Teamwork makes Art work: the solution to stale designs
A few years ago, I got hired by a start-up media company. I would be working under the Marketing department in a new role. I remembered I was so eager to start.
I made a lot of friends, joined after-work clubs and activities, and was always present during Booze Fridays – even if I only pretended to drink. I truly had fun!
But as the days went by, I felt like a square peg in a round hole. My work was not contributing to the progress of my company.
I decided to work more closely with my manager. I attended more meetings and volunteered at more events to soak in the culture but it didn’t work. I resigned after 6 months.
Then, the office closed for good after 2 years.
Looking back, I realized what was missing in the whole equation: I was not part of any team.
The company did not encourage collaboration. Everyone simply worked on their own thing.
Creative people need a team
Do you subscribe to the belief that creative people are (all) introverts and don’t need feedback to create their masterpieces? I don’t.
Artists like designers, truly create faster when they’re alone but to create better work, they need feedback from others.
After a design is made, it doesn’t belong to the designer anymore. It belongs to the client.
A design team’s role is to be the voice of reason and objectivity for every design. Is it on brand? Does it look good? Is it good for the client? Can it be improved? Is it better to have another option?
Deer Designer’s teamwork is the secret sauce in making quality designs.
Creativity dies in design island 🥥
If you are a designer doing all the work for your agency, or if you already hired one freelancer to take care of all your design needs, sooner or later you will see that the quality will dwindle. Design submissions or ideas that were once magnificent will become…meh.
There are many factors in play. Your freelance designer may be getting distracted or you are out of time or creative juice. Well, you’re not alone. One of our clients had the same challenge before he signed up with us. Check out his 3rd sentence:
A designer who works alone will slowly and surely burn out.
To keep the creative juice flowing, there must be a constant push and pull of ideas. This only happens if the designer has other creative people who can be the sounding board of their design projects.
Collaboration fuels creativity
In Deer Designer, at the core of every client relationship is a design team made up of three unique individuals:
- An Account Manager who is responsible for looking after all the admin stuff related to your design requests.
- A dedicated designer who will do all the design work for you for as long as you’re a client.
- QA or Quality Hero who makes sure your requested tasks and your designs match.
Your design requests are in good hands with this highly skilled team. They do not just create, they collaborate.
You are part of the team
You, the client, are the most important member of the design team.
I am a Deer Designer client myself because I request newsletter graphics and blog and social media images from my own design team and I am always in the loop.
So here’s a tip, from client to client: Never be lazy when giving instructions.
Here’s why: one time I was in a bit of a rush so I just threw in images I liked and said “make it look like the pictures attached”. I thought that would be it but I received more questions from the team to clarify what I really needed and explain what was really in my mind behind them.
The team was more dedicated to the quality of the work than I was! It was embarrassing but it was a lesson for me to remember that I am part of the team. I also need to collaborate.
Three is a creative crowd
Successful teams have the right mix of people to get things done.
If you are in need of a design team, we are here to help. With an affordable flat monthly fee, you get 3 creative minds and 6 eyes looking over your design requests, powered with constant collaboration.
We can create custom designs for you, or you can give us something to work with. Check out our scope of work by clicking here. We look forward to working with you on your next design project!
