One of the biggest questions in graphic design in general and logo design in
particular is how much should I charge for my services in the final product?
So what you want to think about is what is your time worth? So if you're starting
out you might want to consider charging less and then as you gain experience, you
gain credibility, you build your portfolio, then you can charge more.
So you might do some pro bono work for nonprofits and charities and things like
that at first as well, but if you're even doing work for businesses, you might want
to just start out lower so that you can get your foot in the door,
build your portfolio, show that you can really do the work and then you charge more.
So one way to calculate it is what is your time worth? So if you think
your time is worth, say $50 an hour or $20 an hour or $15 an hour or maybe a
$100 an hour, just think about how long it's going to take you to
create this logo. Say it's going to take you five hours total. Maybe it'll take you 30
hours. Multiply that by what your time is worth and then you can get a ballpark
figure of what you should charge for that logo. So there's two ways of
charging a client, two primary ways. One way is to just charge an hourly rate and
then another one is do a flat fee where you have to calculate ahead of time how
much work is going to go into it and you'll see that in the next lesson when
we go over contracting. And yet another way to think about what is your typical
logo design fee for an area because it's going to differ by area. Larger cities you
can charge more, smaller towns and small cities, it's going to be a little bit lower
just because overall income is going to be higher in a lot of different areas
compared to other areas, so cost of living is going to be higher, salaries are going to
be higher in some areas compared to others but you also might want to go online and
see what other competitors are charging. This is why a lot of people don't put
their fees on their website. So when I worked at an advertising design firm that
principal, the head person there, would not put the fees, you know, publicly out
there on on a website, for example, because what happens is a competitor
will look at that. Oh, they charge $1000 for a logo
or $3,000, $4,000 for a logo. OK, well I only charge $800 for a logo so you can be
seen as you know, I'm undercutting the competition when you can see what other
people are charging. That's why a lot of people will not put their rates on their website.
Another reason is because you want people to contact you. You know
they're interested, you can follow up with them later if they don't end up
signing a contract or assigning you a job right away so you just say contact me
for more information or for a quote for your job. And also another reason not
to put your fees on the website is because there are so many factors and
variables to consider. Not only your time but also are there going to be extra costs for
travel? If it's not a logo but if it's say a brochure, you know, do you need to use stock photos.
Do you have to purchase things up front like that? So that's why you do a
custom quote for someone. You figure out how long it's going to take you. If it's a
logo, most likely you're not going to need stock photos or anything like that. You just
going to be creating it from inspiration and ideas but you can get an idea a lot
of times... Other designs firms might put an idea of what they charge on their
websites. I've actually had the experience of when I worked at an advertising
design firm, someone came in and pretended to be a client and said you
know, what would you charge for a logo or what would you charge for an
advertisement and so on, and the principal, the head designer, refused to
give him a quote because he figured out that he's just sitting here trying to get an
idea of what we charge so he can go out there and say, hey we charge less than
this company, so something to look out for. Another thing to consider when you're
thinking about your fees is, are you going to charge upfront? You know a down
payment kind of, or you know half is installed up front, is paid up front or
is it all going to be paid, you know, once the job is completed? Now one problem of
just being paid once the entire job is completed
is that in graphic design and logo design, you're' not paid just for the final product.
You're 'also paid for your ideas and your time. So when I worked at an ad agency, I
won't go into the details of the finances, but just for the idea of a logo or just
for the idea of a website, print it out on nice paper, put it on some particle board or
something and present it in a client meeting. Just that alone, you'd get paid for.
So the company would get paid for that. Those working for would get paid just for the
idea. Then if they want to go on and go ahead and sign this website or sign this
logo or slogan or newsletter to the company I was working at, then it would be
more money on top of that because think about it. If someone said, OK, I want to
sign your logo. Let's not sign a contract yet, just give me some ideas of what you
would do for my logo. You give them a bunch of ideas. You show them some specs or
some speculative work or you show them your ideas.
Well, then they could take those ideas and have someone else design it and then
you've basically given your time and ideas for nothing. So that's why you will
need to put in a contract, just for the proposal up front, is a certain fee or
you have 50 percent paid up front. In my freelance work I've had some clients who
were not treated well by other graphic designers so they were wary of paying
anything upfront. So as long as you have a contract and that will help out a lot
because I had this one client... I was designing their website, they had
previously had a graphic designer who said, OK, give me 50 percent up front, or whatever
amount it was and I'll design your website. They went ahead and paid him and then he
didn't do the work. So he was wary of paying anything upfront. Well with
this example, I said, OK, well let's sign the contract and then once I complete the
work and you're happy with the work then I'll get paid, and it's all lined out and then
outlined in the contract and that worked out fine. I got the entire amount paid so
that's something to consider. We''ll go over that more in the next lesson on
contracting. Do you have 50 percent paid up front? That's easier to get them to do
if you have a portfolio. Then they can see your work
see that you do good work and then I can kind of just be paying upfront and then if they're not
impressed by the quality of the work that you produce. You also want to
consider what kind of files to include
in the final product, because again, you're getting paid for your time, your ideas and
the final product and really your expertise. So, in the next lesson we'll be
going over a contract. You'll be able to download a sample contract. Use that if you want.
Issues for legal information. It's not attorney advice of course. So I will see
you next lesson. Thanks.