How to hire a remote designer for a project
Recently, I was asked by a few startup founders for advice on hiring their first designers to create prototypes. Having learned through trial-and-error as a designer who has both hired for and contracted in remote and in-person roles, I had plenty of tips to share.
In this post, I’ll be talking specifically about remote contract work and not about full or part-time hires.
Start by defining the project scope
In other words, what are you expecting the designer to produce at the end of the contract? These and other important details are summarized in what’s called a “Design Brief”:
1. What is a brief background of your company and this project?
2. What objectives are you looking to achieve or problems that you need solved?
Be descriptive. Don’t prescribe an assumed solution. Include any problems, objectives or KPIs that the design should be aimed at, such as presenting to investors, increasing utilization of a particular feature, or decreasing the bounce rate from the homepage, etc.
3. What do you need created? Are there specific requirements?
Examples:
- “I need an app prototype. It will need to allow us to show investors these specific outcomes and features...”
- “I need a new logo that I can use on my website, print material, and merchandise.”
This will determine what type of designer you will need to source. Here’s a quick, not exhaustive, overview:
- Apps / Websites — User Interface (UI), User Experience (UX), and Interaction designers
- Logos — Graphic, Visual, Logo, and Branding designers
- Marketing Materials — Graphic, Visual, and Branding designers
4. Who are the people that will be using or viewing the design?
Give context and relevant scenarios about the users or audience. Designing an ecommerce website for vision-impaired grandparents is vastly different from designing a coloring app for children and their parents/teachers.
5. List some url links or images of apps or websites you like and why. Napkin sketches are a bonus.
6. List some url links to competitors.
This helps the designer understand what else is in the space. You can also point out what elements you do NOT want.
7. Are the existing material that the designer will need to incorporate?
Such as logos, brand colors, style guide, etc
8. What are deadlines and milestones you anticipate?
9. Who is the Point of Communication? Are there other stakeholders that will be involved on your side? If so, what should be the communication guidelines?
Will the designer need to incorporate everyone’s piecemeal feedback or will feedback be reviewed, consolidated, and sent by 1 person?
Protip: The latter is preferred to avoid confusion and contradicting changes.
10. Is there a budget you’re looking to stay under?
Alternatively, you can ask for a quote or proposal.
Usually 1 page is enough, as long as you’ve covered the crucial details. The designer should come with questions and then recommend their plan, approach, and cost.
How much is it going to cost and how would I be billed?
Payment schedules and rates vary by designer and firm.
I have found the most success by having the designer give a fixed hourly rate, estimate a total number of hours needed to complete the work, and agree on the number of revisions included. That way I can estimate a range for how much the work will cost, as well as have the designer check-in before going over the estimated cost.
Other methods are by a total flat quote, by hourly rates as needed, or by the number of pages / screens.
As for payment schedules, usually there is a initial deposit (10–50%) given upfront and further payment increments (such as 25%) paid out as milestones are met. Depending on what platform you use or contract terms, you may just pay everything at the end.
What are wireframes, mockups, and a prototype?
These are not mutually exclusive terms.
- Mockups are commonly used to indicate that high-fidelity styling (colors, fonts, images, content, etc) has applied to the basic structure (wireframes) of the prototype. We use the term “fidelity” on a spectrum of low, medium, or high in order to describe how close the static images are to the end look and feel.
- A prototype is a step up from static images. It simulates the interactivity of the product experience — through paper prototypes to high-fidelity, animated prototypes on the phone, tablet, or computer.
While you don’t need to memorize all the terms, it’s important to specify exactly how interactive and styled your prototype needs to be and why. These details will inform the designer of what software to use and what areas to focus on.
Make sure to include your specifications in the Design brief — for example:
- “I need a [high-fidelity prototype] to [show potential users/investors / developers]. The prototype needs to be [static mockups/ a little clickable / highly interactive] and cover these actions: [insert what the user/investors/developers needs to be able to see in the prototype].”
Source your designer
Once you have determined what type of designer you need (or at least what the designer will need to produce), you’ll need to source them from the right place, review their past work, and see if they would be a good fit.
Here are a few platforms I have used:
- Upwork.com
- Fiverr.com
- Otherwise, you can look up profiles at General Assembly
These are helpful posts and templates I’ve come across:
Have other questions or advice? Shoot me an email.
Originally published at www.diannelchen.com on August 7, 2017.
