Working with a graphic designer doesn’t have to be a painful process. There are a few things you can do to make your project more successful and get better results from your designer.

For years I worked as a graphic designer and web designer at my creative agency, Focus 5 Design. I worked with scores of amazing clients and did everything from logo design to brochure design to website design and development.

I learned a lot about the creative process. I also developed pretty solid ideas on how to ensure a project’s success and make sure I was delivering the best results for my clients.

Today, I’ll share those thoughts with you!

How to get better results from your graphic designer

Start with a creative brief

A must for every creative project is to write up a creative brief and share it with your graphic designer. Your creative brief should include:

* Business name. Be sure to provide the exact business name you want used in your logo or website design.

* Business description. What do you do? Share a little about your business and your industry so they get a feel for what you’re all about. Your value proposition would work beautifully here.

* Target market. Who is this for? Who’s the ideal client or target market you’re trying to reach with this design work?

* Brand personality. What’s the personality you are trying to convey? You could share your brand voice as well as your brand archetype.

* Colors. If you have strong opinions on colors you’d like to use (or not use), be sure to include them in your creative brief.

* Images. Be sure to include a few sample images of what you are aiming for. This is incredibly helpful to designers. You can tell them what you like all day long, but when you can show them, that makes all the difference in the world. A mood board is a great way to share images and ideas with your designer.

Communicate clearly

Your creative brief will help communicate a lot of what you want from your design project but it can’t communicate everything. You also need to communicate the feelings and emotions you are trying to convey. Meet with your graphic designer, in person if possible, and discuss the entire project before any work begins. This will ensure you are all on the same page from the beginning.

And communication doesn’t stop once the project begins. You also need to communicate clearly throughout the design process.

Give specific feedback to help move the work in the right direction. Saying things like “I don’t like that”, or “show me something different” isn’t useful feedback. In contrast, statements like “Can you make that circle larger?”, or “I’d prefer that section’s background to be a darker blue” is awesome feedback.

Show them what you like

Show them a few examples of logos or websites you like and then communicate exactly what you like about them. “I like the colors of this logo, I like the way the top section of this homepage is laid out, I like the way these blog posts are organized.”