If you are reading this I’m sure you have worked with designers that send you an invoice like “11/16/10 Custom Ad Design, $350″ and thought- WOW I had no idea it would be that much! Don’t most designers just sit about in their pajamas watching cartoons looking for “inspiration”?! Am I being charged for that time??!!
Now, not all designers are the same. That is obvious from their work, their client relations and their company brand. If you hire “so and so” who happens to be back from college this weekend to do a business card, this probably isn’t the list of things to take into consideration when the bill comes. If you hire a reputable designer with a stable business THIS is where the price tag comes from:
Education. I personally have a BA a BS and an AA all in design and fine art. Not that I expect my clients to pay for my student loans, but that education gives you a professional design as opposed to something the administrative assistant whipped up in PowerPoint.
Experience. Designers have to have experience. The more experience the more the designer charges. Think of the difference between someone that plays golf twice a year and one that plays every weekend- who do you want on your team? Joe Blow might offer discount deals, but has Joe ever worked in a print shop and happens to know that not only will his choice of AWESOME velvet paper cost the client tons, but his dimensions are irregular creating huge amounts of waste and the post office won’t deliver the campaign anyway because of any one of the kabillion things the post office finds undeliverable. Talk about a waste of money and time, right? And you probably won’t know any of that until you get a call from the post office that you either need to send them all with extra postage or put your awesome velvet envelope in a Costco plain white envelope in order to get it delivered.
Tools. Sorry folks, but Paint doesn’t cut it. Adobe CS5 Creative Suite Design Premium full version goes for almost $2000.00. Add computer, internet, FTP sites to send large files, Pantone Color Books, font packages, cell phone minutes to discuss details, printers, scanners….
Time. Designers charge an hourly rate or by project. Now, there is a reason you aren’t doing this business card design yourself on VistaPrint. First of all, you want something original, but second – it takes TIME to sift through styles, colors, fonts, pictures… upload this- “Nah that looks lame”…. Upload that, “Ugh even worse”! Custom design is a blank canvas- there are zillions of YUCK! ideas before you hit on a great one. If your designer is good it will take them less time than someone starting out and not sure of them self. But it does take time! To date, I have never had a logo pop out finished and smiling asking “what’s next?” when I turn on the computer.
Ok, that isn’t everything, but hopefully it gives a brief overview of where that fee comes from. I recognize I did a little venting ( a lot) but I’m writing not only for client education, but also so people considering going into the field know that design prices aren’t just arbitrary numbers you fling about by whatever sounds good. Even a “service” industry from a “home office” has overhead. We just make it look easy 
Juli Black
www.blackfirestudios.com
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