It’s always been a wonder to me how I would charge a client for something. First, I’m still a student and as much as I don’t want to sell myself short, it seems like there’s always something up that would make me think twice about how much I charge a client. I don’t know why but logos are tricky for me to charge. You can come up with a doodle in 5 minutes, call it a logo and charge $300 for it. Of course you can also take your time, charge by the hour, dump your whole process to your client and get the same price. The point is, there’s a different process to every logo, some are quicker and some take longer. It’s probably smart to charge a package for a logo instead of doing it per hour (especially when you become more comfortable with the programs and the process gets even quicker) … so how much do you charge?

Of course, I ran straight to Google and searched for “what to charge for a logo” and first thing that came up is this forum. It’s obviously not official but it’s interesting to read people’s stories. There are some that do it as a hobby and charge $10 for a logo and some that do it professionally and get paid $300-1000.  Some things that people take into account is the company size, saying that huge companies would pay $100k for a logo that a small company would only pay $500 for. Professionalism is also taken into account (obviously) as students get paid much less than a senior designer who’s been doing it for 10 years. I don’t remember where I read it (a forum probably) but there was someone who made a comment about how a senior designer would get higher pay because logo job could be finished in 3 hours whereas a student would do it in 10 to be able to reach that level finesse. Now we realize time is an issue here, too.

All that seems obvious enough but one thing that I did not realize was how my pricing will reflect my image as a designer, an issue that was also brought up in the forum. Word of mouth goes a long way so if I’m charging my designs for dirt, a lot of clients would obviously be drawn thinking about how cheap they are getting their designs and by the time they get to me, I won’t be able to change the way I charge unless I become a famous designer overnight (hah!). Same goes for overpricing, which reminds me of a particular moment this summer but I won’t get into it now. Like always, balance is key (and is something easier said than done).

One of the posts there actually linked this book, called Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing & Ethical Guidelines. Seems like it’s worth having a look at. I’m sure RGD has something like this too, especially for graphic designers in Ontario. I am also taking a Design Management class next semester so hopefully, some light will be shed on this shadowy issue.

How’s that for a first post? And why do these things come up when I have a presentation to finish up for tomorrow afternoon? Ah well, it’s time for my second cup. Cheers.