Need advice/help so I don't get ripped off on project

[belcanto]

Hi--first of all, I'm not a graphic designer but I need some quick advice in dealing with one. I work in an advertising office with two of them, both of whom are my friends. I did not want to hire them for a small job I have because there's a bit of rivalry between them, and hey, we all gotta work together.

Fast forward: In another forum I'm a member, pertaining to a hobby I'm currently turning into a business, I posted about this very problem. Someone who is a recent graduate from design school offered to design my logo. When I asked about prices, he said, let's see if you like what I come up with first.

I like the design he's done, and when I asked about prices, he said he's very flexible, and what was my ballpark figure. Well, I don't HAVE one, because I didn't really think this project through. What I need is a postcard (standard size), business card, letterhead, hang tags for the product, stuff like that. I am on a LOW BUDGET (who ain't?).

Here's the bottom line: I don't want to get into pricing trouble here. I don't want to rip this designer off, but I have NO idea how long a project like this should take, what a newbie should be charging hourly, and whether I'm in over my head.

Can anyone please help? I would really appreciate some advice before I have to get back to this guy.

Oh, if it helps, this is a three-color job, I won't be needing tons of materials, I want access to the files in photoshop in case I want to do some printing of minor materials at home, and I'd like the font included so I can use it for minor stuff (like price flyers etc.) Is this reasonable request?

[morea]

oh boy, that's not how it should be done at all.

There should be a contract signed by both of you before work even begins, and that should should spell out what to expect throughout the process, including a payment schedule.

A professional designer would not work the way that you have described.

We can't really discuss pricing here on the forum, but it probably wouldn't help you if we could... pricing does have many factors, including what the going rates are in your area, and how much experience a designer has. You might be able to talk to the designers in your office for some information about local going rates.

Be sure that you are going to be able to use what you are paying for - logos should be designed in vector format (Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, etc.) so that they are scalable... they should not be done in Photoshop as a general rule. The price that you are going to pay will likely depend on what file types this person is providing. Anything that will be printed will need a resolution of about 300 dots per inch if it is NOT in vector format; anything less is likely to be unusable.

The fact that the logo is 3 colors should not enter into the cost of design, though it will affect your printing costs.

You probably shouldn't use your logo font too much in your regular materials because it will weaken the uniqueness of the mark - you want the logo to stand out, so don't use the font in the regular type for your marketing materials. Use something that compliments it, instead.

You can check out www.myfonts.com to get an idea of what the font costs.

Good luck, I hope that it works out well for you.

[cornfed]

Since you've gone about this the wrong way and need to rectify this problem immediately, you should refer to the Graphic Artist Guild Pricing and Ethical Guidelines book. You should be able to get it at the bookstore. You can pay him what they say to pay in there!

http://www.gag.org/images/pegs/pegs2001.gif

[morea]

If you and this designer do not agree on a price for his work, you may need to hire someone else to design your logo. Unfortunately, that person will not be able to recreate this designers concept, they will have to start from scratch. THIS (http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24151) thread has some excellent tips on choosing a designer for your company logo.