Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A. Really look at portfolios of the candidates. If you see what you like in their "book", then you are half way there. That said, there is nothing worse that being asked to regurgitate an existing design, so make sure that your candidate can think outside their previous boxes and give you something unique.
Q. If you were a customer, what do you wish you knew about your trade? Any inside secrets to share?
A. That you get what you pay for. Nothing new there, but I do hear it all the time. People think they can pay $50 for some stranger to design a "cool logo". After getting designs that look like a 3D glass button factory and having to fork out more money and time they realize the error of their ways. A good designer pays off in the end.
Q. What important information should buyers have thought through before seeking you out?
A. Know your competition.
Come up with logos and brands you like and ones you don't.
Be realistic with the budget. Communicate your budget but be flexible as much as possible.
Q. Why does your work stand out from others who do what you do?
A. I sit down and listen to my clients needs and expectations. Logos are not a quick fix that can be done without research and discussion. I also offer multiple concept, each with their own strengths, so my clients can pick.
Q. What do you like most about your job?
A. I love solving my clients' "problem". When I sit down with my clients and start the concepting process, we are trying to solve some problem, whether it is establishing a brand, new product, or reinventing an old company. My job is to solve that problem visually and intellectually.
Q. What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?
A. I am a paper and pencil concepter, meaning I can sketch while I am talking to the client about the project scope. I have often been asked how I process the information so successfully and so quickly. My answer is that as soon as I begin hearing the clients expectations, my wheels start turning... and they don't stop until the project is done.
Q. Do you have a favorite story from your work?
A. I did an interactive CD (and no I don't do much of that as the technology has changed faster than I could keep up) that I pitched on my first month of working for an agency. I saw the project from pitch to concept, to programming and completion... all single-handedly. The client loved the CD so much they ordered over 60,000 of them, and I won a ton of awards for it!
Q. What do you wish customers knew about you or your profession?
A. I know I say "You get what you pay for" throughout this questionaire, but the other side of the spectrum is dangerous too. Coming from over 11 years working in the ad agency world, the agency experience can be expensive and over-rated. Typically if you hire a GOOD freelance designer or a 1-5 person design shop, you get the same attention and results as you would if you spend the big bucks on an ad agency. Bigger the agency, the more the overhead and the more you pay in the end.
Q. How did you decide to get in your line of work?
A. I was always drawn (no pun intended) to art, but knew I stumbled onto something good when someone said designers get paid to draw. I really fell in love with design when I saw the clients were happy and bragging about their new logos and branding.
