How to Find a Designer Talented Enough to Nail Your Design Needs

With the increasing need for outstanding graphic design, the offer becomes more vast. You can find a designer on any corner of the internet. But where should you look to ensure you reel in a design virtuoso? Here are some tips to avoid spending your time and money in vain.

During the lockdowns, many people found themselves with big aspirations and a lot of time on their hands. The result? Half-trained, self-proclaimed experts in a number of fields, including graphic design.

The internet is flooded with people who have watched a YouTube video or two and called themselves a designer ever since.

“Do you need a degree to become a graphic designer” is a frequently searched term that says it all.

As a business owner, you need graphic design. But you need more than just any graphic design. You need great design that knocks it out of the park, leaving your competitors miles behind.

So, where do you find graphic designers that know what they’re doing? How to avoid spending your time and money on bad design and missed opportunities?

We have the ins and outs on where to find a designer that ticks off all the right boxes.

Why you need great design

There could be a variety of graphic design services that you need. From the obvious such as a logo, to less straightforward ones like a user-friendly database of your workflow.

The fact is that great design holds power to turn your business into an established brand. It helps you convey your message in a visually striking way, leaving a long-lasting first impression on potential customers.

Once you find a graphic designer that knows what they’re doing, these are some of the benefits that come with:

• Saving time and money - A professional designer can help you create design that converts, and you avoid money wasted on bad design.
• Boosting growth - High-quality visuals will make a tremendous difference. From successful marketing to peak interest to increased sales and a loyal customer base.
• Strengthening your presence - Bespoke graphic design bolts straight through the noise of your competitors and effectively reaches your audience.
• Thinking outside of the box - A designer can provide a wealth of knowledge to your business, encouraging you to see new possibilities for your brand.

If you’re ready to leave your worries about endlessly searching for top design talents behind you, give us a shout. We’ll gladly show you around our platform via a one-on-one demo call.

How to find a graphic designer who knows what they’re doing

With those benefits imprinted in your mind, you likely got excited. A designer is an ally that can boost your business tremendously. Naturally, that will only be the case if said designer is a talented professional.

So, how to find a graphic designer who ticks off all the right boxes?

You can post on your social feeds that you’re on the lookout, but do you really want to spend your precious time sifting through a mountain of applicants?

The same goes for freelancing platforms. They allow you to quickly post a job, resulting in numerous applications flooding your mailboxes.  

Here are some alternative ways to find design talent:

Referrals

If you’re searching for the next best designer, involve your team and network. Colleagues and connections that work in the same industry may have worked on projects that needed graphic design previously.

Employee referrals are the oldest and most effective sourcing strategy in any field. Create a referral program and reward employees that bring in talent. These incentives don’t have to be lavish, just enough to entice them to bring in someone they consider the right fit.

Find work you admire

A brainstorming session about creative graphic design is an excellent step to laying a foundation. With your team, go over designs that you admire. Who designed it, and does that happen to be a designer who someone outside your network knows?

Use your network to bridge the gap between talented designers and your business. Here are some of the best graphic design websites filled with portfolios for your design inspiration:

• Awwwards - Find recent web design praised by a community of peers.
• Behance - World’s largest creative database full of projects by talented designers.
• Dribbble - Designers self-promoting their work.

Design meetups

You may not always get a response when emailing a candidate. Design meetups and conferences offer opportunities to speak to designers face to face.

Search for an event nearby by visiting the host’s website, for example, CreativeMornings or TEDx (the D stands for design). Additionally, you can use Google. Search for graphic design events in your area, and you’re bound to stumble upon a relevant event.

Hire a designer step-by-step

Now that you know where to look for a designer let’s delve into the hiring process. There is a little more to it than just picking the person you feel is the right fit.

1. Evaluate portfolios

A designer's portfolio can be visually striking, filled with designs you admire, but that still doesn’t mean it’s necessarily the right match. You should look for graphic design that fits your company’s needs (e.g., an illustrator and web designer will have vastly different portfolios).

For example, if your business relies heavily on conversion through social media, you should look for examples of social media posts in a portfolio.

2. Paid test

Vet your interviewee by having them perform a paid test. This way, you’ll minimize the risk of hiring someone that doesn’t match your style. It’s wise to give a variety of challenges and amp up the pressure a little bit. Then, you’ll also see how your candidate performs when a tight deadline is involved.

Ask your designer to include an explanation of the design process so that you get a sneak peek into the thought process behind the design.

3. Interview to test soft skills

First and foremost, you’re looking for a designer who knows all there is to know about graphic design. But bear in mind that soft skills also play an important role in graphic design.

During your interview, look out for soft skills that enable easy collaboration and a steady workflow.

Skills you should look for when hiring a designer

The people you hire will become the foundation of your team. If growth continues, your initial hires may bring in referrals. Your hires could potentially be your brand ambassadors and your legacy. Therefore, it’s crucial to hire the right people.

To find a graphic designer that is the perfect fit, you should vet their creative abilities as well as certain soft skills.

Sure, you should see if a designer knows their way around design programs. But keep in mind that design is a collaborative process. Therefore, we’ll go over some skills you should look for when hiring a designer:

• Broad perspectives - Avoid hiring only similar people like yourself. Creatives such as a designer encourage you to think outside of the box. Strive to build your team with a variety of voices and outlooks.
• Adaptation and grit - If you’re listening to your designer’s life story, find clues about how they deal with challenges. Design is an ever-evolving discipline, so adapting accordingly is crucial.
• A collaborative mindset - As mentioned before, design is a collaborative process. You need a designer that efficiently works with others.
• Open to feedback - Design is rarely perfect on the first try. If your designer can’t handle criticism, it’s wise to rethink hiring this candidate.

An easier alternative

We’ve briefly mentioned the frequently searched question, “do you need a degree to be a graphic designer.” It’s illustrative for these times, in which we all want quick fixes. If you lose focus for a split second, you could end up hiring a fraud with disastrous effects on your business.

Hiring someone that is the perfect fit for your company takes a lot of time and effort. And once you find a graphic designer, it’s a constant process you should manage.

What if we told you there’s an easier alternative available? One where you don’t have to put in the hours to vet your designer, and that’s risk-free of spending your time and money in vain?

A subscription-based design service might be exactly what you need. You still receive all the perks that come with great graphic design without going through an extensive hiring process.

One of those subscription-based design services is us, ManyPixels. We offer graphic design for a flat monthly fee, increasing hassle-free accessibility to great graphic design.

We’ll save you the trouble of vetting designers since we’ve already done the hard work. Our comprehensive quality control processes ensure that we only work with the best designers. Tried and tested, they are up for the task of boosting your business with unique design.

With a team of designers at your fingertips, you can submit endless requests for all kinds of graphic design services. A social media graphic one day and an infographic the next? No problem!

We have four different plans available, starting from $549 per month, so there is a plan for the design needs and budget of everyone. You can quickly scale up and down since we understand you may need more design one month, and less the next.