How to choose a designer

In this blog post, I am exploring the attributes that we can look for when choosing a designer as a business collaborator. I am trying to go beyond technical skills, experience, education, and talent. Instead, I am focusing on the qualities of the person that, in my personal opinion and observation, make a good designer.

A common law human relationships is this: not everyone is good for everyone. This law also applies to the brand/designer relationship. Not every person can work with every designer, and not every designer is inspired by every brand, project, or person. This says nothing about the quality of the work, skills, professionalism, or talent of the designer. They simply do not match with one another.

A bad experience with a designer is almost equally upsetting as any other bad experience with another human. Usually, both sides are left feeling misunderstood, probably angry, frustrated, or confused about what went wrong. At least in my observation, the most common answer is: lack of communication.

As happens with all relationships, the root of the problem is in the beginning, in the selection process. This does not mean that when a collaboration starts with the best intentions from both sides, it lasts forever and goes well. However, choosing a business partner based on the right criteria and our own judgment is a good indicator of having a beautiful, probably enduring collaboration that will benefit both sides.

Taking a look at how we usually choose designers or creative studios, we can see that many people use stereotypical criteria: education, experience, certificates, reputation, number of awards, instagram following. All these are great, and I don’t mean to devalue them. However, it is worth questioning if these external and objective qualities can help us choose the designer that is appropriate for us, for our particular case. Or whether these criteria are appropriate to evaluate a creative professional.

The truth is that evaluating and choosing a designer is complex—mostly because creativity is involved, which, as a skill, is quite subjective, hard to understand, and almost impossible to measure. Also, because quantitative and measurable criteria are not appropriate—or not enough—to evaluate a designer. There are other qualities that we have to take into account that have to do with the designer as a person and less as a professional.

Here are the attributes that I have identified in all good designers, in brief:

• Listening

• Teaching

• Responsibility

• Creativity

• Transparency

• Curiosity

Before moving on, it is useful to clarify the following: what is design as a process? What happens during a creative project of any kind?

Design is a process of solving a problem through the use of the visual language—design. It can be described as a translation process. The vision of a person is translated into the visual language by the designer, and design is the end result of this process. The goal of this process is communication between the brand and the world through visuals. This leads us to the first attribute that makes a good designer.

Listening

Someone could argue that designers are like pianists. Pianists are not playing with their hands; they play with their ears. They listen to the sound of the piano, and they adjust their hands accordingly to create a pleasing sound. The same is true for designers. They listen to the client's request, they process it, and they convert it into a design composition that is pleasing to the eye.

Therefore, good designers are good and active listeners. They are able to listen to what is being said, but also what isn’t—listening between the lines, so to speak. They encourage conversation and elaboration on the project before starting work on it, and they ask for clarifications when necessary. As designers, active and careful listening is the least we can provide. It is an act of respect for the time, energy, and vision of the person or team we collaborate with.

Good listeners do not judge. They are able to remove themselves from the process, detach from their personal preferences, desires, and aspirations, and make room for those of others. This doesn’t mean that they are not there. They are there like actors, who transform themselves to respond to the needs of the character they are playing. Therefore, a good designer knows how to detach from a conversation and make room for the client’s vision.

As good listeners, good designers have empathy. They are able to feel people’s needs and see the world through their eyes, without losing themselves or their values. They are able to understand, even though they are not in favor of a style or philosophy.

Ultimately, communication, conversation, and connection between the client and the designer are what fuel the creative process. There can be no good design without meaning, and there is no meaning without connection and an in-depth discussion between the designer and people. Otherwise, the design will lack meaning and essence. And there is no greater mistake than meaningless design.

Teaching

Good designers are good at communicating information to others. They are able to understand how familiar a person is with the visual language and adjust their language to their level. There is no point in talking using design terms and technical language if no one can understand.

I love this quote by Paula Scher: “I was never a particularly good salesman. But I am a good teacher.” The point she was trying to make was that designers have to teach people how to see and read a design piece. It is designers’ responsibility to explain the visual language to the people who are involved in a project and be ready to justify each design decision. A good designer is able to find two or three ideas to solve a problem, but also to speak in favor of and against each one of them. They are objective, helpful, but not unreasonably insistent. They provide necessary information to help us make informed and wise decisions.

A good teacher never makes us feel foolish and never looks down on us. Thus, a good designer makes us feel able to have a conversation about design by explaining and providing helpful information in a language we can understand. They help us feel part of the creative process. To me, it is a great success for a designer if they can talk about design with anyone.

Responsibility

Massimo Vignelli, in his book The Vignelli Canon, wrote: “As designers, we have three levels of responsibility: to ourselves, to the client, to the public. On each one of these levels we should be ready to commit ourselves to reach the most appropriate solution, the one that solves the problem without compromises for the benefit of everyone.” Here is my interpretation of his words:

First and foremost, good designers are committed to themselves. It is their responsibility to pay close attention to every small, unnoticeable detail of a work, even if no one will understand the difference. They are aware that details separate the good from the great design. Perfection is not the end goal. The goal is to make the most out of our current abilities and control the quality of the work as much as we can. This indicates ethics, need for growth, and respect for the profession.

Second, good designers feel responsible to their clients. It is true that design can transform a brand in positive and negative ways. It can build strong connections between the brand and the world or destroy them. It can bring people closer or pull them away. It can create or devastate the success of a business and the people working in it. Good designers are aware of the power they hold in their hands and use it wisely and carefully to do good. They work mindfully to keep their personal emotions and mood away from the work itself. Not every collaboration with every client is ideal, but this is irrelevant to the work itself, and a good designer knows how to separate those two.

Historically, design has shaped—and continues to shape—culture. The visual language is universal and design is e averywhere around us. Good designers know that and have this sense of responsibility towards the general public, the consumer, the viewer. They try to elevate taste, train the eye to beauty, elegance, timelessness, and sophistication. They give people tasteful and premium-quality visual food in the same way a great chef offers people high-quality, tasteful food. Only this way does our culture go forward, and only this way do we train society in beauty and great taste.

Boundaries are another form of responsibility. Good designers know when and how to set boundaries in a polite and professional way. They know that boundaries are not selfishness or rebellion. They are about respect toward the work itself and the client. They are meant to protect the quality of the work.

It is important to remember that when a designer sets boundaries and says “no” to ideas or meaningless modifications to the design, it is not about them. The easiest thing would be to do whatever they are asked to do and get paid. But this is unethical, dangerous, disrespectful, and degrades the quality of the work. Good designers want to lead and take full responsibility for the work they do, while also maintaining peaceful collaborations with people.

Creativity

It is necessary to understand that creativity is not a profession. Pure creativity is a way of being, a way of navigating through life, a way of perceiving reality and looking at things. The profession is just another way to express this creativity.

Interpretation of creativity is something that good designers work on throughout their entire career. They explore creativity itself, their own creativity, and creativity as a process and way of living. All these aspects are necessary to a designer.

To understand creativity requires knowledge and self-exploration. As humans, we can only control and master something that we can deeply understand. Thus, someone has to understand the nature of creativity, its rules, its advantages, and disadvantages. Additional work has to be done to explore our own creativity: how it works for us personally, how we can nurture it, work with it, share it. As there is no end to self-discovery, there is no end to the discovery of creativity. The more a designer practices and explores it, the better they become as creators, as teachers, as guides. Their work becomes deeper, richer, widely appealing, and interesting. So do their collaborations.

Finding and refining their creative process is a great part of the work of a good designer. Someone can say that a creative process is like ballet, basketball, or any other sport. There is always some room for improvement, and every day is a challenge, an opportunity to learn something new, to do something better than the last time we did it. Good designers never assume they know everything. They see the work as a continuum.

Ultimately, the more we learn our creative process, the better we become at guiding others. Good designers make us feel that they know where they are going.

Transparency

Honesty and confrontation are never comfortable, and not all people can tolerate them. Also, being honest is one thing; understanding if a person is ready to listen and tolerate it is another. Great designers—and good professionals of any kind—can do both.

It is often the case with designers and other creators to identify a problem and the solution before anyone else. This is a risk, because sometimes people are not ready to accept a problem as a problem, let alone listen to and process the solution. A good designer knows how to navigate these situations with respect, patience, and care.

Good designers are transparent with how they think and work. They are not afraid to share their thoughts, ideas, concerns, or disagreements. When it comes to their process, it is clear and transparent. They welcome people to become part of it and guide them along the way, because it is this transparency that builds trust, leading to a beautiful collaboration and great results.

Curiosity

Curiosity and interest are the fuel of all good designers. Not all designers are interested in all kinds of projects. But there is no good designer who was not interested in the work they had at hand—not necessarily experienced, certified, or educated, simply inspired, passionate, interested.

“Sometimes you have to be totally unqualified for the job to innovate,” Paula Scher once said. She proved that many times through her remarkable career and work. A designer who feels passionate and challenged by a project or a brand will find a way to complete it. Unlike other professions, in design there is no certainty or safety. But a good designer is the brave one—the one who is willing to constantly take the risk involved with creativity and turn it into fuel for innovation.

Another paradox with our profession is that, to be a good designer, you don’t have to know everything or know what to do. Every project is so unique and different, and so is every brand. A good designer is the one who accepts their ignorance and can tolerate it. They can tolerate this uncertainty and constant challenge and put their curiosity and genuine interest up front to complete the work. Most of the time (to avoid saying always), it is curiosity and challenge that fuel great work, not knowledge or education.

So, which designer is appropriate for each project? And how much experience is enough? Unfortunately, there is no specific or correct answer to these questions. Every project and every brand is completely different. Every designer has a different way of looking at things. The only thing we can do is openly talk to each other before we decide to collaborate.

If you are someone looking for a designer, make sure you know what you are looking for and the criteria you use. Approach designers, see their work, talk to them, and make your own judgments. Discuss with them, share your concerns, ask questions beyond education, experience, and technical skills. Are they someone you can trust for your particular case? Do you feel understood and heard? Do you speak the same language? Try to understand the person behind a portfolio before you jump into a collaboration. Technical experience, education, and awards cannot build a strong and healthy collaboration, but ethics, passion, and genuine interest definitely can. And there is no more rewarding feeling than knowing that you have chosen the right partner.