Tips for Effortlessly Outsourcing to a Designer
Star Castle Studio provides artful entrepreneurs and makers with tips and custom-created visuals needed to beautifully run a professionally branded business and make an unforgettable impression online.
It can feel intimidating to outsource work to a designer, but it doesn’t have to be a scary thing! As long as you’re prepared and know how to optimize the process, you have nothing to worry about and everything to gain from the experience.
It’d be great to have a designer make all your graphics gorgeous, consistent & custom, right?
That may seem like a farfetched dream, but who says it can’t be your current reality? Most businesses benefit greatly by getting a designer on the team, but when you’re growing your own business, it can feel difficult to release some control and let an expert take over your brand visuals (this business is your baby after all!).
You may be finding yourself frustratingly messing with design programs or grabbing all the newest templates for sharing on social media, but how do you know when it’s the right time to break this cycle and start outsourcing design?
When to outsource to a designer:
diy Design is eating up your time
As a business owner, you’re probably working to balance #allthethings – getting new clients, handling the work on your plate, staying relevant on social, the list goes on and on. I challenge you to start noticing how much time you’re spending on creating visuals for your brand.
I encourage you to consider how much its costing you not to hire a designer.
How much time are you wasting trying to do it yourself?
Getting lost looking up inspiration?
Or worse, trying to mimic the designs of others?
Everything from social graphics to client deliverables, how often are you having to work on graphics for your business? If design is not your area of expertise, you’ll be losing your most precious commodity: TIME. You could be using that time to find clients, helping those clients and/or working on your business.
you’re not proud of your online image
If you know your brand graphics could be better or you’re not proud of how your business looks online – it’s definitely time to get a designer on board.
Everything your business shares and puts online is a direct reflection on what you provide and what you represent. It's important your visuals celebrate the what your business brings to the table. Having a unique & powerful online image can mean the difference between snagging a client or simply being scrolled past – it's key you never miss an opportunity! Confidence in your brand and visuals inspires people to feel confident in you & your business!
still unsure if you’re ready to outsource design?
Take my free quiz to find out if it’s time to hire a designer!
Spoiler alert: the answer isn’t always yes.
What to have ready when outsourcing to a designer:
an established brand
Make sure you’re clear on your target audience, your business name, and what the overall goal of your business is.
A simple brand board or a full brand style guide that shows the established guidelines to follow when designing. Providing a simple way for your designer to reference your unique brand attributes will help ensure your graphics maintain consistent and build brand recognition with your audience!
Content
Designing without content is like buying clothes for someone you've never met. Even with the best intentions, you're most likely going to get sizes wrong, choose a pattern the person hates, a color that clashes with their hair, etc.
Have your content ready to go before getting a designer involved so they can format everything exactly as needed. For example, without copy provided, a designer may design a ‘pretty’ webpage, but once you add the verbiage, the walls of text become an afterthought. If your designer has an idea of how much copy will be included, they can use visual hierarchy and add graphics as needed to highlight your key points and engage visitors.
Clear Deliverables
Get super clear on what you need specifically.
Are you creating a workbook?
Make sure your designer takes the extra step to make it an interactive form so your people can actually fill it out!
Know your end goal. There are certain filetypes your designer needs to deliver depending on if your design(s) are intended for print or digital use. If you plan on blowing things up on a billboard, you’re going to need that vector file. If you' want to add a watermark to your photos, you’ll need a transparent png. While you don’t need to know the filetypes inside and out, it’s important you let your designer know the final intended use, so they can format things correctly for you.
Note that some designers always include art files (vector/eps) while others only deliver preview files (jpg/png), so be sure you know what you're getting for the agreed upon price before diving in!
Hiring a professional designer can save you precious time, create space for you to start making more profit & impact, and powerfully improve your online image.
Plus, a good designer can help build brand recognition and allow your business to communicate more effectively with your target audience!
And it doesn’t have to mean a huge investment or long-term contract! I’ve built my Magical Maintenance packages for business owners to get a designer on-call for any / all projects that pop up. Book 5, 10 or 15 hours per month and officially take ‘design’ off your plate. 💁🏼♀️
Ready to get a designer on-demand?
Your brand deserves to show up gorgeously online and I’m here to help you do that!
Start magnetizing clients with graphics you feel proud to share!
