How do I know before paying whether a designer can sell or just "make things look nice"?
The test to run before hiring anyone.
Quick answer: Three signals. They ask questions about your customer before talking about style. They show you cases with numbers (responses, leads, sales) and can explain why they worked. They talk about readability and offers, alongside aesthetics. Then ask one simple question: "how do we measure whether it worked?". Someone who sells results has an answer ready; someone who sells aesthetics changes the subject. What Keryx Design clients say: testimonials.
First signal: who they talk about in the first meeting
Listen to the first ten questions they ask you. A results-oriented designer opens like this: who is your typical customer, how do they find you today, what should they do after seeing the piece, what have you already tried and how did it go. They're reconstructing the sales problem before touching the graphics.
The warning sign is the reverse path: "what style do you like?", "do you have a color palette?", "do you want something modern or classic?" as the opening questions. They're legitimate questions, but if they come before any question about your customer, the project will start from aesthetics and stay there. The brief they should be asking you for, point by point: how to brief a designer.
Second signal: what's in their portfolio beyond the images
Almost every portfolio looks good: pleasant graphics are something anyone can produce today, as we explain in do I still need a designer with AI and Canva?. What sets one apart is the story around the images.
- A case told well: the starting situation, what was done and why, what happened afterward, with a number: responses, leads, sales.
- A case told poorly: the image of the work, the client's name and nothing else. Or vague results: "great visibility", "the client was happy".
Ask them to walk you through a job: "why did you set it up this way, and how did it go?". Someone who works on results has the story ready, because they actually did the reasoning. Someone who improvises answers with adjectives.
Third signal: the vocabulary gives away the method
Over half an hour of conversation, keep track of what they talk about. People who design to sell use words like readability, offer, information hierarchy, reading path, final call to action. People who design to please stay on mood, elegance, identity, "premium". The second vocabulary describes a respectable trade, but it answers a different question from yours: you're asking for customers, and they're offering you image.
The deciding question: "how do we measure whether it worked?"
Ask it every time, before signing any quote. The answers fall into two families:
- A good answer: they propose a concrete mechanism. "We put in a coupon to bring to the register", "a QR code dedicated to the piece", "we count quote requests in the six weeks after distribution and compare them with the six before". Numbers, mechanisms, dates.
- An answer that should put you on guard: they steer the conversation away. "The image payoff shows over time", "brand awareness works over the long run", "these things are hard to measure". Translated: if the piece produces nothing, there will be no way to notice.
How someone who answers for a number works
The doubts left before signing
"Is my project measurable? I sell complex services." Almost always yes, by choosing the right mechanism: quote requests, calls to a dedicated number, forms filled out, appointments booked. And when a clean measurement truly doesn't exist, a serious professional tells you beforehand, instead of using it as an excuse afterward.
"Do these criteria apply to freelancers and agencies alike?" Yes, identically: people and method are what count, as we explain in freelance designer or agency.
Run the test on us
You can put the questions on this page to Keryx Design too: the answers with numbers are in the case studies and the testimonials. If you want to start with a concrete proving ground, the feasibility analysis costs $147: what we would do with your material, in writing, with costs and realistic expectations. If the project goes ahead, the $147 is credited toward the deposit.
