Hiring for Impact: Finding a Brand Designer Who Aligns with Your Nonprofit’s Mission
So, you have decided now is the time to rebrand your nonprofit. Your Board is in agreement, you have the budget allocated, and have included a timeline in your most recent Strategic Plan. Your next step is hiring a brand strategist and designer to start the process. How will you choose, and where will you find them?
If you are interested in learning how to budget for the rebrand process, see my previous blog post here.
Essential Skills to Look for When Hiring a Brand Designer
“To be a good designer you must be a good engineer in every sense: curious, inquisitive.”
How to Find Experienced Brand Designers
There are several ways to locate 3–5 designers to interview for your brand project. And don’t feel limited by geography—sometimes the best fit for you may be in another time zone. Many designers and agencies specialize—either in an industry niche, design style, or type of design work (web design vs brand design). Ideally, you are looking for one who leans more to the branding side of the equation.
Even if you have never hired a designer before, you can be sure that other nonprofits in your community have. If you saw a recent brand rollout that impressed you, reach out to them and ask if they were happy with the service they received and if they would refer you.
Utilize your network (in and outside your organization), and put the word out that you are looking for someone to lead your upcoming brand project. People love to make connections, and you should get a few names right away.
If you live in or near a large city, you may have a publicly funded center for nonprofits. They likely have a list of service providers who specialize in serving the nonprofit community.
LinkedIn can be another good resource—you can search for “nonprofit brand designer” and check out the top results. Some may even be connected to your network.
Last but not least, Google can help you find designers who specialize in branding. Search terms to use beyond the above: “-city/state- brand designer” “graphic designer” “freelance brand designer” “-city/state- brand design agency” “-city/state- brand strategist”
My only caveat: do not be bullied into hiring someone’s friend or relative who does design for a great price or donation. If you have a Board member or contact who gets pushy, thank them for their referral and assure them they will be evaluated along with other candidates to find the best fit for your organization’s needs. Branding is a long-term investment in your organization’s future, not a place where you can afford to cut corners short-term.
The Art of Evaluating Portfolios: Selecting the Right Brand Designer for Your Nonprofit
Each branding project should have a point person (even if decisions are made by a small committee behind the scenes). Ideally, that will be your communications director, or executive director—if they have the bandwidth. Your point person should be the one with the final say on all things branding and will be working one-on-one with your designer. They need to vibe with whoever you hire, so should be involved in the selection process.
With a list in hand, start checking out designer and agency websites and social profiles. You can learn a lot by reading blog posts, case studies, LinkedIn posts, and Instagram (where their most recent work is likely showcased). See if you can find a few candidates who share the same values as your organization. If you feel inclined, download some freebies and join a few email newsletters to get a feel for their style and viewpoint.
When looking at their portfolio, don’t focus so much on who they worked for, but on how they solved the client’s problem, and if their style is one that you like. Read their testimonials for insight into client satisfaction and results. Do not be swayed purely by visuals—you are looking for a designer who could dream up the FedEx logo, not one who only mimics the latest trends. Also, consider adjacent industries—if you offer free dental care, you might look for a designer who specializes in the healthcare space.
After this process, you should be able to eliminate a few options from your list. Now, on to looking over their service offerings.
Finding a Brand Service Package Which Fits Your Needs
There is not one standard price for brand strategy and logo design. Factors include their level of experience, overhead (freelancer vs. agency), what is included in their package, and how in-demand they are.
Determining who is the best fit for you requires a bit of introspection on your part. How big is your organization? If you have 100 employees or less, you likely do not need a large, expensive agency, no matter how highly recommended. Smaller agencies or independent designers often have a network to call on to craft a package that is the right fit for your needs, so do not dismiss them out of hand. Likewise, if you are along the lines of the Red Cross or a large university, an agency may be a better choice, as they will have the resources to run large-scale market research and focus groups which you may need to satisfy your many stakeholders.
Also, consider the resources you have in-house, and whether they can be utilized to partner with a brand designer. Have a wordsmith? You may not need a copywriter, as they may be great at brainstorming taglines or writing content. Have a web wizard? You may not need full-fledged web design and development, but just a new design layout that they can implement on the system you have. Do you have someone on call who does small-scale design projects for you? Then you may be able to utilize them when implementing your new brand, as long as strong brand guidelines are included in your package.
At a minimum, you want to make sure anyone you interview is ideally offering these basics:
Brand Strategy (For smaller nonprofits, at least a brand questionnaire to get basic information on your history, competition, demographic, mission, and future goals. For larger nonprofits, a brand strategy session with the top stakeholders in your organization to determine the values your organization holds dear.)
Logo variations (horizontal and vertical) in a variety of file formats for digital and print
Brand Guidelines (how to use your logo, typeface and color palettes for your brand, and image style guidelines)
5 Key Questions to Ask When Interviewing Nonprofit Brand Design Candidate
After doing your research, you should narrow it down to 3–5 brand designers and/or agencies. Your point person should reach out to set up discovery calls to determine if you are a good fit for each other.
On each call, share why you think now is a good time to start a branding project and what goals you wish to achieve once your new branding is in place. From there, you can ask the following five questions to get a feel if you will work well together.
What are your thoughts about (state your industry or niche)?
What is your process and timeline?
How do you communicate with clients during a brand project?
How do you handle revisions and feedback?
What services are included in your packages?
And finally, pricing. If you are requesting a lot of extras over what they normally offer, they may not be able to give you an accurate price on the spot, but should at least be able to share what the branding portion will cost. If they are out of your price range, try to hash it out in the moment, as they might be able to adjust their services to fit your budget. Unless you both agree it is a bad fit, the designer will follow up with a detailed pricing and services proposal within the next week. Below are some options you might see listed and what they mean.
Services that may be included in a Branding Proposal
Brand Strategy Session and recommendations (vision statement, tone of copy and visuals, mission statement, brand values, competition)
Market Research (analyzing your client, audience, and donor base)
Style Moodboards (design choices and revisions)
Logo variations (vertical, horizontal, monogram, pattern) in a variety of file formats for digital and print use
Brand Guidelines (how to use your new logo, recommended typefaces, color palette, photo and illustration style)
Stationery Design (business card, letterhead, notecard, envelopes)
Website Design (front-end web design template to be implemented by your team or full-fledged web design and programming from scratch)
Copywriting (examples to establish the tone for your messaging or a full rewrite of your current website and marketing copy)
Photography (new, on-site photos of your clients, environment, and day-to-day operations or stock photography)
Videography (telling your brand story through video via short interviews of clients and/or personnel)
Illustration (a set of icons to represent your services, or custom illustrations to establish a distinct style to stand out from the competition)
Template Design (for email, socials, brochures)
Marketing Collateral (direct mail, invitations, brochures, PowerPoint templates, etc.)
Design Retainer (agreement for a set number of design hours or projects each month to help implement the rollout of your new brand)
Finalizing Your Hiring Decision
Now for the exciting part—choosing and hiring a brand designer! After a series of discovery calls, you most likely connected strongly with one or two candidates. You will be working together for the next month at the minimum, so personality and working style are important factors in your decision.
Also, evaluate your touchpoints so far.
Have they been responsive and open to questions?
Have all your interactions been smooth—from using their contact form to scheduling a meeting and follow-up emails?
Will their proposal fit within your budget and timeline?
If you see something in one proposal that was not included in another, feel free to reach out and ask for revisions—designers want to make sure all your needs are met. If ALL the proposals were more than you were expecting, it might be time to reevaluate your budget to bring it in line with industry standards or consider delaying portions of your wish list for later in the year. (Read about budgeting for branding here.) And lastly, trust your gut. You might want to take the lowest bid to please the powers that be, but one of your more expensive candidates may be a better fit for your needs.
Next Steps
After signing a contract and paying a nonrefundable deposit, work will commence according to the timeline outlined in your proposal. In all your interactions, it is important to provide honest but respectful feedback as it is easier to change direction early in the process versus when finishing touches are being put on logo files. And lastly, remember you hired your brand designer because of their experience and design knowledge—let them lead you through the process—they have your best interests at heart. When all is done and you’re basking in congratulations and positive comments from your network, please pass along good feedback to your design team. A ringing endorsement and referral are always appreciated!
If you are looking for a brand strategist and designer who specializes in working with nonprofits, feel free to contact me here!
