by Jacqui Miyabayashi of Mee a Bee

If you’re in business then at some point you’re going to be needing a banner, maybe an avatar, a cute picture for your Facebook fanpage… If you’re online the need for imagery is endless.

When I started Mee a Bee three years ago I signed up with Etsy and took advantage of the free resources offered there to create a banner for my shop. It was fairly generic and exactly the same as hundreds of other shops who’d chosen the same design. It did nothing to tell my customers what Mee a Bee was all about.

I have a real can-do attitude so I decided to make my own logo using professional graphic designing software (from Adobe). It was a huge learning curve and I finally decided it was best left to the pros! I put out a call for a graphic designer on Elance but in the end I chose a graphic designer that I found on Etsy. If you search for “banner” on Etsy you’ll find thousands of listings from great designers offering their services.

I found a really nice woman who touched up the logo that I had made myself. She was able to make it the right size and make it look less homemade. And all for a great price. I was really pleased with the outcome.

As my business grew I became increasingly aware of the importance of branding, that is creating a consistent and recognizable image for my product across the board. Fonts, colors and the logo you use need to reinforce your image. To get the idea have a go at this quiz on How About Orange.

With branding in mind a hired a new graphic designer with whom I could have an ongoing relationship. I had a much firmer idea of what I wanted this time round. Of course being a small business I was worried about cost. I was honest from the outset and told her what my budget limitations were. Luckily my designer agreed to undertake the work. To make it easier and to save costs I was very detailed in my brief. These are some points that are worth keeping in mind:

• Graphic designers are not mind-readers so you need to be very clear about what you expect. Even if you are not an artist you must have a vision of what you want your image to convey. Is it whimsical and playful; modern and edgy; or dreamy and romantic?
• Do your research. Take a look through the designer’s online portfolio to make sure he/she is capable of achieving what you are asking. As artists they each have their own style.
• Provide some links to pages that you love to give your designer an idea of what you’re going for. A good designer will ask a lot of detailed questions before agreeing to take on your project, after-all their reputation is at stake.
• Think about your colors and fonts. I chose my own color palette from ColourLovers.com and some fonts from DaFont.This is useful information to have for when you are ordering stationery or other items where you might be able to incorporate your brand. It also cut costs as my designer didn’t need to make a lot of revisions. I was happy with what she came up with right off the bat.
• It helps if you have an idea of how much professional graphic designers charge. An online search should dig up some user-friendly pages with the pricing outlined. From there you can determine your budget.

There is a lot you can do online yourself for free or at little cost. You can create your own banners, make a logo, edit a photo and add text for an avatar. You can even download free or trial software to have a go at graphic designing yourself. But in my opinion you get what you pay for. Ultimately I am not a graphic designer so even the simplest thing takes me hours to create – frankly my time is better spent elsewhere. Hiring a professional graphic designer was one of the best decisions I have made in the past year and worth every penny.

My logo was designed by Japanese graphic designer Chieco Tanabe. I think she is just fabulous.