Designers: A Developer's Guide
Sunday, December 6, 2009 at 9:34AM Introduction
In a previous article, The Evolution of Lunchbox I mentioned that I use a designer for my artwork rather than trying to do graphics myself. Because the vast majority of developers should be doing this here is my guide to why you should use a designer and some tips about finding one who will work well with you.
Why Use A Designer?
If you wanted to design and build your own house you would have to be very skilled or very stupid to try to do it all yourself. Therefore it might seem to be an obvious conclusion that if you are not very good at creating beautiful graphics and great designs you would get someone who is to do it for you. However I am sure that you have all seen examples where this has not happened and there are three main reasons why this occurs:
- The developer actually believes they are good at artwork and design.
- The developer cannot afford to hire a designer.
- The developer does not care.
If the developer is not good at artwork and design, and most are not, option 1 can hopefully be fixed by users telling the developer that they love their application but hate the graphics. This will either result in the developer rushing off to find a designer so that they can make their great application even better or in the developer believing that their customers are idiots and ignoring them, letting a great application languish in mediocrity. The former is a good developer, the latter is an idiot.
Option 2 is a trickier situation. When a developer is short of funds it is very hard to justify spending money on a designer, especially since they are not people you hire for a few pounds or dollars an hour. However the problem is that if you produce an application that looks terrible you are less likely to sell it. There are a few possible solutions to this that I will expand upon below.
Option 3 is a lost cause. Unfortunately there will always be developers who are only writing software to make money in exactly the same way that you will undoubtably come across a bad plumber or car mechanic. These people generally have no love for what they do and are not interested in creating beautiful things. I emphasised ‘only’ because anyone who writes software for a living needs to make money but many also do it because they love the challenge of producing solutions to problems, particularly if the solution enhances people’s lives.
So assuming that you are either someone who knows immediately that you need help with graphics and design or you are the enlightened developer in number 1 or you are the financially struggling developer in number 2, what are your options?
The Design Options
There are two main options if you want to use someone else’s design skills.
- Use ready-made icons and graphics.
- Hire a designer.
Using ready-made artwork is a viable option if you can find some that exactly fits your needs. Many designers offer icon packs and, although they can greatly vary in price, they are a comparatively cheap way to incorporate professionally created work into your application. This may be the best solution if you are developer number 2 above, the one with the limited or non-existent design budget.
A couple of examples of icons packs for iPhone developers are:
- The Glyphish icons by Joseph Wain, a set of 130 free icons.
- The Eddit icons by Eddie Wilson, a set of 160 icons for $69.
Hiring a designer is likely to be a more expensive solution but you will get the artwork that you need and you will be getting something unique to your application. However it is vitally important that you find a designer who you can work with.
Finding the Right Designer For You
Working with a designer is exactly the same any any other sort of cooperative situation: you need to be able to communicate with each other effectively and honestly and you need to be sharing a similar vision.
There is one situation where you may want to bend these rules slightly and that is when you have a limited or non-existent budget yet still need bespoke design work done. A possible solution in this case is to find a designer who is either a student who is looking for a bit of extra cash and/or some work experience for their CV or find a designer who has not yet done much, if any, design work in the area you’re working in. For example, there will be experienced designers who have done little or no iPhone-related work who will be looking for some experience in that area. Both cases present a risk in that they are effectively unproven but this is the trade-off for getting work done cheaply and this may be when you have to work with someone who may not be your first choice.
However, assuming that you are looking to hire an experienced designer without any compromises, you need to know that you can work together. Two main factors will influence this: communication and style.
You must be able to communicate with your designer openly and honestly. There is no point hiring someone to do some work for you if you are worried about telling them that a particular idea sucks because you will then end up with work from them that is not actually what you really wanted and something you do not like. Similarly, if they have the extremely valuable skill of being able to understand exactly what you want from a vague brief then you are heading in the right direction.
It is also vital to find someone who creates the sort of work you like. Designers have different styles and skills and whilst one designer may produce icons and graphics in a style that you love another may produce an equivalent icon totally differently and in a style that you hate. One designer may produce more cartoony designs whilst one may produce more photo-realistic one. Find someone who produces work in the style that you want and like.
You must also remember that hiring a designer is a two-way thing and, in addition to the designer being able to work with you, it may well be the case that the designer will have their own ideas about what a particular icon or design should look like. It is actually a good thing if a designer mocks-up some artwork that is completely different to what you envisaged or suggested because the designer is more likely to be the one who knows what works well as a design and what does not. You may be the one hiring the designer but you will certainly not be the one who always has the best design ideas. After all, this is one of the reasons you are hiring them. However, if you do not like a particular design tell them and make sure to explain why in a constructive manner.
Quotes and Terms
When you are looking to hire a designer it is definitely a good idea to approach three or four (or maybe even more) and ask them all for quotes. Explain that you are in the early stages of hiring so that they know exactly where they stand and keep them all updated with how the decision-making process is going. You must also tell them explicitly if you are not going to use them. Never ever leave someone hanging with no definite answer because that is about the rudest, most insulting thing you can do.
Speaking of insulting, please do not ask a designer to do something for free or at a very low cost solely on the basis that you may put future work their way. Just think how you would feel if someone asked you to write an application for them for free on the basis that they may actually pay you properly for some work they may ask you to do in the future. By all means explain that you are on a limited budget and explain why, if only so that the designer can tailor the amount of work they can offer to your budget. You may find a designer who is happy to give you a lower price as a kind of introductory offer but this is solely at their discretion and you definitely should not assume it will happen.
During the stage where you are asking designers for quotes it is also worth clearing up and determining the ownership details of any work they will produce for you. I would strongly recommend finding a designer who is willing to hand over their source files if you want them so that you can get another designer to change the designs at a later date if necessary. Additionally, ensure that the work that they do for you will not be sold on to another customer or be made available as part of an icon pack. After all, you are paying for bespoke work and don’t want to see the result of it in other people’s applications. Finally expect the designer to retain the copyright as the author and creator of the work so that they can display it on their web site or in their portfolio.
One Other Option
One option I did not mention above was that of partnering with a designer. As applications become more beautiful and more stylised it is becoming increasingly common to have a designer plan out an application’s user interface and graphic elements and a developer then turns them into reality. I know of several indie developers have joined forces with a designer, becoming a partnership in the process and this idea of working together may be a good solution although it obviously introduces the risks that any partnership has.
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Reader Comments (5)
Hi
Another good blog entry.
On the topic of copyright, I would have expected that copyright would pass to the customer with (possibly) a licence for use by the designer (for their portfolio for example). If copyright stays with the designer then really the customer would need to have a licence to use the artwork in apps etc.
If I pay for artwork that will be an important and integral part of my application and product / corporate branding I would need to own the copyright, if only to control what the designer could do with it later on. This might be more relevant for say, designing a company logo or application main icon, rather than general in-app icons.
Cheers
Darren.
Hi Darren,
I'll prefix this by saying that I am not a copyright (or any other kind of) lawyer so don't take this as gospel.
The actual terms do vary from designer to designer, some will happily hand over all rights to you whilst some want to retain rights in terms of being the author and creator. I imagine that the latter is done to prevent you from selling the artwork on and I imagine that if you told a designer that this was your intention they would charge a higher price for the work.
However, I'll email a couple of designers and see if I can get some comments from them.
Hello Darren,
I'm a graphic designer (and I'm also currently working with Simon on a project) so I thought I'd let you know my perspective on this.
And I'll preface this with saying that the whole copyright issue is far from simple...
The default arrangement for the industry, as I'm aware of it, is that the creator (designer) automatically has copyright and that the client who commissions the work has license to use that work for the purposes stated when commissioning it (usually in some written form). This arrangement can be changed, but would likely involve the client buying the copyright as well as the work itself (unnecessary expense in my opinion). That is also assuming the designer is agreeable in selling the entire copyright in the first instance.
As a designer I am the author/creator of my own design work, whatever medium that appears in (i.e. a one-off logo, or an element in an interface UI).
Having copyright over that piece of work ensures that I get due recognition for creating it and helps prevent unscrupulous persons from claiming that they created it - and, in some cases, trying to sell that work as their own (this does happen). For myself this is mainly about recognition of Intellectual Property, my portfolio of work is essential in proving my credentials as a designer and in helping me gain new work, this may become more difficult without protection of copyright.
I don't know of any designers, or creative companies that give away full copyright by default.
When my clients commission me to create a piece of work, they then have the right to use that work for whatever purposes we have agreed on for the project. This may also depend on what the design piece is, e.g. if I design a logo I expect it will be used on absolutely everything the client has by way of marketing materials. In the case of App icons the costs for using them is included in the project costings, I normally charge 'licensing' per project, not per use.
Not sure what you mean by 'control what the designer can do with it later on'. In my experience the situation is usually reversed in that designers frequently need to act as 'brand guardians' often due to clients changing design elements at will - and without awareness of the impact on the overall perception of the brand.
This is why designers for large corporate ID schemes often have to create a Brand Guidelines document.
Hope this is helpful.
Hi,
This is really helpful, so thanks Simon and David. I've only commissioned once block of artwork so far (company logo, letterhead, etc) so I'm interested in the points you make as it will affect my approach to my own applications.
I think the perspective of the designer is one that I hadn't considered enough, and you make some interesting points. My concern about 'controlling what the designer could do with [the artwork] later on' was about controlling the integrity of the brand / artwork, which is the same intention you describe.
This is all pretty new territory for me, and I'm sure it is for many other people. It would be really helpful if the two of you could expand on the copyright side of things, maybe in a new article?
Thanks
Darren.
This last post is an accurate description of the typical arrangement with professional designers, but it should also be pointed out that if the designer doesn't specify what rights are being conveyed in a contract or statement of work, in the U.S., the work will probably be considered a "work for hire", and the developer, not the designer, would end up owning the copyrights.
So, Designers: don't leave anything to chance. Put down in writing who owns what. I'm not 100% sure (been away from this world for a while), but I think that The Graphic Artists Pricing and Ethical Guidelines book has sample contracts.
And Developers: make sure you know what you're getting. Confusion helps nobody and can lead to unnecessary disputes. Make sure that you are getting the rights you need.