Have you ever wanted to invest in a business, product, or service but in a sea full of brands offering similar things, you find it hard to pinpoint who would be the right fit for you?
Maybe you also struggle with trusting what brands show on social media. Is it really the real deal or is it just a highlight reel? It’s hard to tell, I get it. Especially if it’s for a big, potentially life chancing investment such as brand identity design.
Let’s assume you’re looking for the right brand designer, here are 5 red flags you should look out for before making the final decision
This goes for any creative – not just in the branding industry. Whether you’re a photographer, tattoo artist or wedding planner. Showing your work is the number one thing you should do. And if you’re looking to invest in a brand designer, this is the first thing you should have a look at.
Did they work with clients similar to your business already? Do you like their previous work? Is their portfolio extensive with multiple design applications or do they just show one black and white logo? Do they provide background information on the design choices that have been made?
All of these questions can help you narrowing the pool of choices.
Although we scientifically know that brand strategy and design have major impact on customers’ buying behavior, no brand designer should ever guarantee you success after working with them.
Yes, we excessively research your industry, analyze your dream clients, and draw conclusions from all those findings that are seemingly logical. But you can never truly know how customers will react. They are humans after all, you cannot read their minds (although I wish I could haha).
Moreover, branding doesn’t stop after you finished working with a designer. It’s only the beginning. Your brand designer provides the foundation for you to implement consistently and over time. Lastly, branding takes time. If you hear a brand designer guaranteeing success within the first year, how do they know? And how does that success even look like?
Of course, your brand could go viral and become a massive success within the first year (I hope it is! Manifesting this for you!), but establishing a brand in the minds of consumers usually takes much longer, so don’t be fooled.
At Studio Émilie, we love getting to know our clients personally before working with them. As most of our clients have long-term business relationships with us and we’ll be your business partners for the duration of your project, we want to make sure we get along, push ourselves to grow and inspire each other. Not being able to connect via a discovery call just feels a little off to us.
Questions like what your big dreams for this business are, why have you started this business, why do you think now is the best time to invest in branding and how does success look like for you, are asked during our discovery call and frankly, should be asked by every brand designer before starting any design project.
We need to be on the same page and understand each other as branding is not only a business strategy but a self-development journey as well.
The focus of every brand designer should be on you as the client, always. Sounds obvious, however if you listen closely, it may not always be… If you hop on a call with a brand designer and you sense that they just want to close the deal and get the money. Run.
I like to get to know my potential clients beforehand, ensuring they will be the right fit for the studio and the studio will be the right fit for them. Which is why not having a discovery call, as you’ve seen above, is indeed a red flag for me. Branding is an intense process as we get deep into you and your businesses personality and purpose, you don’t want to invest in someone who’s just focused on the money.
They should care about you and your brand first.
Brand identity design is a massive investment – you want to make sure what you sign up for! I’m not saying that your project needs to be 100% set in stone in terms of pricing and timeline, but your brand designer should be able to provide with you with a let’s say 90% clear timeline and budget. They should be able to indicate roughly how long your project will generally take, considering feedback loops and how good your communication as a client is as well.
At Studio Émilie we like to give timelines that vary between 2 weeks to ensure both flexibility and the ability to plan your project. Budget wise, every brand designer should know and communicate what their services cost. Again, there’s always room for flexibility depending on the scope of the project and your individual needs and wants, but you should never be worried about not being able to stick to your budget.
Now let me preface this: if a brand designer you like shows 1 of the 5 red flags, it doesn’t immediately mean they are a bad brand designer. In fact, we all start somewhere and continue to learn and improve our services. But I hope this overview gives you an indication on what could be a no-go.
In the end, I’d always advice you to go with your gut. Listen to your intuition and choose the brand designer you feel most excited, yet comfortable to work with.
And if that person is me…. Well, I’m beyond excited as well! If you want to start 2023 with a bang and make it your best year in business yet, run don’t walk! There’s a couple of spots left to start your branding project in 2022. Don’t waste any time and start the new year with a fresh plan and look. I can’t wait to welcome you in the studio.
Love yourself, mean it.
x Helena
