Best graphic design skills

Business Issues
#1

I know this might vary depending on the type of clients you get, but which skill would you value the most in another graphic designer, assuming equal experience and certifications?

  • Analytical
  • Technical
  • Creative
  • Communication
  • Enthusiasm
  • Cautiousness
  • Other (please specify)

0 voters

Which skill would you most like to excel at in yourself as a graphic designer regardless of your experience and certifications?

  • Analytical
  • Technical
  • Creative
  • Communication
  • Business legal and ethics
  • Business financial and admin
  • Business marketing and sales
  • Other (please specify)

0 voters

#2

Assuming equal experience and certifications, I love to see a designer who thinks outside the box creatively. Creativity seems to be a rare thing.

#3

I was torn between creativity, analytical, and enthusiasm. I think I could probably teach creativity easier than I could teach the other 2. But I agree that it’s hard to come by.

People who lack creativity often seem timid. I assume it’s a lack of confidence and willingness to take risk more than it’s a lack of imagination. But it could also be over-exposure to too many cliches that hinder originality.

#4

IMO, solid analytical ability is a critical enabler of high performance in many of those other areas.

#5

Maybe its because I work inhouse, but while I see value in all of the skills listed, to me just someone who can stay on schedule and get crap done is key to me.

We had a contractor for a while that was a good guy, funny, creative, etc. but he spent hours fine-tuning and tweaking minute details on smaller internal projects. Now, I know what you might be thinking, attention to detail is good, and it is, but this was more someone that just constantly nitpicked and tweaked things and loved adding things to his design just for the sake of design (IMO) such as shadows, reflections, and other gimmicky design elements. So, at the end of the day he just wasn’t working on a whole lot of projects. So, for me, I need someone that can get crap done … and be creative. :slight_smile:

#6

I guess you would call that timeliness.

It didn’t occur to me to put that on the list, but I guess that is a critical skill, especially in regards to meeting deadlines. Concern to meet deadlines might be one manifestation of cautiousness, but overcautiousness on everything but deadlines might cause someone to go too slow and miss a deadline. Sometimes I feel like deadlines are a hinderance to creativity. But creativity doesn’t help if a project is done too late to be useful.

I’ve been lucky enough to encounter very few tight deadlines in my career, so I might be a little biased. The only times I ever missed deadlines was when I made a careless mistake that cost too much time to fix. Other than that, I was as creative and detailed oriented as I knew I could be given the time frame from a deadline. I didn’t equate time with money until I did freelance full-time later in my career. But even then, I only cared when I was paid by the piece, not by the hour. I think if every employee were paid for progress and not time, they would probably get things done faster, but I’m not sure what that would do to quality control.

#7

Meeting deadlines is crucial. Missing them can cost large amounts of money.

For example, if you’re working on a retail catalog to be mailed to a million plus customers, and the pieces aren’t all delivered to the printer on time, and the lateness causes your printing costs go up by, say, 15%…

Just sayin’.

#8