How to choose a graphic design studio

“Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing to add, but when there is nothing to take away” Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

Are you planning to tweak the design of your old website or create it from scratch? In both cases, you will need a designer or design studio. At first glance, the task is trivial, because there are a dime a dozen people who want to earn money! But...

Approximately 90% of representatives of graphic art are dubious plankton, consisting of scammers, those who like to do things “anyhow” and beginners who desperately need sacrifices to hone their skills.  

What now, give up on the idea and continue to scare away customers with an outdated design or lack of it to the delight of competitors?

Not at all!

Just spend 10 minutes on this article and with your eyes closed you will be able to distinguish a professional from an amateur and a swindler. These tips were collected based on the experience of those who have already walked through their own rake when choosing design studio.

 

Forewarned is forearmed, I think they say?

Why look for professionals

Design is the selling shell of your business. A marketing tool to help you make money.

Masterfully executed visualization is the basis for the success and personality of your brand. Successful design:

• allows you to recognize your brand in an instant;
• helps to achieve the goal;
• increases customer confidence. 

Why is a design made on the knee, without deep study and special knowledge, so dangerous? At a minimum, it causes a feeling of bewilderment and a desire to leave the site without bothering to search for information among kilometers of text and a dump of pictures. 

But it’s even worse to head some under-TOP, such as “10 eye-rolling presentations of the 21st century” or “5 of the most terrible sites in the Universe”! 

But seriously, a professional performer is the guarantee that your budget, time and effort invested in organizing the design will not disappear without a trace, but will pay off with interest!

Naturally, when you don’t know the field, it’s difficult to choose a design studio. The brain is buzzing with the number of questions:

• What should you pay attention to?
• What should you be wary of?
• Which specialists should you stay away from?
• How to avoid running into pitfalls?

Don't worry - you're on the right track! Just follow these tips to choose the right design studio. 

Find real reviews on the Internet

All people are divided into 2 categories:

1. Some people completely and completely trust reviews. 
2. Others believe that this is a self-written technique that entrepreneurs use to artificially inflate their ratings. Nevertheless, somewhere in the subconscious, the reviews still act on them as a reassurance.

In fact, it’s not difficult to figure out a self-propelled gun. He bears one or more of these characteristics:

• unnatural volume of text;
• well-trained spelling, style and punctuation;
• presence of explicit advertising;
• excessive specificity about the product or seller;
• a million repeating exclamation points. 

Where can you even look for reviews about a graphic design studio? 

Most often, the company website has a special section. But it’s unlikely that the moderator will let negativity through there. It's better to dig around "on the side":

• in thematic communities of social networks;
• on expert sites;
• in groups and chats for networking.

Listen to word of mouth, finally!

By the way, a couple of negative reviews among hundreds of good ones is the norm. There will always be dissatisfied and sometimes even inadequate clients. But if there are more such responses than Tuzik’s fleas, then this is already a bell!

Check the artist's domain age

Well, who wants to admit that he just hatched yesterday, took the first step in design this morning, and by the evening he already wants to monetize the “skill”? 

To check, use services that determine the age of the domain and website. By the way, these are different things. The age of the domain shows the moment of registration, and the age of the site shows the date of publication of the first content. 

These indicators indicate, rather, not the level of competence of specialists, but rather the seriousness and reliability of the studio itself. The completely “green” team may be going through the stage of getting used to each other right now. And this directly affects the service and level of organization of processes. 

The presence of a solid team and an experienced leader is a sign that the studio has been operating for several years. In this case, everything is known about each member of the team:

• strengths and weaknesses;
• special talents;
• specializing in specific styles or techniques. 

By the way, you can check the age of a domain in just a couple of clicks using this platform:

• Whois https://www.nic.ru/

Would you like us to demonstrate the result using the example of Veonix studio? 

Please!

Analyze your portfolio

Probably the first thing you will do when deciding who to entrust the project to is look at the work. There are a lot of specialties that don’t need visualized cases (English tutor, plumber, sales manager). 

But as a designer, this is the very case when an impeccable portfolio replaces an entire staff of sales managers. Looking through the works you will immediately understand whether you like the style or not. If none of them suits you, it’s better not to tempt fate. Most likely, you will not be happy with the end result.

And vice versa. If the examples from the portfolio fascinate you, keep digging further. 

What do you need to do to choose the right design studio? 

Now is the time to find out whether the posted examples are proof of the talent and ideological spirit of the designers of this studio or proof of cheating and abuse of plagiarism.

And it couldn’t be easier to do this. Upload one of the images to Yandex Images and in a couple of seconds you will understand who you are dealing with.

Check the legal entity of the studio

Today, to check the “purity” of a legal entity, you don’t need your own people in the FSB. To receive any information without leaving your couch, it is enough to pay for the services of your provider on time. 

With the help of special services you can find out a lot of interesting information:

• about the upcoming exclusion from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities;
• about persons in respect of whom the fact of impossibility of participation/management has been established by the court;
• about tax arrears.

And much more. Pay special attention to whether the studio is participating in arbitration disputes as a defendant. If yes, stop cooperation immediately!

There are enough services for checking, here are just a few of them:

• Transparent business https://egrul.nalog.ru/index.html
• Contour https://kontur.ru/

By the way, even the Search Engine, where you enter the name of the design studio, can return some useful information. 

Parse the contract for ions

The enslaving and inadequate conditions of cooperation are visible to the naked eye. You don't need to be a law graduate to do this. But, if there is an understatement at some point, and this makes you suspicious - play it safe! 

Have the contract reviewed by a lawyer. To do this, you can hire a freelance specialist, and not for all the money in the world!

Find out everything about the state

You don’t have to ask about the number of accountants and cleaners, but you definitely need to ask about designers! It’s not very good when there are only one or two of them in the state. This means that in parallel with your project, others will be carried out or, at a minimum, adjustments to previous work will be made. And this takes away energy, attention and significantly reduces the degree of immersion in your project. 

If there are several designers, which in itself is good, check whether it will be possible to change the specialist assigned to you during the project. 

Why is this necessary? 

You may not like the style. Normal companies will meet you halfway in this matter without any problems. 

In addition, it is good when there is an art director who supervises the progress of the work, looks after the designers and gives them competent advice. 

Check if there is a copywriter

If you need text, be sure to ask if the studio has its own copywriter. Some companies, in the name of saving budget, shift the task of writing text to designers. And this, most often, does not end well: any part of the work should be handled by a professional! Otherwise, the design will turn out to be beautiful, but meaningless.

By the way, a good copywriter, before he starts working on the text, will definitely send you a brief to fill out. So be prepared for close, fruitful, team work!

Take care of your privacy 

It is only at first glance that the issue of confidentiality seems self-evident. But it's better to be safe. If your project contains personal data or other secret information that should not be in the public domain, ensure its safety.

To do this, first of all, require the signing of an additional agreement with the studio (NDA - non-disclosure agreement). This document guarantees that specialists will keep their mouths shut, and the work will not end up in the studio’s portfolio.

What happens to those who don't want to bother? 

It is clear that all the check points that we described above require time and effort. But you want to manage your budget wisely and get great results, don’t you?

Then be patient and complete the check step by step, otherwise you will be ambushed. And now that’s exactly what we’re talking about.

Money down the drain

Some "studios" thrive primarily on fraud. They ask for an advance payment, after which they begin to create the appearance of activity. They even keep in contact with you for a while:

• dump briefs;
• survey you;
• share their best practices. 

And after you finally, first intelligently and then more and more persistently, demand results, being indignant at this nonsense, they will sink into oblivion. 

By the way, there is another category of performers who are dragging their feet with the creation of the project. This applies to designers who survive on dumping, working for one and a half rubles. Such specialists often grab orders, realizing that the client is unlikely to get in line, and then physically cannot cope with the volumes. 

The fulfillment of the order is extended for an indefinite period. And when all conceivable deadlines have passed, you will give up on the advance payment and, without a sip, go in search of another designer.

Surprise from an intern

Imagine the situation. You have contacted a trusted studio with decent experience in the market. Everything is ok with their portfolio. Moreover, you really liked several of the works and you happily transferred the advance and sat down to wait for your design to be drawn. 

Imagine your surprise when after a while you receive, instead of a masterpiece, the timid daub of a beginner? 

By the way, you can easily recognize the work of an intern. It is revealed by poor quality parts:

• non-compliance with block indents;
• imbalance between texts and graphics;
• lack of “air” on the slides.

Like here

Usually, respected studios that have received recognition in the professional community value their reputation and do not allow such mistakes. But, as they say, there is no smoke without fire. And similar stories emerge from time to time. 

To avoid such trouble, agree in advance with the studio management that only experienced specialists will deal with your project.

Flight with a contract

Most performers, whether an independent studio or an appendage to a big business, work according to their own contract templates. This relieves them of responsibility for poor quality work and eliminates the need for even the slightest rework. 

A striking example is the clause on strictly fixed amounts of work. Any additional step can cost you a lot of money.

These can be the most harmless works that were not indicated in the technical specifications:

• replacing the picture;
• repurchase of photographs from a photo bank;
• text correction;
• preparing the layout for printing.

Sometimes, agreements reach the point of absurdity! For example, if you do not answer clarifying questions within 24 hours, the studio reserves the right to interrupt work unilaterally. It will be considered that you have accepted the project, regardless of the stage of its readiness. Or you may even get fined.

How do design studios justify the presence of such items? This is supposedly a good motivator for prompt feedback from the customer. One way to meet deadlines. 

But, unfortunately, some performers abuse this. Therefore, you should not blindly trust the integrity of companies, especially if you are dealing with them for the first time. Make your adjustments to the contract and only then sign.   

Black plagiarism

Plagiarism is perhaps the biggest evil in the design world. Novice specialists collect ideas for inspiration on thematic portals. And if the muse does not deign to come at the right moment, someone else’s project is taken as a basis, slightly modified and given to the client as his own unique work. 

But plagiarism carries two main threats:

1. First of all. Search robots do not like copying content and for this they send the site to lower levels of ranking or even ban it.
2. Secondly. The owner of the original image may see the design “ripped off” from him and simply sue you. Not only will you have to pay him for the damage, but the money that you have already invested in printing banners, advertising products or redesigning the sales area will also be wasted.

But all these troubles could have been easily avoided. To do this, check each layout for uniqueness in Yandex Images.  

Now no one will be able to fool you around their finger. You will definitely find a proven studio that will make you a stunning design with an adequate ratio of price and content of the project! 

Yes, in fact, it has already been found! To quickly contact a marketer, dial the phone number graphic design studios Veonix: 8 (495) 109 77 65.