Right so I havent finished off my last 101 article but I think as we approach Spring a lot of us are thinking about starting up again and getting a website out. This article may get some of your furious on what you have paid but I feel that after talking with my designer friend that I should pass on what I have learnt from her with quoting for website/graphics. So first off lets talk about hourly rates. Designers charge from $30~/hr (possibly the lowest) to $120+/hr (which is what my friend charges). This depends on how much the designer values their work and experience. Artwork is expensive because a good designer will factor in the fact that he/she does not have any rights/royalties to his/her work after it is sold to the client. My friend for example made a whole font set for $4000 but she has no rights or royalties to it despite her being the one who made it. In court the designer ALWAYS loses in terms of ownership. So now for logos, they are expensive because its selling the brand especially when theres custom artwork involved. It should be valued in a way of originality as opposed to say slap on a few words and charge you an arm and leg for it. Logo design hours vary a lot but most of the time they are flat rate. What my friend does is that she makes multiple renditions of the logo and then charge a flat fee for the one the client chooses. Usually the fee will incorporate the costs of the time involved making the others. Also the fee depends on whether the logo/artwork has reusable elements or used reused elements. The more original it is, the more expensive. Thus if you are trying to get a brand image out and not simply say your company name in words, it will be more expensive and the latter should be more cheap depending on complexity. I believe for most of us when we're starting small, we're gonna go for the latter thus if we start considering the time it takes to say type the word out and then choosing a nice font + some nice effects, sometimes it might just be good to question the hours the designer spent. If you're picky and wants things adjusted bit by bit, then the cost will significantly go up in most cases but get your moneys worth is the key. Don't pay for an easy slap together job. Next up, websites. This is one of the most flakey thing to quote people, but I will give you guys some guidelines to what you should expect to pay nonetheless. First of all its down to what kind of site or system you're choosing. Now there a few things you can choose from depending on what kind of site you want. The MOST popular these days is WordPress because of its ease of use and flexibility. If you're opting for a site that does not make use of any system, do expect to pay more unless you want it in plain ol HTML. You are also looking into paying more in the long run most of the time because you would probably have no clue how to update it. It is also impossible to update by yourself for sites thats made in Flash as well, unless ofcourse your designer gives you the "raw" files but I highly doubt it because its their way of milking more money out of you lol So for these types of sites, you're usually looking at first of all a complete site cost THEN possible overcharges at the end as stated in most contracts for these kind of jobs. This is where the /hr rate will kick in hardest. So now lets talk about say a Word Press site. From my friend, she told me a complete layout site should cost around $150-$200 and its expectation of the client to put in their own content. Now when she say complete layout site, it means an original layout or at least highly modified. Some designers slack off and grab an existing theme and then just slap it on and call it a day (sadly we had someone here who pratically has experienced that). You may not be able to know till you paid for it most of the time sadly, but you can tell when you look into the themes and see something not under your designer's name. So remember, if you want your designer to use Word Press (or forced upon it by your designer), consider how unique the theme is and demand that he/she garuntees you that no one else have that theme (if you're paying a high price for it). The After service... Now you got the site and logo. But you have no content. The going rates start around $300 for site managements, which should include helping you set up advertising and a bit of SEO (Yes SEO, thats right SEO, it's that snippet of text at the top of your page that makes it rock) then it will also include putting your content in (which only really applies to systems where the customer is able to put it in themselves because they cost lower). The going rates for updates are around $50/hr for my friend and she told me to charge it every hour else you'd be in lots of trouble. So remember to factor this in for custom tailored sites and also you better learn to update your own site eventually if your designer charges you hourly lol. But yeah site content update, even when they give 1 cost, theres x amount of hours included and then you'll be charged per hour rate after, seems like a standard industry practice. Now if you really want to put your own content in and screw up, you're looking to get charged $300 flat-fee per problem (or thing you break) As much as it sounds outrageous, its quite normal as its not the designer's job anymore once the product is complete. It seems that you're better off having your designer put in content first and bundle it with the initial package(especially if its a custom site and you have no idea whats going on). Its safer with systems like Word Press as its hard to go wrong but if you still dont know what you're doing, you are better off paying a bit more to get you started lol. So yeah I hope this is gonna be helpful in determining your choice in design/etc and whether or not the designer is really worth what you're paying for. Feel free to ask any questions as always.
I took a quarter of graphic design, and have a new respect for people who do this for a living, and are good at it. Their services are well worth the money! Good post!
