Perhaps the most important part of choosing a graphic designer is understanding your designer's philosophy. Many people think that design is simply a learned skill, much like computer aided drafting or accounting; to the contrary, design is an art that requires skill. Art is rooted in a basic philosophy. Without boring you with terms like minimalism and abstraction, I will communicate my basic philosophy:
First, judge a book by its cover. The cliche, "Never judge a book by its cover," is an unfortunate statement that has resulted in many ugly books. That's exactly the purpose of a book's cover: to communicate the essence of the book visually so that a person picks it up and reads it. The take-home philosophical principle here is the package matters. People make instant judgments visually, and the purpose of graphic design is to unite the design with the message.
Second, the goal is communication. Some designers attempt to create fine art for any client for any purpose, but at times such a high level of design will actually fall short in the attempt to communicate the message. My goal at all times is to achieve optimum communication for my client. If that means a clean look with a lot of white space, so be it. If that means a flashy newspaper ad that screams, "Great Deals Here," then we'll go that direction.
Finally, the visual should never overpower the textual. A picture is worth a thousand words, they say, and they may be right. However, it is my philosophy that the visual element of any design should draw attention to and compliment the text in order to appeal to the intellect. That doesn't mean powerful visuals cannot or should not be used; yet the message should be much louder than the design.
Good design doesn't have to draw attention to itself; as part of a unified whole, good design will draw attention to its message, and that is the ultimate goal.
