Digital Original:
When It’s Time to Hire a Graphic Designer
Printers who are concerned with the diffi culty in hiring a graphic designer may not really need one.
If you can only have one person in the prepress department, here’s why your best option may be a
desktop publisher/prepress technician.
Printers are always complaining about how
diffi cult it is to hire a graphic designer because
they either want too much in wages or their
portfolios aren’t that impressive. My advice is
for print owners to stop wasting time looking for
the perfect designer and concentrate on hiring a
good press technician or desktop designer. Most
small commercial and quick printers don’t have
much original design work that requires a trained
graphic designer. Th ey need someone who can get
customer originals ready for press.
Most originals are now submitted as digital
fi les, so a prepress person’s job is to make sure the
customer-created fi le will print properly. Most
printers need a desktop publisher for changes, fi le
corrections, or to have something replicated. Like
the typesetter in years past, the desktop publisher’s
job is to type or import text, choose the correct
fonts, styles, justifi cation, paragraph, line, word
and letter spacing. Th ey make sure illustrations
and color meet specifi ed criteria for printing. Th ey
also ensure good presentation, readability as well
as proofread and check for consistency of style.
Th ese are the tasks most small printers require.
Th e graphic designer’s role is to create the visual
concept to communicate ideas that inspire, inform
and captivate consumers. Th ey also develop
branding and advertising materials that integrate
with a formalized marketing plan. Th e graphic designer
comes up with the ideas and concepts, and
the desktop publishers and prepress staff make
it work. Most customers, particularly those with
marketing projects, already have a designer and
just need technical help with the printing.
If you can only have one person in the prepress
department, hire a desktop publisher/prepress
technician. Graphic designers quickly become
bored with what they consider mundane, dayto
day prepress work that doesn’t require their
design expertise. Having a graphic designer doing
prepress and typesetting work is like having a
full-color press operator run a duplicator press all
day. Th ey quickly miss the challenge.
If you think you do want to hire a graphic
designer, make sure you can answer “yes” to the
following questions:
• Do you have enough design work to keep a
graphic designer busy and cover their cost? If you
are only billing a couple hours a week for true
design work, you are better off using an outside
contractor.
• Are you comfortable that you can sell your
graphic design services based on value? It isn’t the
amount of time used to create the work that sets
the selling price. It is all about the perceived value
for what the design will accomplish for the customer.
Look at prices that graphic designers charge
and determine if you are comfortable asking for
that amount for your work.
• Do you have a proactive sales staff to sell the
graphic designer’s services? Th is type of work
doesn’t just walk in the door. It requires making
sales calls to the promising prospects who already
buy graphic design services. In many cases, it
will also mean the salesperson will be taking the
graphic designer on the call. Make sure the graphic
designer is as good a “people person” as they are a
graphic designer.
• Do you have prospects who use and buy
graphic design services? Your best prospects will
be your customers who are already buying graphic
services from someone else. You don’t want to sell
graphic design to customers who will get sticker
shock when they see the price. You need to identify
customers who consistently buy advertising and
marketing material. Amateur graphic design
buyers can waste your time. Th ey oft en have unrealistic
expectations of what the design will do.
• Are you comfortable charging premium prices
for your graphic design services? Providing a
customized, unique design concept that was developed
specifi cally for a specifi c customer by your
staff deserves a high price. If your fi rst thought is
“the customer won’t pay this price,” you probably
shouldn’t be trying to sell graphic design.
• Are you ready to pay a higher wage for a graphic
designer than a prepress technician or desktop
publisher? Th e average wage for a graphic designer
is just over $20 an hour. Expect to pay even more
for one with more experience.
Graphic design services require a big commitment
from a print owner. Before you hire a graphic
designer, make sure you already have someone
who can provide customers with the technical
assistance to get the job printed right and on time.
Th e profi table print shops have a prepress staff
who can work with graphic designers and guide
them through the print process. Fill that position
before you attempt to add a graphic designer and
you will have the profi ts to expand the prepress
department when you are ready.
By John Giles
Senior Consultant for
CPrint International
John Giles is a consultant for the
printing industry who welcomes
questions from readers. John works
with Tom Crouser and CPrint International
to help printers prosper.
He is the author of The DTP PriceList
that is included in the 2018 Crouser
Pricing Guide found at www.cprint.
com. If you have questions about
making your printing company
more profi table, contact John at
(954) 224-1942, john@cprint.com or
johng247@aol.com.
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