Creating a graphic design checklist for flawless project execution 

Whether you're juggling multiple assignments or hustling on a complex graphic design project, it’s simply too risky to skip any important steps. This is where the power of a graphic design checklist comes into play. 

In this post, we’ll explore how creating a checklist can help graphic designers streamline their design process and deliver top-notch work on all future projects moving forward. We’ll even give you a long list of tasks to add to your checklist to save you plenty of time!  

What’s the difference between a graphic design checklist and a graphic design questionnaire?

First, let’s clarify the difference between a graphic design checklist and a graphic design questionnaire. A graphic design checklist is an internal tool you use in your design agency (or as a freelancer) to ensure all your tasks are completed properly throughout the project lifecycle. 

A graphic design questionnaire, on the other hand, is a communication or data collection tool you send to your clients to gather all necessary information before starting a project. 

Both of these tools are essential in their own ways. If you’re looking for a list of questions to ask in a graphic design questionnaire, read our dedicated post here, or better yet, save even more time by getting our free template below: 

Why graphic designers need a checklist 

The graphic design process involves a series of important steps, each of which brings its own set of challenges and potential delays. Using a checklist is your way to make sure you have all bases covered so you don’t end up missing any details that can be problematic later on.

A checklist also: 

• Streamlines the creative process

• Minimizes errors
• Helps in meeting deadlines 
• Helps you take more project management accountability 
• Ensures consistency and quality across all your design projects
• Ensures all essential elements are accounted for  
• Ultimately ensures that every project meets or exceeds client expectations. 

What tasks should a graphic designer include in their checklist? 

The tasks you typically complete throughout a project will be unique to your agency or how you prefer to work, but here’s a list of steps and tasks you can add to your checklist and our rationale for why to include them:

Confirming design project requirements 

Before putting in any valuable hours on design concepts, the first task on your checklist should be confirming the project scope, objectives, and deliverables with absolute certainty.

• Host a discovery meeting with the client 
• Prepare a graphic design questionnaire for the client
• Send the questionnaire to the client 
• Prepare the official design brief based on your questionnaire + meeting notes  
• Review the design brief and key deadlines with team members
• Send the design brief to client for sign-off
• Adjust the brief and re-send brief to client for sign-off if needed 

Pro tip: send your questionnaire with Content Snare

One way to speed up the preparation of your questionnaire is to use Content Snare. The tool provides you with pre-existing graphic design questionnaire templates you can send to your clients as-is or customize as needed. That way, you can quickly make a customized design request form:

Content Snare even lets your clients upload images, documents, and other large attachments like brand guidelines and logos when responding to your questionnaire. This helps you collect everything you need from your clients in one centralized place. Content Snare will even do the work to remind your clients to complete the questionnaire by your chosen deadline! 

Get a fee for how Content Snare works here, or better yet, sign up for a free trial below. 

Initial concept/idea development 

Here are a few tasks to complete in the early stages of the process when you’re working on initial design concepts or ideas to present to your clients for further direction.

• Conduct research and gather design inspiration
• Prepare a mood board of visual elements for inspiration 
• Sketch your design concepts 
• Present your design concepts to other design team members for feedback
• Incorporate design team feedback and create design revisions 
• Present the revised concepts to your client for initial client feedback 
• Refine and finalize the design concepts according to the client’s feedback. 

Creating the approved design (visual elements)

The tasks you’ll complete in this part of the design process will vary depending on what type of design you’re doing, whether that’s a web design, logo, print materials, or a press kit. Here’s an extensive list of tasks you might want to add to your checklist for this part.

• Set up your workspace and organize resources
• Choose the correct dimensions and resolution
• Select your color mode (RGB for digital, CMYK for print)

• Select appropriate fonts and ensure readability
• Establish a consistent color palette
• Confirm typographic hierarchy and consistency

• Use grids and guides for alignment
• Ensure balanced and aesthetically pleasing compositions
• Verify that the layout is user-friendly and accessible

• Source high-quality images and graphics
• Ensure proper licensing or ownership of images
• Optimize images for web or print (resolution, size, format)
• Optimize images for medium (web, mobile)
• Optimize images for platform (Instagram story, in-feed post, Facebook banner) 

• Apply chosen fonts and colors consistently
• Incorporate images and graphics seamlessly
• Maintain design coherence and brand consistency.

Final design review 

Once you’re confident that your final design is just about ready, here are a few key things you should assess:

• Confirm that all the elements requested by the client are present
• Conduct a self-review for design consistency and coherence
• Check alignment, spacing, and overall aesthetics
• Assess if the final product is professional-looking
• Perform final checks for alignment, formatting, and overall quality
• Ensure all design elements are polished and error-free
• Assess if the design is in line with the client’s vision
• Confirm if the design has enough whitespace
• Confirm that the text is free of grammatical and spelling errors 
• Confirm text legibility
• Gather feedback from peers or other designers
• Present the design to the client for review
• Collect client feedback 
• Incorporate feedback and make necessary adjustments if needed.

Final design delivery

Your tasks don’t stop once you have the final design approved! Here are a few to-dos to ensure you deliver your work to your client appropriately.

• Export files in required file type / different formats (JPEG, PNG, PDF, etc.)
• Prepare a final package for delivery (including source files if required)
• Create cloud backups of all design files.

Post-project review

Now’s the time to reflect on what went well and what can be improved the next time around. Here are some final tasks to wrap up your checklist with:

• Reflect on the design process and identify areas for improvement
• Document lessons learned and best practices
• Gather client feedback on the overall experience
• Update portfolio with the completed project if applicable.

Don’t postpone creating your checklist any longer!

Your graphic design checklist is such a valuable tool for ensuring the success and efficiency of your design projects. Whether you're a seasoned designer or just starting out, integrating a checklist into your workflow can significantly enhance your productivity, helping you deliver exceptional results to your clients time after time. Start building your checklist today and watch your design projects thrive!