Who do I get to design extension

[Notclosenow]

Hi
Asking here as you people have experience and knowledge
We are soon to move house. The new house we would like to extend and reconfigure at some point.
When we extended our current home we paid an architect friend of a friend to draw the plans for us. We knew what we wanted, he drew it and submitted to planning for us.
This time we don't know what we want and will need ideas.
It's not a Grand Design type thing just a normal house, though an individual one with probably a back and side extension.
So who do I look for? An architect, an architectural technician, a design consultant or someone else

An architect, if you're starting from scratch. But I like to be informed first - going on to your council's website to see what planning applications have been submitted by people in the area is a good way of seeing what layouts are popular / feasible. That and any recent sales or lettings.