How do you select the right designer or design firm for your needs, what criteria do you use to evaluate the many choices available?

Let quality guide your reasoning. Start with a good understanding of your needs and compare and rate the options accordingly.

Quality is defined as demonstrated success in working on projects similar to your own, with budgets similar to your own, and achieving results. A designer who has previous experience within a category or project area will have a good understanding of the audience or marketplace and awareness of the competitive landscape. Likewise, it's important to find a designer or design firm able to work within your budget parameters.

Design is fun. It's an interesting and exciting process of creating a unique solution to a given set of criteria. It is a process that necessitates an interactive collaboration. When interviewing designers, review their portfolio not only for quality and creativity, but to learn their approach and process. Look for a range of style tailored to specific projects and innovative solutions. Beware of the designer that failed to actively learn the client's problems, goals and expectations. Designers that are unconcerned with the individuality of your needs will produce cookie-cutter solutions that lack originality, specificity, appropriateness and depth.

Results are sometimes hard to define. Winning awards or receiving industry recognition is an indication of a designer's creativity and quality. Award-winning designers get greater visibility in the marketplace and the work they do attracts attention. Furthermore, award-winning designers attract the best talent to work for them. But making conclusive judgments about a designer or design firm based on winning awards can also be misleading. If the designer puts too much emphasis on their award winning attributes, they may be missing the point. Concern for the real needs of the client, not for what will be accepted in the next design competition should be the top priority.

However, creativity is only part of the equation. Service is also a major factor. There are many clues to a designer's quality of service: how long they have been in business, their size and organizational structure, length of relationship and retention of client accounts. Short accounts are sometimes the result of weak service such as blown budgets or missed deadlines. Ask for references if they are not offered and contact them to learn from their experiences. The principals of a design firm may present their credentials and pitch for your business, and ultimately would assign a team to do the work. If this is the case, make certain you meet with the people who will be assigned to your project and find out what experience they have. If the principals of the design firm are not involved and if the design team is comprised of junior-level designers and account managers, you will not get quality service and follow through. These kinds of questions lead to answers about the quality of service you should expect -- before you've invested a lot of time, energy and money.

The ideal candidate will be a strategic partner that successfully blends aspects of information-gathering, experience, creativity and a comfortable fit. Good rapport and communication is key. Knowing the people and skill level is vital in making informed decisions.

Criteria Checklist

The following is a broad-based checklist of criteria and specific questions to keep in mind as you move forward in interviewing and selecting a designer to work with on an assignment. This criteria checklist is effective in evaluating designers for a number of design disciplines including advertising, architecture, graphic, interactive, and industrial design. When there is a reference to the designer, it could be an individual designer, a design team, or a design firm. Case studies are frequently referred to in the checklist. They are the designer's proof of experience and a visual display of their portfolio of work. As a potential client, the designer's case studies are of great importance in the evaluation process. Here are the five areas for the evaluation:

1) Interview and Presentation Assessment
2) Strategic Problem Solving Assessment
3) Creativity Assessment
4) What's the Quality and Experience of People?
5) Is there a Philosophical and Cultural Fit?

Interview and Presentation Assessment

This criteria point is focused on assessing the designer's overall efforts during their interview and presentation. Keep in mind one is assessing the substance and quality of their presentation, not the presentation style. Style of presentations will vary with designers from those who have excellent presentation skills to those who have average presentations skills. Both styles can be distracting away from the quality and substance of their presentation.

• How effectively and intelligently did the designer select and present their case studies relevant to the prospective assignment?
• Did the designer demonstrate a depth of understanding of their case studies; were they able to address all the aspects of the project?
• Did they present "ideas that work" or "strategy that can work" and ideas and concepts easily executed?
• Did the designer exhibit an understanding of your business and the various<br>challenges you are faced with in that business?
• Did the designer go beyond -- stretch their thinking and approach to the prospective assignment?
• Did the designer present the ability to add value to the prospective assignment?
• Was there a sense the designer would contribute 100% on an ongoing basis?
• Did the designer exhibit enthusiasm toward the prospect of getting the business and the challenges of the assignment?

(more)