Pricing

[BabyLuvoTronic]

I amnew to the graphic design field. I have been designing flyers, business cards, price lists and gift certificatesfor a few years, but I have a customer who I normally do these things for in trade for services (manicures & pedicures). She recently told me that she needs me to charge her fees for tax purposes. I have no clue what to charge or where to find the information on the industry standard for pricing. If I could really make money at this eventually I would be interested in having my own small business. All feedback is welcome. Thank you.

[Keyare]

There was a formula posted on this board a couple months back that everyone seemed to (kinda) follow.The range here seems to be between $35 and $150 an hour..depending on years in the business and such.I think it was something like $35 per hour base plus $10 for every year you been doing GD professionally. ('course that doesn't quite work in every case)


At any rate, start high if you're negotiating.
It's easy to lower prices, near to impossible to raise them.

Welcome to Earth. There will be a parking fee.

[Big Perm-dizzle]

i think it depends on the area you live in also....

[benjo]

I usually put them up against the wall and pull out the heat(gun). I give them an offer they can't refuse. Ha ha ha ha ha ha...

<img border="0" src= "http://www.cbcamerica.com/images/webshots/benjobanner.jpg">

[Paolo]

AIGA ("]GAG[/url] (Graphic Artists Guild) or [url=") (American Institute of Graphic Arts) both have books on the market that teach the fundamentals about pricing, ethics and the business of graphic arts from managing your freelance career, being an employed artist/designer to building a business.



Being a Canadian I'm not a member of either but still highly recommend my American neighbours to consider joining their local chapters. The reason is simple; the more people in our industry following fair practice standards and similar pricing the more stable and reliable the industry becomes.



Invest in these books and learn more about the standards and ethics of design and help build a stronger, better industry. :)

Design it up and then strip it down. Whatever survives is solid.

[D-Frag]

I charge $100 an hour for all large format stuff, since it bogs down my system and workflow because of such large files sizes and time. As for all the other design, I charge $50 an hour, it seems to work just fine.

Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

[applesandy]

Hmm.. my instructors told me that it might be better to charge for a flat rate than an hourly rate. Starting high is a good thing too.

^.~

[Madora]

At first maybe, but if you do that you need to have a set amount of "revisions" stated as part of that cost... extra edits/revisions cost $X per each additional. That way you don't have someone pulling a "I'm never going to like any of your designs, but I'm going to keep making you bring me more versions." thing on you... without paying out the nose for it.


For flat rates, set clear boundries ahead of time or you'll be taken advantageof.

<img border="0" src= "http://kiler.onlinegamers.org/madora/lj%20icons/Madora.jpg">



"Never miss a good chance to shut up."

[D-Frag]

Madora has an extremely good point, I cant tell you how many times I have been screwed by clients like that, "uuum sorry I dont like your 8.5hrs of design, lets go this direction instead," its a never ending cycle, thats why I quote them and am very specific on proofs, I tell them you get 3 proofs with this quote, anything above that and I start tacking on the hours.

Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

[raypau]

I have tended to charge a flat rate for jobs, realistically costing the job in terms of creativity and the time it will take to create. Then charge an hourly rate to make changes to the original concept. Also if printing is to be sourced then i tend to mark up this cost as well.



In general you have to gauge each client. Some you can charge a lot, others not so much, but you need to be clear from the outset what you figures are, otherwise you'll get screwed over or lose the client.

[raypau]

I have tended to charge a flat rate for jobs, realistically costing the job in terms of creativity and the time it will take to create. Then charge an hourly rate to make changes to the original concept. Also if printing is to be sourced then i tend to mark up this cost as well.



In general you have to gauge each client. Some you can charge a lot, others not so much, but you need to be clear from the outset what you figures are, otherwise you'll get screwed over or lose the client.

[worldofprinting]

I'm in a geographical location where there is competition by both fellow, one-man businesses and also large design/print firms. Since I had the time to allow the business to develop (I wasn't in need of the immediate cash flow), I rang a few competitors for some dummy quotes (they'd do it to me!). This gave me a general 'feel' for pricing locally.

Then I worked, and continue to work, with a simple but rarely used principle: Work and charge with the long term in view. Charging a little lower gets you return work and builds customer loyalty. Four years down the track, we have 'raving' customers who not only save money, but get services they love.


[quote]

(replace this text with your code)</CODE>Mark
[quote]

(replace this text with your code)</CODE>
[quote]

(replace this text with

[Ryan8720]

I usually charge by the hour in my head, but then I add it up give them a quote. If you do it this way, take how you think it will take and double it. That may seem overkill, but it always takes longer, and there is always the changes they request, and the time spend sending emails or talking on the phone.

http://edgewebdesign.org/ryan2.gif (http://www.edgewebdesign.org)

'Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.'
- Albert Einstein