You Get What You Pay For

Not to say that there aren't some lucky folks out there that stumbled upon a tuly talented designer that was just trying to break into the industry or didn't yet know what they are worth, but for the most part, you get what you pay for.

I can not tell you the number of times a client has hired me to redo something that was not done correctly. As a business professional, I can not urge you enough to research the company or person you are going to hire to do a job. I'm not suggesting you run a background check, but take the time to talk with the individual and ask to see their portfolio. I am also not endorsing designers to work on spec. Working on spec means that a designer will basically create a design and the company may or may not hire you based on what they see. What I am saying is look at their previous work - is it high quality? Is it in a design style that you like? Does their body of work have variety and show depth that they can do the work that you are looking for? These are all good things to look at and don't forget to ask if they were responsible for all aspects of the project. For example, in web design, there could be many people on a project, a designer the created the look and feel, the programmer that converted it to HTML and possibly an additional programmer that added some back-end functionality.

Many people go bargain hunting for design work, but is this the message you want to send to your clients? That they are not worth the marketing dollars? A poor design shows and could lose a potential customer. Many times, a brochure or website is a customer's first impression of your company and it should be a good one. A well thought out, well designed piece that communicates to your potential customers.

More to come later...