It's not that we're tempermental artists, we're hard working professionals. The relationship you have with your graphic designer is an important aspect of successful project's development.

This list is a general guideline of things to avoid:

• Requesting the designer to work on "Spec"
  This is an outdated method of farming out projects where a group of designers are asked to submit proposals along with artistic approaches demonstrated... for free. If you find yourself in a position where you are deciding among equally talented designers, take into consideration their technical qualifications and their professionalism/reliability.

• Expecting designers to be overly well-rounded
  For web-based projects, please understand that graphic designers are not programmers... and programmers are not graphic designers. We work well together, but our jobs are separate.

  A growing number of graphic designers have a working knowledge of website development. However, at the point where database integration becomes part of the project, your efforts are best served by dividing up your project among qualified professionals.

  An honest graphic designer (web) will freely articulate their technical limitations and suggest a programmer that they have worked with in the past (another important relationship).

• Asking designers to bid on projects that are not properly defined
  Vague proposal requests always garner inaccurate price estimates. Some individuals simply triple the price estimates, others will take the time to point out that your guidelines are too open. If you are unsure about how to define your project, why not contract a graphic designer for a day? In a few hours they can help you set up your RFP using the proper terminology and guidelines that will leave little open to interpretation.

• Starting from scratch
  The main responsibility of a graphic designer is to create a balance between the project's content and its visuals. We design the project in order to enhance the message with the layout, not to overpower it with graphics. That said, the only successful way that a designer can develop a project is to have all the content up front.

• Unreasonable turnaround expectations
  Occasionally, delays happen. Try to avoid a situation where a designer would be asked to hastily wrap up a project. If they have a clear head's up, they'll be able to anticipate and avoid potential problems.