Great tips on how to price your graphic design project
How much should I charge for design? What should be my charge for a graphic design job is a million dollar question. It is the first question that will come to you mind when you begin your freelance career as a graphic designer. The answer to this question is very tricky since there are lot of parameters involved which determines the cost of a graphic design project. In fact there are so many factors that no one article will be able to cover all the aspects of this question. But still I will make an attempt to provide you with enough detail which will enable you to determine the price of your work and charge your customer accordingly.
But let me tell you that I shall provide you the complete guideline but in order to charge your clients appropriately and prepare an appropriate quote you shall have to use the guidelines and play by your instincts to some extent. After all making an intelligent quote taking care you don’t overcharge or under quote, you shall have to depend on your knowledge and take an informed decision. Also you shall have to keep in mind that you should decide your pricing in such a way that its not heavy on the stature of the client. This will make your customer return to you again and again if he needs any graphic design in future.
Experience
The first important factor which will decide the pricing of your graphic design job is your experience. If you are a graphic designer with 15years of experience under your belt and if you have served as a graphic art director in some company then your rates will definitely be higher than a fresher freelancer straight out of college. Also experience counts in terms of portfolio. Lets say that you have gained a lot of corporate clients who are big brands and have done logos, banners, advertising material for them then you can flaunt those designs in your portfolio. Naturally people who see those works in your portfolio will be ready to pay that extra buck to get their design projects done by an expert who is a name in their field. Also if you are a home based graphic designer working from your garage then you can take the advantage of charging your clients less since you do not have much overheads to bear. Whereas a graphic design company which maintains a plush office in a huge office building has to other alternative but to charge more for the same kind of job. So if you are freelancing and want to build a good client base then start charging your clients reasonably so that you can build a good portfolio pretty fast. Remember you can afford to charge less so I urge you to take full advantage of it.Creativity
The price you charge for your graphic design work also depends on your creativity. The more time you spend being creative should be paid for. Do not spend extra time on a project which offers you a paltry amount. It will spoil the design market as a whole. A common trend cropping up now is crowdsourcing. Graduates straight out of college are doing good work and showing good creativity at low costs. So, that in a way, is spoiling the design market. You have to always remember that creativity comes at a price and that should be paid for.
Corporate Designs
Sometimes you may see that a corporate presentation in flash does not allow much scope for creativity but they pay a lot better than a logo design work which calls in for a lot of creativity. So a boring graphic design job may pay you a lot better than a design job that fuels your thoughts and challenges your creativity.
Mock up designs
Some designers will argue that some people run away with mock up design. I will say that yes it is true. Some people are out there to exploit new designers to give off their ideas by giving them hope that they will give them good design jobs in future based on their performance but in reality they run off. But, there are some people who are true to their words. They actually do choose designers based on mockup. So I would say that mockups are a necessary evil. You can’t do away with mock ups. So be judicious in providing mock ups.Summary
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