What to Prepare Before Hiring a Graphic Designer

The difference between a good design project and a frustrating one usually comes down to the brief.

If you show up unprepared, you’ll get vague results. If you prepare properly, you’ll get exactly what you need.

What to Gather Before You Brief

1. Business Context

• What does your business do?
• Who are your ideal customers?
• What problems do you solve?
• What’s your positioning? (Premium? Affordable? Innovative?)
• What’s your unique angle?

The designer needs to understand your business. The better they understand it, the better the design.

2. Examples of Design You Like

• Find 3-5 examples of designs you admire
• Tell the designer specifically what you like about each (not just “this looks cool”)
• Tell them what you dislike about your current branding
• Show them examples from your industry and others

This is the single most useful information. Don’t skip it.

3. Your Audience

• Who will see this design?
• What do you want them to feel?
• What should they think about your business?
• What action do you want them to take?

Example: “Our audience is startup founders aged 25-35 who are tech-savvy and value innovation. We want them to see us as modern and accessible.”

4. Your Competitors

• Who do you compete with?
• How do they present themselves visually?
• What are they doing well?
• Where are they falling short?

This helps the designer position you in the market.

5. Existing Brand Assets

• Your current logo
• Your brand colours (if you have them)
• Fonts you use
• Photography style you’ve used
• Any brand guidelines (even if outdated)

The designer might use some of these or suggest moving away from them. Either way, they need context.

6. Content & Copy

• Taglines or mission statements
• Key messages about your business
• Product descriptions
• Any existing copy they should know about

Good design often supports good copy. The designer should know what you’re communicating.

7. Project Scope & Deliverables

• Be clear about what you need
• Logo only? Full brand identity? Website? All of the above?
• How many variations or concepts?
• What timeline?
• What’s your budget?

Vague scope = vague results. Be specific.

8. Constraints

• Any brand elements that must stay?
• Industries or audiences you want to avoid?
• Visual styles you definitely don’t want?
• Technical limitations?

Tell the designer what’s non-negotiable.

The Brief Template

Here’s what a good design brief looks like:

PROJECT: Brand Identity for [Company]

ABOUT US:
[2-3 sentences about what you do and who you serve]

OUR AUDIENCE:
[Who will see this? What do they care about?]

WHAT WE WANT TO COMMUNICATE:
[3-5 key messages]

OUR POSITIONING:
[Premium, budget-friendly, innovative, trustworthy, bold, etc.]

EXAMPLES WE LIKE:
[3-5 links or images with explanation of what we like]

WHAT TO AVOID:
[Styles, colours, or approaches we don't want]

DELIVERABLES:
[Logo? Full brand system? Website? Be specific]

TIMELINE:
[When do you need this?]

BUDGET:
[What are you willing to invest?]

ANY OTHER CONTEXT:
[Anything else the designer should know?]

Common Brief Mistakes

1. Being too vague. “We want something modern and professional.” That’s not a brief.

2. Dictating the design. “Can you make the logo blue with a geometric shape?” You’re not the designer. Tell them what you want to communicate, not how to do it.

3. Trying to please everyone. “Our CEO likes bold. Our accountant likes conservative.” Make a decision. There’s always someone who will disagree with design choices.

4. Not being honest about budget. A R5,000 logo won’t be the same quality as a R25,000 logo. Be realistic.

5. Changing your mind mid-project. Give good feedback early. Avoid big direction changes once the work has started.

How to Give Good Feedback

When reviewing design concepts:

• Be specific. “I don’t like this” isn’t helpful. “The layout feels cluttered and the colour is too bright for our brand” is.
• Explain why. “This doesn’t feel premium enough” tells the designer what’s missing.
• Focus on the business goal. “This doesn’t communicate that we’re a tech company” is better than “I just don’t feel it.”
• Give one round of major feedback. Then smaller refinements. Multiple rounds of big changes waste time.

The Designer’s Job

A good designer will:

• Ask questions if your brief is unclear
• Suggest approaches based on strategy, not just aesthetics
• Give you 2-3 concepts based on different strategies
• Explain their thinking
• Iterate based on your feedback
• Deliver in the formats you need

Getting Started

Spend a day preparing your brief. Invest time upfront to save time and frustration later.

Be honest about constraints. Budget, timeline, preferences.

Trust the designer. You hired them for their expertise. Don’t try to design the design.

Be clear about approval. Who makes the final decision? How many rounds of revisions are included?

The Bottom Line

A clear brief is the foundation of a successful design project. The more you prepare, the better the results.

Ready to start a design project? We’ll help you build the perfect brief. Let’s talk.