5 tips on how to get the most design for your money

When buying a service, you might be used to choosing the cheapest option and then paying attention throughout the process to ensure the job is done well enough. When buying design, it's the complete opposite. You need to make sure you choose the best provider and then give them the space to do the job. That's how you get the best visual identity.

Here are five tips to get the most out of your money when purchasing design and visual identities:

1. Choose the right agency/designer

This is probably the most important point on the list and perhaps the most difficult. The “best” or most competitively priced agency is not necessarily the right one for every occasion. Have they carried out similar projects before? Do they have the ability to think in new ways? Can they see the bigger picture? Do they have the capacity and creativity? All of these questions should be included in that first decision.

2. Provide a good brief

Putting a design process in motion without a brief will quickly become an expensive undertaking. A brief is essential and the designers will put one together themselves if you don’t do it for them. It should include a clear description of the task to be undertaken, the aim and ambition for the solution. In addition, it should include a description of the target group, budget, timescale and any other specifications. Also, make sure that the designers have access to the necessary and relevant background information so that the research stage works as efficiently as possible. That will leave more time for actual design work.

What is AI and how can you use it for a good brief?

3. Give them room to work with the visuals

This is a classic point where many people make mistakes. Early ideas are fragile like butterflies and need to be treated accordingly. They are incredibly easy to smother, criticize, and reject. Hold on to butterflies too tightly and they will be suffocated, and hold them too loosely and they will fly away. But a good idea has the potential to change the world. That’s why it’s important to give designers the space to try, fail, and test multiple potential directions before developing them into more strongly formulated ideas that can be presented and explained.

Who would have believed that Uber could become the world’s largest taxi company without owning any cars? Or that Airbnb could become the world’s largest accommodation provider by allowing private individuals to let their homes to strangers?

4. Listen to the experts

If you have followed points 1 and 2, you should be close to your target result after the first round. Hold back on first impressions and private opinions until the designers have had time to explain their solutions and ideas. Listen to what they say and to those solutions which have the most potential. If you have chosen good designers, they will have made their careers from finding good solutions and assessing what will work best in relation to a brief. Take good time to assess the design and arguments that are put forward. Some ideas will lose their impact after a short time, while others require a little more getting used to and will grow more slowly.

“Some ideas will lose their impact after a short time, while others require a little more getting used to and will grow more slowly.”

5. Give specific feedback

I'm not saying you have to accept the first and best thing a designer presents to you. On the contrary, it's important to be demanding if you're going to get the most out of a design purchase. Once you've considered the proposal sufficiently, you need to give as much specific feedback as possible. Feel free to refer back to the brief if there are aspects of it that you feel they haven't taken enough into account.

During my 12 years with Mission, I have experienced projects coming up against various challenges. They can come right at the start, along the way or at the end, and they always lead to either ourselves, the customer, or both parties spending more time and money than necessary.

If you follow these five points, I’m sure the process will be more effective and profitable and not least that the result will be better. So once you have found the idea you all believe in, the only thing that remains is the most important – to carry it out. Good luck!