Wander down any High Street and you’ll see print shops offering "A total print and design package". Whatever you need, "We’ll design it, we’ll print it!" etc. – so you could be wondering if you need a real graphic designer at all…

Well, at the risk of sounding facetious, it depends on how much you care about your business. You wouldn’t ask Bob the Builder to design your house, because his ability to build (and fix) it doesn’t make him an architect! Similarly, your printer could do a bang up job on the printing side, but graphic design is a whole new ball game.

A good graphic designer will have the imagination to produce unique and winning designs. They’ll assess your needs and work with you towards an exciting visual goal.

They’ll also make sure you play your part in the creative process - so here are some crucial dos and don’ts for weaving those visual miracles…

1. Choose your designer carefully. Look at their portfolio and remember that great designers won’t always have an individual style. Their designs will be as varied as their clients.

2. Don’t have preconceived design ideas. Your designer could give you something fantastic, but you may not like it because it’s not what you had in mind. Be open to the fresh and unexpected!

3. Be specific about your design needs – the format, the purpose and target audience. The more your designer knows, the more they can identify with the prospect.

4. Your design should say more about your customers than it says about you. Of course your brand should reflect your values, but ultimately you should let the designer play to your market’s visual preferences.

5. Don’t expect the designer to second guess you – make sure the brief is specific. If you want your brand to look "more corporate", then explore what that means to you and share a few examples.

6. Don’t tell your designer "I’ll know it when I see it" – this wastes everybody’s time, and with the designer stabbing blindly it could end up costing you dear.

7. Don’t give feedback along the lines of "can we try something else?". If a design isn’t working for you, use it as a stake in the ground to explore what you do and don’t want.

8. Don’t design by committee. The more voices in the process, the more you’ll compromise the designer’s vision and dilute the final impact. So if you’re the decision maker, have the courage of your convictions.

9. Be careful of biased opinion. There could be some aspiring designers in the loop who’ll criticise anything they haven’t produced themselves!

10. If everyone hates it, that’s bad – but if one or two people hate it, that’s good! You can’t expect a design to please all the people all the time, and if no-one actually dislikes it, no-one’s going to love it either!

When you work with a designer, these points should help you get the most from the process. Above all else, be open and flexible – then sit back and enjoy as your designer adds their unique creative touch…