Posted
August 27, 2013
Category
Graphic Design, intellectual property
Tags
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Comments
3 Responses

Image

So the question got asked via linkedin — “How do you charge your client? By hourly or project? What’s the advantage. and disadvantage?”

From my experience in the last 10 years, I’ve been low-balled, burned and short-changed by customers. Lessons learned.

I find that for any graphic designer (especially new ones) it is best to charge by project at a set price. This does two things:

1) It protects the interest of the graphic designer
2) It demonstrates to a client the value-added and worth of graphic design

In some instances, I have done logo design projects that take me a full two weeks to complete a design from concept to digital reproduction (in Adobe Illustrator) and other moments where it took me a few days, because of how fast inspiration came to me. In the latter instance, if I had charged hourly I would have been on the losing end.

Finally, what most graphic designers forget too is that you should not just be compensated for your labour, but more importantly for your IDEAS that translate into intellectual property (IP). That right there is priceless.

My blog site covers a few similar questions – https://phreshideasanddesigns.wordpress.com/

Good luck to all!

Fun Fact: James Bond (007) came to mind when I decided on the title and image!