If you have the budget, you might be looking at hiring a digital designer to provide you with a logo and company branding, or a developer to put together a professional website. You might be after someone who can do both! With so many options out there for agency and freelance designers and developers, we’ve put together a short list of questions to consider when you’re hiring a digital designer or developer.
- Has the designer worked on a similar project before?
There are lots of digital designers out there, but not all of them have worked on a news publication before. You want someone who’s familiar with your needs, and can provide you with things you didn’t even know were available. Check out the websites and branding of some news publishers you like the look of, and see if you can find the name of their designer or agency. You can also ask for recommendations on the LINA Slack! - Do you know what you want?
It can be tempting to go to a designer without a clear idea of how you want your organisation to be presented – after all, they’re the experts! But this can often lead to dead ends and extra hours of paid work that could be avoided. Research other news branding, have a few colour scheme options (even just a mood board or Pinterest can help), and give the designer as much to work with as possible. You’ll end up with a quicker process and an end product that reflects your organisation without so much back and forth. - Will you be able to make changes yourself?
You may wish to be able to make different versions of your logo, or perhaps you want to be able to work on the look and feel of your website in the future. Will your designer be giving you access to editable image files, and are they using a CMS and design theme that can be easily edited? Make sure you know how involved you can be in making future changes, and how future-proof your designs or website will be. Request multiple file types for images, and do some research on the type of website platform you’ll be working with. For example, if your website will be on WordPress, is the designer/developer using a Child Theme so that the main theme can be updated regularly (highly recommended)? - How much ownership and administrative access will you have?
If you’re having a website built from scratch, your developer might set up your domain and hosting themselves. In order to use services like Google Analytics, you’ll need access to these logins. Some developers also use their own group licenses for plugins (and charge you the amount), which expire after a year. Consider asking them to set up new licenses for you so that you don’t run into problems with updates and support. Plugins provide important functionality for your website, and can be the cause of numerous issues if they’re not updated. - How much are you willing to learn?
Using your designs in documents, new web pages, enewsletters etc. can be rewarding, and will make the most of your investment. If you’re willing to learn some basic design principles and software, you might not need your designer to provide a full suite of stationery (letterheads, envelopes etc). Canva and Adobe software are great for this, but if you don’t have the time or motivation, make sure you have a complete list of what you’re likely to need. Similarly, for websites, let your developer know if you’re willing to learn (or already know) how to make theme changes and write some basic CSS – this coding language is used to make overall design changes to your website and can be much easier (and a lot cheaper) than paying for redesigns regularly. Your designer/developer may be able to make notes on the CSS elements they have added so that you can alter or redesign as needed.
In general, it’s best to take some time before bringing a designer or developer on board to get a clear picture of what you want, talk it through with others, and seek recommendations from the LINA community. Branding and web design is a major investment that should bring you joy and continue serving your needs for many years.
