Frustrated with Freelance Designers

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ltn123

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So this maybe is more of a rant than anything else. Perhaps you guys can talk me off the ledge and offer some advice

I am serioulsy frustrated with designers. I have no design background or ideas of what would look good. I just know i like something when i see it.

I want to be able to give a designer my niche, samples of what i like and have them go to town and create something. Be a designer, be creative, open canvas. What I get is confusion and poor designs with no thought. They literally want me to tell them exactly what I want.

I DON’T KNOW WHAT I WANT. YOUR THE DESIGNER, DESIGN!!! Ahh so frustrating.

Why can’t I find a designer that wants to do their job and create. If I find a designer who’s style I like I get the same result or they want to charge like $200 per design.

Ran into the same thing when i was running a blog. Writers basically asked for a sample of an article on the topic and then they basically re-write it. No I want you to be a writer!

Where are the true designers?
 
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I feel your pain. I hired a designer to make some t-shirts about a week ago. Their portfolio looked great but what they sent me was absolute trash.

Your best bet will be to keep looking until you find the right one or start learning.
 
Usually designers use their best designs in their portfolio (coming from an ex designer), the reason they ask you so much is because they want you to be satisfied, and they don't want to redo the design 100 times. I once had a client that didn't know what color palette he wanted, I chose one for him and he didn't like it, he said to try a pallet based on another color he still didn't like it this happened 2 more times until I decided to make all the basic colors and just send him the examples. He chose the first design I proposed... So yeah giving a designer details on how you want your design to look will make both of your life's easier.
 
Yeah OP, you're kind of being a bitch about this. Freelancers are generally asking a lot of questions because they want to avoid unnecessary trouble with their clients. If a designer asks you what you want/which color scheme (or whatever) you prefer, it's basically guaranteed that he had a shitty client before and does not want to go through hell again. Same goes for writers, they don't want to ghostwrite 10.000 words only for you to say "I don't like it, I won't pay you now". Same goes for every other freelance niche, really.

Also 200$ is not much for a design. Seems like what you really want is cheap labour, not a freelancer.
 
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TasDePixels said:
That's some solid clientsfromhell.net material.
Click to expand...

LOL i see how it can come across that way. Trust me in my line of work its happens to me. But I am really looking for someone that can be a true partner and that can think for themselves.
 
Sometimes, it is quite hard to find an adequate person for a particular job. These days all think they can earn online easily, and they start working without appropriate knowledge. To become a skilled designer, they have to invest a lot of time learning and building the craft. There is no short way, all must go over the same steps. But many do not understand that, unfortunately.
 
lacifitra said:
Yeah OP, you're kind of being a bitch about this. Freelancers are generally asking a lot of questions because they want to avoid unnecessary trouble with their clients. If a designer asks you what you want/which color scheme (or whatever) you prefer, it's basically guaranteed that he had a shitty client before and does not want to go through hell again. Same goes for writers, they don't want to ghostwrite 10.000 words only for you to say "I don't like it, I won't pay you now". Same goes for every other freelance niche, really.

Also 200$ is not much for a design. Seems like what you really want is cheap labour, not a freelancer.
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They want their hands held. Thats the problem. If you know the subject you should be able to come up with something. If I hired you its because I like your design style. So if i tell you draw a tree for a kids room, don’t ask me to show you a sample of the tree I like. Just draw me a tree. Be creative. Put it in on another planet, in a home, upside down. whatever. if it looks like something someone would buy draw it. I am very clear with my expectations. They are the designer so design. Its their vision and I explicity say that and they’re confused as f*ck.

And I am not looking for cheap labor. I’m willing to work on a revshare. which means more money to the designer in the long run. I’m not looking for one offs. $200 is not alot for a one off but for constant work it is.
 
ltn123 said:
So this maybe is more of a rant than anything else. Perhaps you guys can talk me off the ledge and offer some advice

I am serioulsy frustrated with designers. I have no design background or ideas of what would look good. I just know i like something when i see it.

I want to be able to give a designer my niche, samples of what i like and have them go to town and create something. Be a designer, be creative, open canvas. What I get is confusion and poor designs with no thought. They literally want me to tell them exactly what I want.

I DON’T KNOW WHAT I WANT. YOUR THE DESIGNER, DESIGN!!! Ahh so frustrating.

Why can’t I find a designer that wants to do their job and create. If I find a designer who’s style I like I get the same result or they want to charge like $200 per design.

Ran into the same thing when i was running a blog. Writers basically asked for a sample of an article on the topic and then they basically re-write it. No I want you to be a writer!

Where are the true designers?
Click to expand...

I feel you bro. It might be pretty frustrating sometimes to find the "perfect match". But it is like finding a profitable system. Maybe you met a good designer but the way you both think is just not in sync.

Giving some credits to designers and blog writers, they need to have at least a hint of what you want, that is why you might feel like they are always asking you what to do, and to do something good takes several iterations, you can't expect your designers and blog writers to come up with amazing content overnight, it takes time and dedication, just like success in general.

What I can recommend is, there are a lot of good freelancers out there, just keep looking. Most of the good freelancers already work for other clients/companies so you might need to step up your game and pay them what they deserve (if you still don't do so).

good luck buddy.
 
As a designer I would advice you to find as much information as you think is neccasairy. Ive had over 500 customers and some people just take a whole different way of what they want and are usually unsatisfied with the work at first because they didn't gave me enough information. Only colours and text isn't good enough. Giving us an actual example does a lot!

If you're still not satisfied with the project then and even after a redo there is a disconnect between you and the designer. This usually happens with designer that aren't open-minded. Sometimes I create something that I love but the customer doesn't and then I redo it with something I hate and they love it. Just try to find someone that is creative and open for change and understands that the client is king.
 
What happens if you pay $200? Does this mean you get the design you're looking for?
 
Find freelancers on creative portfolio websites - dribbble, behance, etc
Hold a design contest on 99designs - you will likely get 10+ entries and you can pick from them
Pay a decent rate to get a decent, creative designer.
Don't use Fiverr (high volume + cheap prices = no creativity)
 
my advise and works fine .

you can goto google images and download a bunch of niche related pictures.

now get a app like illustrator or free app

know get the images and start making a nice 1 image from all the images .

know add some bubble text and all sorts play is fun.

when happy send as a sample to your designer .

that what many do , sometimes even the end result you use.

$200 seems very steep , but you get what you pay for unfortunly.

the way i say above is the same way they teach you at uni ...

cut and slice and color and big fonts and added exsplostions and drop shadows .

if yoyr worried about copywrite use them copywrite only images.

the famous gsa indexer website, do a royalty image app with millions of niche related images .

good luck.
 
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It's a process of elimination for me when it comes to freelances. I usually post a job on freelance websites, and get 3-5 guys all doing 1 job.. I pay attention to who response are the quickest. who gets the job completed the fastest and how well they do.. Then I would pick the best person and keep the second best as the backup guy for future projects.
 
dude chill
this is what you said right

ltn123 said:
I DON’T KNOW WHAT I WANT. YOUR THE DESIGNER, DESIGN!!! Ahh so frustrating.
Click to expand...

the thing you wish to get from "the designer" is idea, the idea from some body that don`t know you to make you money. you cant have that my dude, nobody can have that. you are not paying for a consultant, you are paying for a designer witch you MUST have a idea to give the designer to create something you wish is close with your idea, so chill

end note, i have had many customers, that they did not know what they wanted, simply i asked them to show me images of what similar designs and go from there.
before get mad give them a starting point,
if even they don`t know at all i just rejected them because its waste of time.

-- some of freelance people simply doing it for money, they are not artists, they just know the software, thats it.

please look for an artist. not the gigs

best of luck
 
xivano said:
As a designer I would advice you to find as much information as you think is neccasairy. Ive had over 500 customers and some people just take a whole different way of what they want and are usually unsatisfied with the work at first because they didn't gave me enough information. Only colours and text isn't good enough. Giving us an actual example does a lot!

If you're still not satisfied with the project then and even after a redo there is a disconnect between you and the designer. This usually happens with designer that aren't open-minded. Sometimes I create something that I love but the customer doesn't and then I redo it with something I hate and they love it. Just try to find someone that is creative and open for change and understands that the client is king.
Click to expand...
I strongly agree with this
 
I deal a lot with designers. A LOT.

I have been through so many of them to finally find designers who are worth their price and that actually want to work. Most are simply looking for excuses not to work...

I was actually thinking of starting my own little business where I can mark up the price I pay by 2$ for my profit and give the work to my designers. That was I get a little profit for all the money and time I wasted finding these designers and my customers will have quality designs at a reasonable price.
 
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