Congratulations, you finally did it! You’ve decided to invest in the brand identity of your business by hiring a professional brand designer. And, if you’ve never worked with a designer before, you might be curious about what to expect. Below are 5 things you can do to prepare for your first meeting.

Collect Inspiration

Designers are visual beings, and they work best when they have a solid understanding of your style preference. While talking about your likes and dislikes can be helpful, having a visual aid is best. Consider creating a Pinterest board, or a collage from images in a magazine. The inspiration you collect doesn’t necessarily need to be of the same product or service that you sell. Try thinking in terms of a designer. What colors and fonts stand out to you? Are you a minimalist, or do you prefer heavy graphic content? Do you respond to logo design that is formal or informal? Collect what YOU like so your designer has a clear idea of your preferences.

Know your ideal audience

Understanding who your ideal audience is can be a key tool in designing your visual identity and crafting your brand. It is vital to know exactly who your ideal client is, what exactly they like and why they like you. Knowing this gives you clarity and helps you communicate your exact needs to your designer. It also allows for your designer to create a visual identity that appeals to your ideal audience and attract the right customers to your business.

Create a business mission statement

While it sounds intimidating, having a mission statement for your business can be another helpful tool for your brand designer. When your designer knows EXACTLY what makes up the heart and soul behind your business, they can apply these principles to your visual identity. Together you can collaborate to cultivate a brand that reflects your “Why”.

Sample Mission Statement “Hanna Braud Design empowers business owners by collaborating with them to create unique visual brand identities that give life to their businesses.

Timeline

Having an idea of when you want to launch your new brand is key. While some of this depends on your designer’s availability, communicating your needs will help your designer generate a custom timeline to ensure you are able to share your new brand at your projected launch date. In addition to knowing your final deadline, be sure to get clarity on response times during the entire process. For example, when your designer sends a proof, clarify how much time you need to respond so your designer can incorporate this when generating your project timeline.

Collect & Organize Your Content

To speed up your branding process, it’s a good idea to start collecting any content that may be necessary for the creation of your artwork. This refers to specific wording, photography or graphics that you would like to be incorporated in your branding or marketing collateral. Having this available for your designer prior to getting started will help to eliminate any future back and forth communication that can potentially waste valuable time and push your projected timeline back.

While it can seem like a lot of work to have established BEFORE sitting down with your brand designer for the first time, it WILL streamline the entire project. When you communicate well, this gives your designer a clear idea of your design needs and the entire process will flow easily and efficiently.