This should make hiring a designer easier. Just follow these tips and you should be good to go when you are looking for a designer.
Disclaimer from Gabbie. Most designer’s agree with me on this some say this is harsh but as a designer who has been in the business since 2007 some of my fellow designer’s make me cringe.
1. Contacting a designer and not filling out EVERY section on their contact form can and might even not get you a response from them. Also make sure to really take the time to answer each question. Think of filling out the form as a ” job application ” you wont get a call back if you don’t fill out EVERYTHING !
2. Saying things like ” I don’t know what a domain is ” or “I don’t know how to blog but I have a blog on blogger” or ” I bought a domain at ( so and so) I had them install WordPress and I haven’t used it yet“. Things like that will pretty much make you look like you don’t know anything.
a. you do know what a domain is when you type in facebook.com ( that’s a domain) .
b. If you give the blog designer your link to your blog and there’s blog posts on there . This will make you look bad. So much that the designer will even question why you even contacted them in the first place. This becomes one of those ” why’s”
3. Not understanding what the lingo is : If you ask 100 questions and still don’t understand what they are saying this will make the designer pretty much do one of three things . 1 stop contacting you and 2. not want to work with you at all. and 3. put you on a blacklist for those very reasons. Most designers don’t want to waste time.
4. Asking to have a web/blog look like another website. About 99.9% of designers who do have a backbone WILL not design a blog make it look like another site. No money in the world would make me want to copy another designers work. Its wrong . The Internet isn’t high school we cant all be cool.
 Gabbie’s note: I’m a BIG believer in karma when it comes to design especially online. If you copy get ready for the kitty claws. My number one rule is NEVER copy someone else’s work.
5. Expecting to be “walked through everything” to get the work done: Meaning you don’t know what you want and expect your designer to come up with this idea of what your blog should look like. My job as a designer is to put your ideas down on a site/blog/ wedding invite OR whatever I’m designing for you. I might step in here and there to help you if your stuck. But my idea of what your blog should look like might not even work for your blog. Cute doesn’t always work.
5. Saying I want a cute blog” is pretty much a death sentence to a lot of designers. Most women blog designers and trust me a lot of them have this idea that all blogs should look cute. I mean if your a fashion, foodie blogger shouldn’t your blog reflect who you are as a fashion and foodie blogger? why should it be cute ?
6. Not fully quoting you for everything; Some wont fully quote you for everything you ask for . To some its one of those will if you need this it will be a extra $100 . Make sure to read everything in their service pages and ask questions before you sign the contract.
7. Not getting back to you in a timely matter. Most designers aren’t online 24/7. Most have more than one client they are working on. Designers wont tell you how many projects they are working on. So if you have a big project see if they have a calendar on their site and see what it says.
8.(UPDATE) Being a designer isn’t easy. It takes time. A thing you might think takes 10 minutes can actually take like an hour. Not all designers are at the same level of designing.
So what are your thoughts? Are these things you already knew or are these things making you wonder?
I think it very much depends on the designer and their workflow really Gabbie. I can’t say I agree with all of what you say there, but I can very much understand where some of your frustrations come from. I’ve rarely had any problems with my projects but I don’t agree to a project until I have enough information to go on – some people who can’t or don’t want to give info at that point don’t come back (which isn’t good), but the ones who continue at that point end up with a good design which is usually pretty much right first time. You’re quite right when you allude to the fact that you need to work closely with your designer and provide some good ideas regarding your taste; designers can use the tools available, but taste is very personal and can’t just be guessed.