and branding and if any of my clients require other 
services – web-build, copy-writing or 3D modelling, I’ll 
call upon the services of people that I know are skilled 
at these things to deliver a the best possible job.
Now you can sleep soundly in your beds, knowing that there’s 
nothing underneath them. Next time you need to commission 
design for the marketing of your business, you needn’t be afraid 
of the horrors you thought might be lying in wait. 
And… if you need to commission design that won’t 
give you nightmares, you know where we are. 
www.creative-cadence.co.uk

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Commissioning Design … what TERRIFIES you?

  • 2. money-munching monsters 1 (You’re terrified of costs that go ‘bump’ and expand in the night) Possibly the worst way to commission a designer is to give them free reign to charge by the hour for ‘as long as it takes’ until the job is finished. Going down this route, you’ll never know what you’ll be paying for the finished job, until the invoice lands on your desk with a terrifying ‘THUD’.
  • 3. Any professional designer will take the horror out of this situation, by providing a quote for the job prior to being commissioned. Once this quote is signed o, by you the client, both parties know exactly what’s expected in cost terms. Similarly, costs for print and/or web build should be on the quote at this stage where relevant.
  • 4. TRICK TREAT? 2 OR (You’re afraid of whether you’ll like what you get back) This is indeed a ‘tricky’ one, because, if you’re using a designer for the first time, there’s no way of knowing what they’ll come back with. Marketers that have used a designer for a number of projects will have got to know, and trust, a designers work and built up a professional relationship with them.
  • 5. When commissioning a new designer, all you can do is look at examples of their previous work – ask them to send you some portfolio examples if there’s none on their website (but be afraid if there’s no work examples on their website!) Unless you’re commissioning an illustrator for a certain ‘style’, be wary of designers who seem to only have one style of work. Also key is to provide a decent design brief so the designer knows exactly what you want. Ideally meet face-to-face. This is an ideal situation you both to ask questions, agree a route forwards and start building that important client/designer relationship.
  • 6. 3 TIME-PROMISING INVISIBLE GHOSTS (You’re scared about the designer not delivering when they promise) Always try to give designers a deadline, even if you haven’t really got one yourself. In my experience, I work much better if I know a client needs it for a certain time or date. Clients that say, “Get it back to me whenever you can”, often get their work pushed to the back of the queue, behind the clients that have given a stricter deadline.
  • 7. While it may not always be practical, on longer projects, regular catch-up meetings help to make sure the job stays on track, both in terms of timing and creativity. These can also be done by phone, or simple emails from the designer explaining what stage they’re at. Also, don’t be afraid of chasing up the designer if you’ve not heard from them in a while.
  • 8. 4 HIDDEN SURPRISES UNDER THE BED (You’re terrified of hidden extras that might appear on the final invoice) This goes back to the quote mentioned in slide one. Designers may need to charge for extras such as photography, stock images, or specific font purchases. At the quote stage, a designer probably won’t know if they’ll need some of these or not (until they’re part-way through the job).
  • 9. However, the possibilities of these extras should be stated on the quote and the costs for these should be run by you for sign-o BEFORE purchasing, so there shouldn’t be nasty surprises at the end.
  • 10. 5 KNOW-IT-ALL wizards (You worry whether someone who says they can ‘do it all’ really can) Other designers may disagree with me on this one, but I would be slightly wary of those clever wizards that say they can do everything. Whilst it’s good to have a suite of connected services, good people tend to specialise in things they’re good at.
  • 11. Many ‘one-person-band’ graphic designers nowadays say they can design, build websites, copy-write, sort brand strategy, help with your marketing plan etc etc. They may be able to do all this, but will any one part of it be particularly good? A larger design agency probably can, as they’ll have dierent people, with dierent skill-sets, that they can call on and supply to you. I’ll do the things I’m good at, such as graphic design and branding and if any of my clients require other services – web-build, copy-writing or 3D modelling, I’ll call upon the services of people that I know are skilled at these things to deliver a the best possible job.
  • 12. Now you can sleep soundly in your beds, knowing that there’s nothing underneath them. Next time you need to commission design for the marketing of your business, you needn’t be afraid of the horrors you thought might be lying in wait. And… if you need to commission design that won’t give you nightmares, you know where we are. www.creative-cadence.co.uk