The Value of Utilizing a Single Designer From Start to Finish

There is no denying that when implemented effectively, collaboration in the workplace can improve productivity and produce a positive work environment. Growing up, you were most likely introduced to the idea that “working together” or “sharing” are the keys to a successful partnership. While we are not rejecting this truth, we find that assigning a sole designer to execute a project is extremely effective. We would reason that in some instances, working alone is better.

It’s a Win for the Client

Allows for a consistent brand overall

Chances are, you have heard some version of the saying “too many cooks spoil the broth.” If you haven’t, another version of this phrase is, “when too many people work together on a project, the result is inferior.” ¹ It is sometimes true that when multiple perspectives surround an idea, we can lose focus on the target and become overwhelmed by too many viewpoints. By assigning only one designer to a project, we eliminate the confusion or distraction which gives the designer a chance to concentrate on the goal outlined by the client. This allows for clear focus on the design problem at hand, resulting in a consistent brand look/feel.

Alternatively, if multiple hands were touching the design, the result may be a stretched version of the original idea. For example, if a designer begins a website design and establishes a specific brand style, and an additional designer is introduced to work on an added page with a different idea of how that style should be implemented, the result may lead to inconsistency in the brand style. It would have instead been best to have the same designer create the new page to ensure that the result is consistent with the original design.

The designer becomes your own personal “brand expert”

What if you had a single person who spent an extended amount of time thoroughly researching your company; who you are, what you do, who your audience is and what makes you stand out in your market – your own brand expert. That’s what you receive with just one hand touching your design. As soon as a designer is assigned to your project, they begin the research and discovery phase, where they take a few weeks and learn everything they can about your company and your goal. We take the time to learn about how your company ticks which results in a carefully considered design that has been thoroughly researched and executed.

On the other hand, imagine the result if your project was being passed off to multiple designers throughout the process. For the sake of keeping the timeline down to a reasonable length, less time would be available per designer to learn about your company. Instead of one brand expert, you would be given an array of designers who only know the basics about your brand and who may not have a clear idea or depth of knowledge about the project objective.

The project timeline is shortened

With only one designer being assigned to the project, we aren’t wasting valuable hours bringing a new designer up to speed about your project and then passing it off to them every time we begin a new phase. We just dive right in with the knowledge we have acquired and get to work. This shortens the timeline resulting in a higher quality design that is focused, clean and carefully considered – a win for everyone involved.

It’s a Win for the Designer

Ownership and a sense of accomplishment

Being the only designer on a project is extremely rewarding for us as well. This allows us to have complete ownership of the ideas that are presented and we take pride in knowing that the design you love is the result of our hard work and dedication to the project. It’s exciting for us to see a project evolve from a rough idea to a fully developed concept that is visually appealing, functional and user friendly.

We Still Believe in Collaboration

We are a collaborative office

From start to finish, other eyes are constantly looking at the designs to ensure that you are getting the best design possible. Multiple times throughout the process, the designer on your project will send their design progress to peers for opinions, ideas and to ask questions or get advice. The designers also set up critiques closer to the end of each phase before we hand the designs off to the client so that the design team can run through the design and check for glaring issues in the user experience or visual design. This allows for the designer on your project to finesse the design to make it the best it can possibly be. The designers are also constantly looking for inspiration from other relevant design work both from online sources and from our peers. This keeps our design aesthetic current and allows for us to challenge and push boundaries to make the design interesting and original.

Therefore, having one designer assigned to your project does not mean that you will only have one designer looking at the design, but it does mean that your design has only one pair of hands executing ideas. This results in the generation of ideas that are invariably being filtered through the same brain, which produces a finished design that is undeviating, thoughtful and delivered to you in a timely manner.

1 – “too many cooks spoil the broth”. The American Heritage^® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005. 21 Jun. 2017. <www.dictionary.com/browse/too-many-cooks-spoil-the-broth>.