In a cost of living crisis that’s hitting individuals and businesses alike, it’s tempting to give your design jobs to whoever is cheapest. The guy off Fiverr. Your mate’s daughter who’s doing a graphic design GCSE. Someone on LinkedIn who’s offered to do it for nothing, as long as you give them a shoutout.

But whether you’re a marketer, a startup or a business owner, you have a reputation to build and maintain, and design is a key part of your brand value and impact.

So why give it away to someone who’s not invested in your success ?

10 reasons to look for a design partner

Here are my top reasons why it’s important to choose a graphic designer who you can work with more than once – it’s how I prefer to work with my clients, and it’s resulted in design work that’s consistent, on-brand and results-driven every time.

Trusted to deliver – the right design partner will take the time to understand your business, your clients and your objectives. That means you can trust them to deliver the design projects you need, working as part of your team.

A two-way relationship – you may have been let down by agencies or freelance designers before, and I know that’s a tricky thing to overcome. For me, design partnership is a two-way process  which we are both involved in.  I’ll always prioritise delivering what you want, because that’s good for my business and yours

Part of your team – a reliable design-partner becomes part of your extended team, so they can contribute ideas, direction and strategy that you might not get from a one-off supplier.

An expert on board – it’s tempting to save money by designing things yourself. But the reality is that this is often time-expensive and results-poor. 

Efficient budgeting – a good designer can show you where you can save money, and how some design can be repurposed helping you to get the most from your design budget.

A professional approach – designing in the right software and supplying the right files saves you time and energy when it comes to digital or print design, And it’s always quicker for a professional designer to edit something than it is for you to do it yourself.

Senior-level experience – a senior-weight agency designer is expensive. When you choose an independent design partner, you’re getting senior-level experience and expertise at a fraction of the cost.

Immediate results – a good designer can deliver work that has an instant impact. By understanding how design works, refreshing your brand, or re-designing your collateral can make a real difference to how you feel about your business.

Good advice – one of the benefits of using a professional graphic designer is the advice they’ll give you. It will often save you time and money without reducing the impact of the end result.

Time saving – when you have a good design-partner, you can just call them up and say ‘can you help me with …?’ There’s no need to start looking for a supplier again – you know you’re going to get exactly what you need.