1. Say you just need a simple website/flyer/brochure/poster. Most of the time, it doesn’t turn out to be so.

2. Say you want a classic or elegant or (worst of all) nice design. Those are some of the most over-used and vague descriptions that doesn’t mean anything to me. Together with simple.

3. Ask the designer to do it in a format which you can edit it later yourself. There’s no such thing. You can’t edit websites in Word (true story) and you can’t edit the text of a brochure in Excel (ditto).

Just my two cents: If you are thinking of hiring a freelancer for visuals, do your homework first. Examples help to put both parties on the same page quickly and allows for faster turnaround time and end result. Help us help you. Good luck!