Ep. 73: What You Need To Know When Hiring A Filipino Graphic Designer

What you need to know when hiring a Filipino graphic designer. So the first time I hired a designer, I was actually hiring a programmer. I didn't really know what I was doing. I just found this guy that I knew. He was a good programmer and he also said he was a designer. And it turns out he was actually a pretty good designer. So I thought I had struck gold. His name was Nino. Actually, his name was Paulo, but he goes by Nino. And I hired him in 2007 and he still works for me today. And he wasn't exactly a graphic designer. He was actually kind of a reasonable webpage designer. Not great, but reasonably good. He designed the first version of OnlineJobs ph. He also built the first version of OnlineJobs ph. And so it's interesting because programming and design, you do not normally find those two things in the same person anywhere in the world, including in the Philippines. They're kind of. They're run by opposite sides of the brain. And someone who's really good at one is usually not good at the other one. And he was a very good programmer and a pretty good designer, which is interesting. So graphic design is one of those things that most businesses could use. Like you could use someone consistently doing graphic design because it'll help your business improve, it'll make your make your marketing material better, it'll make your communication better and makes your sales process better. But a lot of people don't know how to hire a designer. Even though you just think you want to look at their work. There's more to it than that. So I asked my graphic designer, Elijah, who is also my video editor. He's good at those things, but they're both on the same side of the brain, like creative side. I asked him what he thought about what people should know when they hire a graphic designer. And I'm going to read to you what he said because it's pretty telling. He says the number one misconception for the designer or video editor is that every design has to look beautiful or every video has to have fancy text and motion graphic. That's what Elijah kind of thought as he started working for me. And over time he's learned no. Designers and video editors need to understand that they are there to create for the brand and the client and the medium. He says some brands and clients seek simplicity and minimalism. He says I'm a good example of that. Some mediums are also geared towards minimal editing, like TikTok. In other words, when hiring, employers should not just look for creativity, but versatility. Can this person adopt to my brand, or is this person stuck with one style of editing and creating? If possible, look at their portfolio and see how they change their styles with different clients. If the style is consistent, the artist may not be able to adapt to different brands and mediums, which to me, like, that was an interesting take on how to judge a designer. Like, is everything they do the same? And I've noticed myself doing that over the years. As I look at a designer's portfolio, I'm like, oh, yeah, all of these are the same. And I don't like this style. This isn't my style. Right. And if you find someone that's all the same and it's your style, sweet. But then I look at someone else and like, oh, you have these style and this style and that one and that one's really similar to mine. These two aren't. But obviously you can adapt and that's really cool to see. So he continues, Creativity is very hard to judge. One of the easiest ways to judge an artist is through their skill of adapting and changing their style to suit their client. For graphic design, you have to know what you're after. Some artists can pull off everything, which isn't that rare. But there are some artists who specialize in logo making or character cartoon design, typography and content layout. Knowing what you want will help you refine your job post and expectations. So this is an interesting one to me that I didn't realize early on, but now I know pretty well that a graphic designer is not a magician. And they're not. Like, a graphic designer is not a logo designer and a logo designer is not a webpage designer. And neither of them are typography people to, like, lay out the text on a website. It's really interesting how each of these things are very specific. They require a different skill set. I don't want to say they require a different person, but you'll find, like, someone who's good at graphic design isn't the right person to lay out your webpage. Or if someone who's good at making a webpage look good, it doesn't necessarily read well. And that's something I struggle with designers all the time, like, hey, when you look at this at a glance, like, when you zoom out on this whole page and you look at the whole thing as a screenshot, yeah, it looks amazing. But when you zoom in on it to actual size, this is really hard to read. Your typography skills are not very good. So these are all different skill sets. And as you hire a designer. It's important to recognize what is most important to you and your business and hire accordingly.