My Experience Working with a Brand Designer
A few months ago, I launched the new Lemon and the Sea brand and website and mentioned that I had hired a brand designer to help me with the process. As someone who had never worked with a designer before in my business, I was nervous about trusting someone with such a big piece of how I show up, but I knew that it was the best choice.
Today I wanted to share with you more about why I decided to hire someone instead of doing it myself, how I found the right designer, and what the process looked like.
A designer hiring a designer?
Yep, you read that right. I’m a designer (with a business offering my services to other creatives) and I decided to hire someone else when it came time to update my brand.
When I first started brainstorming about updating the Lemon and the Sea brand and website, my plan was to do it all myself - I am, after all, a designer. While I stopped offering brand design two years ago, I had helped clients in the past and thought that I should be able to do it for myself.
But even with all the brainstorming, Pinterest searching, and doodling I was doing, I kept putting off actually getting to the work. I couldn’t step away from the Lemon and the Sea brand enough to design objectively. And that meant that all the other changes I wanted to make - a new website, new design process, and new blog posts - were also being put off.
Finally, I decided that my best option was to hire someone to help me with the brand design part of the project. There were a few reasons that I finally came to that conclusion:
I was putting off doing the work, waiting to be inspired.
I ask clients to trust me with a huge part of their business - their website - and yet I was afraid to trust someone to help me.
I wanted to experience someone’s else’s process.
I was excited to see how another designer would approach my brand.
Finding the right designer
Once I finally decided to move forward with hiring someone, it was easier to take the next step - finding the right person.
I follow quite a few designers on social media and have interacted with others in Facebook groups, so there was no shortage of people to choose from. The trick was pick just a few options out of hundreds so I could get on calls with them.
I started narrowing down from all those choices by searching in the groups I trust most and seeing who was recommended and how was helping others.
From that smaller group, I took a look at all of their websites. (Note: if they didn’t have a website listed in their Facebook profile or business page, I didn’t go digging further - I just didn’t have the time.) I scanned each website for a few things based on what I knew I needed:
they offered brand design for businesses
it was clear that I could hire them for just a brand and not have to include a website as well
their portfolio aligned with what I envisioned for my brand (I wasn’t looking for a brand to copy, just to make sure their style fit with mine)
they were within or close to my budget
Once I had narrowed my choices down to three, I requested a call with each. This part is always intimidating for me as a designer someone is looking to hire, so I was really interested in how other people handle these calls. I have to say that this was the part that really confirmed for me who I wanted to hire. These were the deciding factors for me:
I loved the process that was outlined
I felt like I understood what was involved and expected of me
We just clicked
And there is was - my new brand designer Ally B. Designs!
The design process
Once I officially hired Ally, we started the design process pretty quickly. Before the actual design started, I was invited to an Asana project (which was extremely well-organized) and given some homework.
I had two questionnaires to answer and created a Pinterest board. For both of these pieces, Ally gave great instructions and examples so that I felt confident in what I was doing.
Then the project got rolling with a kick-off call where we reviewed everything and Ally was able to clarify my answers. We talked about the feeling I wanted my brand to have and she made sure that her ideas were on track. She also shared that my inspiration colors fit exactly with the brand I was trying to build.
A few days later, I received my initial brand design options. Both were beautiful, but I was immediately drawn to the second (as I’m sure you can tell).
Initial Design Option #1
Initial Design Option #2
After a few revisions to the design, including adding a third pattern, the brand was done! Now we just had to finish the collateral items that I had chosen to have Ally design. Again, I knew that I could design these myself, but I loved the idea of having someone else create these pieces for me.
Business Card
Opt-In Template
Notecard
Wrapping up the design
After everything was designed and edited based on my feedback, it was time to finish up the project! Ally created an incredibly helpful (and beautiful) brand guide for me to use as I was implementing my new brand.
I was able to use this guide, along with everything she had created to put together a bank of stock images, design my website, and update all my opt-ins.
These images are from a variety of sources including ColorJoy Stock, Haute Stock, Social Squares, and Unsplash. Having such clear guidance on my new brand and confidence that it reflected my business, I was able to pull together images knowing that they would create a cohesive look across all my platforms.
What I learned
After the entire process was over, I was so glad that I had decided to hire Ally to design the new Lemon and the Sea brand. Her organization, communication, and guides were incredibly helpful and helped me to know exactly what to expect when.
Since working with her, I’ve taken some of what I experienced and added it to my own process (like pre-recorded videos walking through how to use Asana). I want my clients to feel as confident working with me as I did during my brand design.
If you’re thinking about updating your brand (or creating a new one), I highly recommend checking out Ally B. Designs to see if she would be a good fit for you! And if you want to see what a website design process looks like, check out my services to learn more.
