Last year while working on the Capers Market website with the brilliant programmers at Communicopia I had the opportunity to design an unrestrained layout to house their brand.

Here are some samples of the template designs for Capers:

Note: Ping pong design and collaborating with other artists (be it photographers, illustrators or painters) is a great way to evolve your design style if you are stuck in a rut. My suggestion is to try collaborating with someone completely outside your immediate periphery such as a textile artist or a sculptor. You will be surprised at how much they will inspire a whole new direction and bring a fresh take on your creative approach.

Video pop-up before the redesign:

Video pop-up after the redesign:

Scenario 1
Client finds a designer who has a body of work in their business sector (i.e. food and beverage) or in the appropriate medium (web, print etc.)

Scenario 2
Client has a particular style in mind (i.e. clean, corporate) and finds a designer whose own personal design style matches

Scenario 3
Client picks a designer based on a referral from a colleague or friend or selects a design based on cost considerations

What is just as important as the end product is the designer’s process which often gets overlooked when evaluating their portfolio. The process becomes particularly important to look at especially if you are hiring a freelancer and not a design agency. In an agency setting the designer has other colleagues to rely on for help with communication strategy, project management, technical support and quality control. When flying solo, a freelance designer will require skills in a number of areas.

Experienced designers are good translators. Not only can they transform your business or marketing strategy into a visual framework but they can also predict (based on previous experience and research) what design elements might be more apt to engage your target audience. On top of that they may be able to help your brand or product stand out from the competition.

So if you’re going beyond the style and looking for good visual interpreter here are a few items which will help make the site-unseen purchasing a little easier:

1. Ask the designer to talk about a project where by they enhanced the company’s ability to connect with the intended audience
2. Ask the designer to talk about a project where they successfully executed the organization’s business goals
3. Ask the designer if they have any supporting documentation beyond their portfolio i.e. research, written design rationale, creative strategy or creative brief documents
4. A freelance designer will also have project management, some technology and quality control skills. If your project requires these skills ask the designer to provide you with some examples that are relevant to your project.

Other useful information on choosing a graphic designer:

Philadelphia Business Journal
EZine Articles

When evaluating whether to set up a blog here are some considerations:

• Don’t feel pressured to post every day but post when you have something of value to say
• Spend some time thinking of the tone of the entries and finding the right person to maintain and write for the blog. Blogs are usually opinion pieces so the best candidate might not be a marketing or PR person, instead you might want to find someone from the public or an expert(s) in your industry who can present a more personable, genuine voice and speak from experience.
• If the person writing your blog is outside of your organization make sure there is a screening process for verification before the content gets published
• A blog is an opportunity to establish a connection with your target audience. Don’t think of it as a one way relationship but look for ways to engage the audience and solicit feedback.
• Quantifying the ROI on a blog is a difficult thing. Charlene Li from Forrester writes about calculating the ROI of a blog – it’s not about the math.

Insteresting stats:

• Only 38 percent of all internet users know what blogs are (Source: January 2005 Pew Research Center survey)
• Only 0.03 percent of the 34.5 million existing blogs are driving sales or getting customers to contact companies (Source: Marketing Sherpa)
• The average reader spends 96 seconds reading the average blog (Source: Living Room!)