how to charge people

[Evil Alice Corp]

i just got my first freelance job a few days ago. i have to design a logo for this dude who own a private pharmaceutical company. i think he wants something like a coporate identity logo.
how do you guys charge when it comes to freelance stuff?

[kevin jones]

alice, i recommend taking a look at the current pricing guide published by the Graphic Artist Guild. The prices there are the national standards, and they are catagorized by the type of job. Take that price, then come up with a realistic price based on your skill level.

for a company like that, i wouldnt charge less than $400.

[kevin jones]

that said, i suggest having a meeting with the client first, and ask A LOT of questions. what are they going to do with it, are you just designing a logo or a whole identity package, what is his budget, on and on and on. the more questions you ask, the easier it will be to come up with a fair price, for you and the client.

[kozik]

corporate identity for a company?

5 grand per 1 million net worth.

that's the formula.

I am serious.

If theor Co is a ten million dollar Co

50 Grand.

[kozik]

checked out your site. yep real design.

Charge a real rate. They need you more than you need them.

Corp Identity is important.

[kevin jones]

yeah alice, you have some nice stuff there. cant wait to see some of your type efforts!

[Darren Grealish]

Man don't go too low. Kev's suggestion is dead on. Whenever in doubt just go to the Graphic arts guild and look up exactly what you're doing. The thing with logo's is you most assuredely have to do several and I mean several revisions of the logo before they go "OKAY". So be real. Just so you know, a graphic designers general time is worth from $80 to $125 an hour! That's for someone who's established but still, use that as a measuring stick. One thing I learned from an old timer when I was young was the second people start getting weird about the money end it's most likely going to be hard dealing with the folks. I've learned to just lay all the money issues right out on the table from the gate. If they change the subject every time you bring it up and they go back to wanting you to just start the work just reach really far back and slap the shit out of them!

[Evil Alice Corp]

125 bucks per hour sounds really nice...
i'm not a professional graphic designer though. i'm entering my final year of graphic design in college.

i just have to design a logo that will be put on 3 different packages (of nutritional gels for athletes).

i think it's a small company that has been running for like 6 years i think. and most of their clients are professional athletes.
i don't think this guy even has a big budget for this logo design. should i ask him how much is his budget?

'n how do i get him to pay... pay half of it in advance 'n then the last half when the final logo is done?

[Darren Grealish]

If it's still a question mark yes, there's nothing wrong with asking what their budget is. That actually what I do if it's hard to tell. I mean, here's a guy who's clients are pro atheletes but doesn't have a big budget? He very well may not. I doubt it. It's a business persons job to get the best deal on anything so they can stay within budget. Thay also can smell a new kid on the block. Some people abuse that. Get to the bottom of it. I had to walk away from the Method Film Festival job because the money was never dicussed in detail. Then the job's entire scope got real huge. They assumed they would pay me $200 for like 3 - 34 page books, double sided with every bell and whistle for $200!!!! I told em' to kiss my grits! Another thing if it's your first thing and he's got a small budget you are both in a particular position. He's telling you what his limitations are - now you tell him what your's is. If it get's real tight just get like $100-$125 a logo and have him sign a thing saying you'll allow 2 revisions whithin that cost and that's it. After that it's like "Sure, I can change this around all week as long as you know that this is (BILLABLE TIME).

[DaveGink]

On my graphic design work I rarely bill hourly (except for revisions or alterations that go beyond the scope of the original proposal). It's really none of my client's business what I make hourly on their jobs. I almost always give them a quote based on the parameters of the job.

I have a minimum hourly rate that I calculated by figuring out the costs of running my studio (including my own salary) and I must get that as a minimum to survive (If at the end of a job when I add up all the hours and I've made at least that, then I know I'm OK). I multiply that minimum hourly rate rate by the hours I figure it will take to do the job (and then pad it a little because it almost always goes over) to reach the MINIMUM I'll charge the client. Then I will add on factors for things like exposure, how much the client will benefit, How big the client is, rights purchased, etc., and that becomes my quote.

Logos are always a pain! You usually end up doing revision after revision so keep that in mind and plan for it. Clients always have a personal interest in the design.

And remember to take into consideration how big they are and how big of a company they may become.

Frank's $5000 per million annual revenue formula is a pretty good one for a 'corporate' logo. For a smaller 'neighborhood' type company I usually charge a minimum of around $1200.00 for a logo. find out their annual revenue and base it on that.

In this case it's a product logo, you'll need to find out how they are distributing it, what size market they expect, are you going to get the packaging and advertising work as well? is it going into chain retail stores or just being sold over the web? regional, national, international? lots of variables to consider.

Also, keep in mind that in most cases you are transferring all rights of ownership of the logo to the client. So if they get huge you don't see another dime. The woman that designed the Nike logo in 1972 got $35.00. Bet she's bummed!

If they only want to spend a couple hundred now because they are new and don't have any money, either forget them, or maybe give them a deal but only sell the rights for a year. Tell them that at that point, to keep using it, it will cost them X amount more - or they need to stop. make sure that's all agreed upon in writing first. They'll probably already have it on packaging and and corporate ID at that point. Just an idea, there's a lot of ways to approach this.

Don't know if any of this helped? Hopefully.