Top Graphic Designers for Hire

Job Portals

A place where the people looking for a designer and the designers looking for people to hire them is a perfect place to look for them. Online job portals are the easiest and fastest way of finding a freelance graphic designer. In addition, trusted platforms like Refrens can help you find the right candidates according to your requirements.

Social Media

Nowadays, the next best place to look at graphic designers is to look at their work. Apart from their direct portfolio, social media platforms are the next best thing to showcase their work. Graphic designing being a visual art, it is much more likely that you will find a designer on Instagram, Behance, and Pinterest, instead of LinkedIn or Twitter.

These platforms make your work easy; you get to see their work, which can help you judge whether that particular designer can help you achieve what you want.

How to evaluate a freelance graphic designer?

Once you find some good designers, the next step is choosing the right one according to your taste and style. To ensure you hire the right one, there are some ways to evaluate them and their work.

Let's look at the criteria to judge a freelance graphic designer

First and foremost is experience

Not everyone's work stream requires experience, and even in graphic designing, it is not a deal breaker; it is a cherry on top. Look for diverse work of experience; if they have done work in different style designs, that shows their range of creativity. If they have worked with agencies before, that clearly says that they have worked with multiple clients and are very efficient in meeting deadlines. At the same time, people who have worked in corporates are a sign that they are more disciplined and good at maintaining the budget.

Portfolio

Their work speaks for itself. The more diverse, the more attention to detail, and the more appealing and message-conveying work means the designer knows what they are doing. Look for styles and designs that you resonate with; if you find a theme that you are looking for, that means they can be the one you are looking for.

Reviews and Testimonials

Platforms like Refrens can give you an idea of how many people liked their designer's work through the ratings. But apart from that, you can ask for testimonials from the designer, look for the approachable ones and ask them their opinion about working with them. A client has paid to hire them, and there is no incentive for them to say good or bad things about the designer; this allows the client to be honest.

How much time do they have

How much time designers can devote to your project will indirectly say how much attention they will give to the project. Designers who have a lot of clients are not the ideal choice, as, for them, your project is just another project. So, the people who don't have enough time for your project are not worth it, even if they are very good designers.

Look for skills beyond designing

Apart from the technical and practical knowledge of designing, some other skills can set them apart. Asking yourself questions about them and answering them yourself through what you have observed will help you get more idea about the kind of person they are and whether they will suit what you are looking for.

• Do they look open enough to try and experiment with new things?

• Without openness, your design might be like everything else they have created before. So experimentation is necessary to understand whether they can come up with new ideas.

• Do they work only for money or for something more than that?

• If someone only works for money, then everything they do will be calculated through money. So you need people who are passionate about the project, not because they are getting paid but because they like the idea and the project. You can even ask them about a few of their designs and how they came up with them; how they talk will give you a lot of insights into how they see and do their work.

• Do they value their word?

• If they say I will call you at 4'o clock, do they call you at 4? If they take what they do seriously, they are worth working with. If there is someone who doesn't value their word, that will create a problem later. You don't want to keep chasing your designer to deliver what they committed.

• Do they do only what has been told or do they also give their own opinions and ideas?

How much homework have they done before meeting you? Do they say something they believe in or just do what has been told? You don't want a machine that produces what you tell them to produce; you want a person who can also suggest and guide you from their experience what they think should be done…

After evaluating the designer, the next step is understanding the deliverables and work timeline.

Deliverables

Letter of agreement: There should be a simple, easy-to-read document or a mail that states all the terms of the arrangement. Ask them how much time they will take for a particular work, make sure it is reasonable and then put it in writing. What will they give? When will they give? How many options will they give? How many times will they do revisions? These things, if discussed priorly, help prevent getting into fights. In writing helps you and the designer stick to the word given.

Expected Timeline

The time required to complete the piece of art will vary from designer to designer and the project's requirements. For example, a logo designer who works in detail might take more than a month to design one logo, and someone who is amateur might take only a week. See the work and then decide whether you want that type of work or not; if yes, ask the designer how much time it will take. And make sure they follow the timeline they gave. This is the best way to ensure things are going how they should be and you will get the things you expect.

Once the timeline and deliverables are aligned, the last step is learning from the mistakes of others. Some common things could be improved while hiring a graphic designer, which, if you are aware, can save you from understanding what not to do. Here is a not-to-do list to follow:

The cost of graphics depends, and varies depending on a lot of factors including the brand size, the brand requirements, the timeline, the expertise of the designer, and the terms of the deal.

Designers who use tools such as Canva, and Figma to create designs out of pre-made templates may charge less than the ones who design from scratch.

The prices of graphic designer services are determined by three factors: the designer’s level of experience, the scope of work, and the location of the designer.

For example - Hiring a designer in India is more reasonable than hiring someone in the states.

On average, the hourly rate of a graphic designer varies from $25 to $100.

Not to deny the fact that there is a major price fluctuation in this segment of freelancing. Just like how a brand takes pride in selling the label rather than the fabric, the designers take pride in selling their ideology/concepts rather than just the vectors.

Depending on the experience, the hourly rate gradually increases. Here is a graph to give you a brief idea.